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The  Student's  History  of  the  Middle  Ages, 


VIEW 


THE  STATE  OF  EUROPE 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


By  henry  HALLAM,  LL.D.,  F.RA.S. 


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HENRY  MORSE  STEPHEN* 


yX. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  Edition  of  the  "  History  of  the  Middle  Ages  " 
has  been  undertaken  with  the  concurrence  of  Mr.  Hallam's 
representatives,  who  consider  that  a  great  injustice  h~as  been 
done  to  his  literary  character  by  the  reprint  of  the  obsolete 
edition  of  1816,  after  it  had  been  superseded  by  the  Author's 
own  careful  revision,  and  had  been  enriched  by  many  sup- 
plemental notes,  which  added  one-third  to  the  original  size 
of  the  Work. 

A  few  words  are  necessary  to  explain  the  plan  which  the 
Editor  has  adopted  in  order  to  bring  the  Work  within  one 
volume,  available  for  the  use  of  Students.  It  must  not  be 
regarded  as  an  Abridgment;  for  though  some  omissions 
have  been  made,  for  reasons  stated  below,  they  are  few  in 
amount,  and  nothing  essential  or  important  has  been  left  out. 
In  fact,  the  great  bulk  of  the  book  remains  unchanged.  But 
it  is  necessary  to  recollect  the  plan  which  Mr.  Hallam  pur- 
sued in  the  later  editions  of  his  Work,  in  order  to  judge  of 
the  necessity  and  expediency  of  the  alterations  and  omissions 
made  in  this  Edition;  He  informed  his  readers,  in  the  Pref- 
ace to  his  "  Supplemental  Notes,"  "  that  he  was  always  re- 
luctant to  make  such  alterations  as  would  leave  to  the  pur- 
chasers of  former  editions  a  right  to  complain,"  and  that 
being  anxious  to  bring  his  Work  "  nearer  to  the  boundaries 
of  the  historic  domain,  as  it  had  been  enlarged  within  his 
own  age,"  he  published  in  a  separate  form  various  disqui' 
sitions,  in  which  his  object  was  "  to  reconsider  those  portions 
of  the  Work  which  related  to  subjects  discussed  by  eminent 
writers  since  its  publication,  to  illustrate  and  enlarge  some 
passages  which  had  been  imperfectly  or  obscurely  treated, 
and  to  acknowledge  with  freedom  his  own  errors."  Now, 
however   much    we  may  respect   the  Authr'^'s   motives  in 

^909 


50^' 


tv  PREFACE. 

adopting  this  method,  and  his  candor  in  acknowledging  his 
errors,  the  plan  is  attended  with  the  obvious  inconvenience 
of  having  two  books  to  consult  instead  of  one,  and  of  finding 
statements  in  the  Text  not  unfrequently  contradicted  or  mod- 
ified by  corrections  in  the  Notes.  Accordingly,  in  preparing 
the  book  for  the  use  of  Students,  it  seemed  to  the  Editor  ad- 
visable to  incorporate  in  the  Text  the  corrections  made  in 
the  Notes,  omitting  such  views  as  the  Author  had  himself 
rejected,  and  only  inserting  in  the  Supplemental  Notes  at  the 
end  of  each  chapter  the  inform^ation  which  could  not  conven- 
iently be  interwoven  with  the  Text.  By  this  means,  and  by 
giving  the  conclusions  at  which  the  Author  had  arrived,  with' 
out,  in  all  cases,  enumerating  the  opinions  of  writers  which 
he  mentioned  only  to  reject,  much  space  has  been  saved. 
Moreover,  a  further  saving  has  been  effected  by  occasionally 
abbreviating  some  of  the  less  important  remarks,  and  by 
leaving  out  most  of  the  notes  at  the  foot  of  the  pages  con- 
taining reference  to  authorities,  which,  however  serviceable 
to  historical  inquirers,  can  be  of  no  use  to  Students  in  Schools 
and  Colleges. 

The  Editor  has  added  to  the  chapter  on  the  Constitutional 
History  of  England  various  original  documents,  which  will 
be  of  great  service  to  the  student.  Of  these,  the  most  im- 
portant are,  the  Statutes  of  William  the  Conqueror,  the  Char- 
ter of  Liberties  of  Henry  I,  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon, 
and  the  Assize  of  Clarendon,  the  Magna  Charta,  and  the  Con- 
firmation of  the  Charters.  He  has  also  inserted  genealogical 
and  other  Tables,  and  has  supplied  some  information  from 
important  w^orks  treating  of  the  subjects  discussed  by  Mr. 
Hallam,  which  have  appeared  since  the  last  edition  of  his 
book.  But  such  alterations  and  additions  have  been  made 
sparingly,  and  it  has  been  the  aim  of  the  Editor  to  present 
the  Work  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  form  in  which  he  con- 
ceives the  Author  would  have  wished  it  to  appear  if  he  had 
himself  prepared  an  edition  for  the  special  use  of  Students. 

Wm.  Smith. 

London,  May  10, 1871. 


CONTENTS. 


OIIAP.  PAQH 

I.  The  History  of  France,  from  its  Conquest  by  Clovis  to 
THE  Invasion  of  Naples  by  Charles  VIII. : 

Part  1 8 

Part  II.— From  the  Accession  of  Philip  of  Valois  to 

the  Invasion  of  Naples  by  Charles  VIII.        44 

Notes  to  Chapter  I. — Part  I. 

I.  The  Armorican  Republic 71 

II.  The  Franks 71 

III.  The  Consulship  of  Clovis 71 

IV.  The  Mayor  of  the  Palace 72 

V.  Aquitaine 73 

VI.  The  Subjection  of  the  Saxons 72 

VII.  Charlemagne,  Emperor 73 

VIII.  The  Kingdom  of  Burgundy 74 

IX.  Authorities  for  French  History 75 

11.  On  the  Feudal  System,  especially  in  France: 

Part  1 76 

Part  II 96 

Notes  to  Chapter  II. 

I.  The  Salic  and  other  Laws  of  the  Barbarians 145 

II.  Tributarii,  Lidi,  and  Coloni 140 

III.  Municipal  Government 146 

III.  The  History  of  Italy,  from  the  Extinction  of  the  Carlo- 
viNGiAN  Emperors  to  the  Invasion  of  Naples  by  Charles 
VIII. : 

Part  I 148 

Part  II 179 

Note  to  Chapter  III. 

Authorities  for  Italian  History 234 

IV.  The  History  of  Spain  to  the  Conquest  of  Granada 236 

V.  History  of  Germany  to  the  Diet  of  Worms,  in  1495 270 

VI.  History  of  the  Greeks  and  Saracens 302 

VII.  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Power  during  the  Middle  Ages: 

Part  1 316 

Part  II 349 

VIII.  The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitution: 

Part  1 384 

Notes  to  Chapter  VIII.— Part  I. 

I.  The  Bretwaldas 400 

II.  Saxon  Kings  of  all  England 401 

HI.  Eorls  and  Ceorls , 402 

IV.  The  Witenagemot 404 

V.  Trial  by  Jury , , , . . , 405 


vi  CONTENTS. 

OHAP.  PAGB 

VIII.         Part  II. — The  Anglo-Norman  Constitution 408 

Notes  to  Chapter  VIII.— Part  II. 

I.  The  Legislation  of  the  Great  Council 439 

II.  Duration  of  distinction  between  Norman  and  Saxon . . ,  439 
III.  Statutes  of  William  the  Conqueror 440 

Part  III.— The  English  Constitution 441 

Notes  to  Chapter  VIII.— Part  III. : 

I.  Municipal  Rights  of  London 546 

II.  Popular  Poetry 547 

IX.  On  the  State  of  Society  in  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages: 

Part  1 559 

Part  II 593 

Notes  to  Chapter  IX. — Part  II. 

I.  Domestic  Architecture 685 

II.  Petrarch's  Laura 685 

III.  Early  Legislative  use  of  English 686 


ORIGINAL  DOCUMENTS. 


I.  Charter  of  Liberties  of  Henry  1 548 

II.  Constitutions  of  Clarendon .549 

III.  Assize  of  Clarendon 5.50 

IV.  Magna  Charta .5.52 

V.  Confirmation  of  the  Charters .5.57 

VI.  Summons  to  the  Parliament  of  1265 558 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLES. 


Of  the  Successors  of  Louis  the  Debonair 18 

Of  the  Successors  of  Hugh  Capet 25 

Of  the  House  of  Valois  of  France 43 

Of  the  Second  Ducal  House  of  Burgundy 64 

Of  the  Kings  of  Naples  of  the  House  of  Anjou 220 

Of  the  Kings  of  Sicily  of  the  House  of  Aragon 221 

Of  the  Titular  Kings  of  Naples  of  the  Second  House  of  Anjou 224 

Of  the  respective  Titles  of  the  Competitors  to  tlie  Crown  of  Aragon 258 


LISTS. 

Of  Emperors  during  the  Middle  Ages 270 

Of  Popes  during  the  Middle  Ages 316 


THE  STUDENT'S 

HISTORY  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    HISTORY    OF   FRANCE    FROM    ITS    CONQUEST   BY  CLOVIS   TC 
THE  INVASION  OF  NAPLES  BY  CHARLES  VIIL 


PART  I. 

5  L  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire^  §  2.  Invasion  of  Clovis.  §  3.  The  Meeovingianb, 
or  first  Race  of  French  Kings.  Accession  of  Pepin.  §  4.  The  Carlovingians. 
State  of  Italy.  §  5.  Charlemagne.  His  Reign.  §  6.  His  Coronation  as  iJmperor. 
§  7.  His  Character.  §  8.  Louis  the  Debonair.  §  9.  His  Successors.  §  10.  Remarks 
upon  the  Cariovingiau  Period.  §  11.  Calamitous  State  of  the  Empire  in  the  Ninth 
and  Tenth  Centuries.  §  12,  The  Hungarians.  §  13.  'J'he  Normans.  §  14.  Acces- 
sion of  Hugh  Capet.  §  15.  His  first  Successors.  §  10.  Louis  VII.  §  IT.  Philip 
Augustus.  Conquest  of  Normandy.  §  18.  War  in  Languedoc.  §  19.  Louis  IX. 
His  Character.  §  20.  Digression  upon  the  Crusades.  §  21.  Philip  III.  §  22.  Philip 
IV.  Aggrandizement  of  French  Monarchy  under  his  Reign.  §  23.  Suppression 
of  the  Knights  Templars.  §  24.  Reigns  of  his  Children.  Question  of  Salic  Law. 
§  25.  Claim  of  Edward  III. 

§  1.  Before  the  conclusion  of  the  fifth  century  the  mighty 
fabric  of  empire  which  valor  and  policy  had  founded  upon 
the  seven  hills  of  Rome  was  finally  overthrown  in  all  the 
west  of  Europe  by  the  barbarous  nations  from  the  North, 
whose  martial  energy  and  whose  numbers  were  irresistible. 
A  race  of  men,  formerly  unknown  or  despised,  had  not  only 
dismembered  that  proud  sovereignty,  but  permanently  set- 
tled themselves  in  its  fairest  provinces,  and  imposed  their 
yoke  upon  the  ancient  possessors.  The  Vandals  were  mas- 
ters of  Africa ;  the  Suevi  held  part  of  Spain ;  the  Visigoths 
possessed  the  remainder,  with  a  large  portion  of  Gaul ;  the 
Burgundians  occupied  the  provinces  watered  by  the  Rhone 
and  Saone ;  the  Ostrogoths  almost  all  Italy.  The  north-west 
of  Gaul,  between  the  Seine  and  the  Loire,  some  writers  have 
filled  with  an  Armorican  republic  ;^  while  the  remainder  was 
Btill  nominally  subject  to  the  Roman  Empire,  and  governed 

*  See  Note  I.,  '"The  Armorican  Republic." 


8,^       ■   .' ."  o-c'-  '    INVASION  OF  CLOVIS.  Chap.  I.  Takt  I. 

by  a  ceVtain  Syagriiis,  ra'ther  with  an  independent  than  a 
deputed  authority. 

§  2.  At  this  time  Clovis,  king  of  tlie  Salian  Franks,'^  a  tribe 
of  Germans  long  connected  with  Rome,  and  originally  set- 
tled upon  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  but  who  had  latterly 
penetrated  as  far  as  Tournay  and  Cambray,  invaded  Gaul, 
and  defeated  Syagrius  at  Soissons  (a.d.  486).  The  result  of 
this  victory  was  the  subjugation  of  those  provinces  which 
had  previously  been  considered  as  Roman.  But  as  their  al- 
legiance had  not  been  very  strict,  so  their  loss  was  not  very 
severely  felt ;  since  Anastasius,  the  Emperor  of  Constantino- 
ple, was  not  too  proud  to  confer  upon  Clovis  the  titles  of 
consul  and  patrician,  which  he  was  too  prudent  to  refuse.^ 

§  3.  Clovis  was  the  founder  of  the  Merovingian  dynasty. 
But  the  history  of  this  period  is  so  intricate,  that  it  may  as- 
sist the  memory  to  distribute  it  into  the  following  divisions: 

I.  The  Meign  of  Clovis  (a.d.  481-511). — Some  years  after 
his  recognition  by  the  Emperor,  Clovis  defeated  the  Aleman- 
ni,  or  Suabians,  in  a  great  battle  at  Zulpich,  near  Cologne. 
In  consequence  of  a  vow,  it  was  said,  made  during  this  en- 
gagement, and  at  the  instigation  of  his  wife  Clotilda,  a  prin- 
cess of  Burgundy,  he  became  a  convert  to  Christianity  (a.d, 
496).  It  would  be  a  fruitless  inquiry  whether  he  was  sincere 
in  this  change ;  but  it  is  certain,  at  least,  that  no  policy  could 
have  been  more  successful.  The  Arian  sect,  which  had  been 
early  introduced  among  the  barbarous  nations,  was  predom- 
inant, though  apparently  without  intolerance,  in  the  Burgun- 
dian  and  Visigoth  courts  ;  but  the  clergy  of  Gaul  were  stren- 
uously attached  to  the  Catholic  side,  and,  even  before  his 
conversion,  had  favored  the  arms  of  Clovis.  They  now  be- 
came his  most  zealous  supporters,  and  were  rewarded  by  him 
with  artful  gratitude,  and  by  his  descendants  with  lavish 
munificence.  Upon  the  pretense  of  religion  he  attacked  Al- 
aric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and  by  one  great  victory  near 
Poitiers,  overthrowing  their  empire  in  Gaul,  reduced  them 
to  the  maritime  province  of  Septimania,  a  narrow  strip  of 
coast  between  the  Rhone  and  the  Pyrenees  (a.d.  507).  The 
last  exploits  of  Clovis  w^ere  the  reduction  of  certain  independ- 
ent chiefs  of  his  own  tribe  and  family,  who  were  settled  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Rhine.  All  these  he  put  to  death 
by  force  or  treachery ;  for  he  was  cast  in  the  true  mould  of 
conquerors,  and  may  justly  be  ranked  among  the  first  of  his 
class,  both  for  the  splendor  and  the  guiltiness  of  his  ambi- 
tion. 

8  See  Note  II.,  "  The  Franks."         ^  See  Note  III.,  "  The  Consnlship  of  Clovis." 


France.  THE  MEKOVIXGIAN  DYNASTY.  9 

II.  The  Reigns  of  the  four  Sons  of  Cloms  (a.d.  511-561). — 
Clovis  left  four  sons  ;  one  illegitimate,  or  at  least  born  before 
his  conversion  ;  and  three  by  his  queen  Clotilda.  These  four 
made,  it  is  said,  an  equal  partition  of  his  dominions,  which 
comprehended  not  only  France,  but  the  western  and  central 
parts  of  Germany,  besides  Bavaria,  and  perhaps  Suabia,  which 
were  governed  by  their  own  dependent,  but  hereditary,  chiefs. 
Thierry,  the  eldest,  had  wdiat  was  called  Austrasia,  the  east- 
ern or  German  division,  and  fixed  his  capital  at  Metz;  Clodo- 
mir,  at  Orleans ;  Childebert  at  Paris ;  and  Clotaire,  at  Sois- 
sons.  During  their  reigns  the  monarchy  was  aggrandized 
by  the  conquest  of  Burgundy,  and  Provence,  in  Gaul  itself, 
while  Thuringia,  Suabia,  and  Bavaria,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Rhine,  were  added  to  their  dominions.  Clotaire,  the 
youngest  brother,  ultimately  reunited  all  the  kingdoms. 

III.  From  the  Death  of  Clotaire  I.  to  the  Accession  of  Clo- 
taire II.  (a.d.  561-613). — Upon  the  death  of  Clotaire  I.  a  sec- 
ond partition  among  his  four  sons  ensued  ;  the  four  kingdoms 
of  Paris,  Soissons,  Orleans,  and  Austrasia  revived  ;  but  a  new 
partition  of  these  was  required  by  the  recent  conquests,  and 
Gontran  of  Orleans,  without  resigning  that  kingdom,  removed 
his  residence  to  Burgundy.  The  four  kingdoms  were  reduced 
to  three  by  the  death  of  Caribert,  king  of  Paris  ;  one,  after- 
wards very  celebrated  by  the  name  of  Neustria,  between  the 
Scheldt  and  the  Loire,  was  formed  under  Chilperic,  compre- 
hending those  of  Paris  and  Soissons.  Caribert  of  Paris  had 
taken  Aquitaine,  which  at  his  death  was  divided  among  the 
three  survivors ;  Austrasia  was  the  portion  of  Sigebert.  This 
generation  was  fruitful  of  still  more  crimes  than  the  last,  re- 
deemed by  no  golden  glory  of  conquest.  Fredegonde,  the 
wife  of  Chilperic,  diffused  a  baleful  light  over  this  period. 
But  while  she  tyrannized  with  little  control  in  the  west  of 
France,  her  rival  and  sister  in  crime,  Brunehaut,  w^ife  of  Sige- 
bert and  mother  of  Thierry  IL,  his  successor,  had  to  encoun- 
ter a  powerful  opposition  from  the  Austrasian  aristocracy  ; 
and  in  this  part  of  the  monarchy  a  new  feature  developed 
itself;  the  great  proprietors,  or  nobility,  acted  systematically 
with  a  view  to  restrain  the  royal  power.  Brunehaut,  after 
many  vicissitudes,  and  after  having  seen  her  two  sons  on  the 
thrones  of  Austrasia  and  Burgundy,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Clotaire  II.,  king  of  the  other  division,  and  was  sentenced  to 
a  cruel  death.*     Clotaire  united  the  three  Frank  kingdoms. 

*  The  names  of  Fredegonde  and  Brunehant  are  distinguished  even  in  that  age  for 
the  magnitude  of  their  crimes  ;  of  the  atrocities  of  Fredegonde  none  have  doubted  ; 
and  Brunehaut  has  met  with  advocates  in  modern  times,  less,  perhaps,  from  any  fair 

1* 


10  THE  MEROVINGIAN  DYNASTY.      Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

IV.  Reigns  of  Clotaire  II.  and  his  Son  Dagohert  I.  (a.d. 
613-638). — The  royal  power,  though  shaken  by  the  Austra- 
sian  aristocracy,  was  still  effective.  Dagobert,  a  prince  who 
seems  to  have  rather  excelled  most  of  his  family,  and  to 
whose  munificence  several  extant  monuments  of  architecture 
and  the  arts  are  referred,  endeavored  to  stem  the  current. 
He  was  the  last  of  the  Merovingians  who  appears  to  have 
possessed  any  distinctive  character. 

V.  From  the  Accession  of  Olovis  II.,  Son  of  Dagobert,  to 
Pepin  HeristaVs  Victory  over  the  Neustrians  at  Testry  (a.d. 
638-687). — After  Dagobert  the  kings  of  France  dwindled 
into  personal  insignificance,  and  are  generally  treated  by  later 
historians  as  insensati,  or  idiots.  The  whole  power  of  the 
kingdom  devolved  upon  the  mayors  of  the  palace,  originally 
oflScers  of  the  household,  through  whom  petitions  or  repre- 
sentations were  laid  before  the  king.^  The  weakness  of  sov- 
ereigns rendered  this  ofiice  important,  and  still  greater  weak- 
ness suffered  it  to  become  elective  ;  men  of  energetic  talents 
and  ambition  united  it  with  military  command  ;  and  the  his- 
tory of  France  for  half  a  century  presents  no  names  more 
conspicuous  than  those  of  Ebroin  and  Grimoald,  mayors  of 
Neustria  and  Austrasia,  the  western  and  eastern  divisions  of 
the  French  monarchy. °  These,  however,  met  with  violent 
ends ;  but  a  more  successful  usurper  of  the  royal  authority 
was  Pepin  Heristal,  first  mayor,  and  afterwards  duke,  of  Aus- 
trasia. After  becoming  the  acknowledged  head  of  this  part 
of  the  kingdom,  he  put  an  end  to  the  independence  of  Neus- 
tria also  by  the  decisive  battle  of  Testry,  fought  in  687.  The 
battle  of  Testry  is  one  of  the  turning-points  in  French  his- 

presumptions  of  her  iuuoceuce  than  from  compassion  for  the  cruel  death  which  she 
underwent.  Brunehaut  was  no  unimportant  personage  in  this  history.  She  had 
become  hateful  to  the  Austrasiau  aristocracy  by  her  Gothic  blood,  and  still  more  by 
her  Roman  principles  of  government  There  was  evidently  a  combination  to  throw 
off  the  yoke  of  civilized  tyranny.  It  was  a  great  conflict,  which  ended  in  the  virtual 
dethronement  of  the  house  of  Clovis.  Much,  therefore,  may  have  been  exaggerated 
by  Fredegarius,  a  Burgundian  by  birth,  in  relating  the  crimes  of  Brunehaut.  But, 
unhappily,  the  antecedent  presumption,  in  the  history  of  that  age,  is  always  on  the 
worse  side.  She  was  unquestionably  endowed  with  a  masculine  energy  of  mind,  and 
very  superior  to  such  a  mere  imp  of  audacious  wickedness  as  Fredegonde.  BrunC' 
haut  left  a  great  and  almost  fabulous  name ;  public  causeways,  towers,  castles,  in 
different  parts  of  France,  are  popularly  ascribed  to  her.  It  has  even  been  suspected 
by  some  that  she  suggested  the  appellation  of  Brunechild  in  the  Nibelungen  Lied. 
That  there  is  no  resemblance  in  the  story  or  in  the  character,  courage  excepted,  of 
the  two  heroines,  can  not  be  thought  an  objection. 

*  See  Note  IV.,  "The  Mayor  of  the  Palace." 

•  The  original  kingdoms  of  Soissons,  Paris,  and  Orleans  were  consolidated  into 
that  denominated  Neustria,  to  which  Burgundy  was  generally  appendant,  though 
distinctly  governed  by  a  mayor  of  its  own  election.  But  Aqnitaine  was,  from  the 
time  of  Dagobert  I.,  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  monarchy,  under  a  ducal  dynasty, 
sprung  from  Aribert,  brother  of  that  monarch.    See  Note  V,,  "Aqnitaine." 


France.  ACCESSION  OF  PEPIN.  11 

tory.  It  gave  the  death-blow  to  Merovhigian  royalty :  it 
brought  to  a  termination  the  struggle  between  the  two  great 
members  of  the  Frank  empire;  it  assured  the  preponderance 
of  Teutonic  over  Roman  Gaul.  Pepin  fixed  his  residence 
at  Cologne,  and  his  family  seldom  kept  their  court  at  Paris. 
The  kingdoms  of  Austrasia  and  Neustria  rested  on  different 
bases.  In  the  former  the  Franks  were  more  numerous,  less 
scattered,  and,  as  far  as  we  can  perceive,  had  a  more  con- 
siderable nobility.  They  had  received  a  less  tincture  of  Ro- 
man policy.  They  were  nearer  to  the  mother  country,  which 
had  been,  as  the  earth  to  Antaeus,  the  source  of  perpetually 
recruited  vigor.  Burgundy,  a  member  latterly  of  the  Neus- 
trian  monarchy,  had  also  a  powerful  aristocracy,  but  not  in 
so  great  a  degree,  probably,  of  Frank,  or  even  barbarian  de- 
scent. It  is  highly  important  to  keep  in  mind  this  distinc- 
tion between  Austrasia  and  Neustria,  subsisting  for  some  ages, 
and,  in  fact,  only  replaced,  speaking  without  exact  geograph- 
ical precision,  by  that  of  Germany  and  France. 

VI.  From  the  Battle  of  Testry  to  the  Accession  of  Pepin  le 
Bref  (a.d.  687-752).— From  this  time  the  family  of  Pepin 
was  virtually  sovereign  in  France,  though  at  every  vacancy 
kings  of  the  royal  house  were  placed  by  them  on  the  throne. 
Charles  Martel,  indeed,  son  of  Pepin,  was  not  acknowledged, 
even  in  Austrasia,  for  a  short  time  after  his  father's  death, 
and  Neustria  attempted  to  regain  her  independence ;  but  he 
was  soon  called  to  power,  defeated,  like  his  father,  the  west- 
ern Franks,  and  became,  in  almost  as  great  a  degree  as  his 
grandson,  the  founder  of  a  new  monarchy.  But  in  732  he 
w^as  called  upon  to  encounter  a  new  and  terrible  enemy. 
The  Saracens,  after  subjugating  Spain,  had  penetrated  into 
the  very  heart  of  France.  Charles  Martel  gained  a  complete 
victory  over  them  between  Tours  and  Poitiers,  in  which 
300,000  Mohammedans  are  hyperbolically  asserted  to  have 
fallen.  The  reward  of  this  victory  was  the  province  of  Septi- 
mania,  which  the  Saracens  had  conquered  from  the  Visigoths.^ 

Such  powerful  subjects  were  not  likely  to  remain  long 

''  The  victory  of  Charles  Martel  has  immortalized  his  name,  and  may  justly  be  reck- 
oned among  those  few  battles  of  which  a  contrary  event  would  have  essentially  va- 
ried the  drama  of  the  world  in  all  its  subsequent  scenes ;  with  Marathon,  Arbela,  the 
Metaurus,  Chalons,  and  Leipsic.  Yet  do  we  not  judge  a  little  too  much  by  the  event, 
and  follow,  as  usual,  in  the  wake  of  fortune  ?  Has  not  more  frequent  experience  con- 
demned those  who  set  the  fate  of  empires  upon  a  single  cast,  and  risk  a  general  bat- 
tle with  invaders,  whose  greater  peril  is  in  delay  ?  "Was  not  this  the  fatal  error  by 
which  Roderic  had  lost  his  kingdom  ?  Was  it  possible  that  the  Saracens  could  have 
retained  any  permanent  possession  of  France,  except  by  means  of  a  victory  ?  And 
did  not  the  contest  upon  the  broad  champaign  of  Poitou  afford  them  a  considerable 
prospect  of  success,  which  a  more  cautions  policy  would  have  withheld? 


•12  THE  CARLO VINGIANS.  Chap.  I.  Part  1, 

contented  without  the  crown  ;  but  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  transferred  from  the  race  of  Clovis  are  connect- 
ed with  one  of  the  most  important  revolutions  in  the  histo- 
ry of  Europe.  The  mayor  Pepin,  surnamed  le  Bref,  to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  his  grandfather,  inheriting  his  father 
Charles  Martel's  talents  and  ambition,  made,  in  the  name 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  nation,  a  solemn  reference  to  the 
pope  Zacharias,  as  to  the  deposition  of  Chilperic  III.,  under 
whose  nominal  authority  he  himself  was  reigning.  The  de- 
cision was  favorable ;  that  he  who  possessed  the  power  should 
also  bear  the  title  of  king.  The  unfortunate  Merovingian 
was  dismissed  into  a  convent,  and  the  Franks,  with  one  con- 
sent, raised  Pepin  to  the  throne,  the  founder  of  a  more  illus- 
trious dynasty  (a.d.  752).  In  order  to  judge  of  the  impor- 
tance of  this  revolution  to  the  See  of  Rome  as  well  as  to 
France,  we  must  turn  our  eyes  upon  the  affairs  of  Italy. 

§  4.  The  Carlovingiaxs. — The  dominion  of  the  Ostrogoths 
was  annihilated  by  the  arms  of  Belisarius  and  Narses  in  the 
sixth  century,  and  that  nation  appears  no  more  in  history. 
But  not  long  afterwards  the  Lombards,  a  people  for  some 
time  settled  in  Pannonia,  not  only  subdued  that  northern 
part  of  Italy  which  has  retained  their  name,  but,  extending 
themselves  southward,  formed  the  powerful  duchies  of  Spo- 
leto  and  Benevento.  The  residence  of  their  kings  was  in 
Pavia ;  but  the  hereditary  vassals,  Avho  held  those  two 
duchies,  might  be  deemed  almost  independent  sovereigns. 
The  rest  of  Italy  was  governed  by  exarchs,  deputed  by  the 
Greek  emperors,  and  fixed  at  Ravenna.  In  Rome  itself  nei- 
ther the  people  nor  the  bishops,  who  had  already  conceived 
in  part  their  schemes  of  ambition,  were  much  inclined  to  en- 
dure the  superiority  of  Constantinople ;  yet  their  disaffection 
was  counterbalanced  by  the  inveterate  hatred,  as  well  as 
jealousy,  with  which  they  regarded  the  Lombards.  But  an 
impolitic  and  intemperate  persecution,  carried  on  by  two 
or  three  Greek  emperors  against  a  favorite  superstition,  the 
worship  of  images,  excited  commotions  throughout  Italy,  of 
which  the  Lombards  took  advantage,  and  easily  wrested  the 
exarchate  of  Ravenna  from  the  Eastern  empire  (a.d.  752).  It 
was  far  from  the  design  of  the  popes  to  see  their  nearest 
enemies  so  much  aggrandized;  and  any  effectual  assistance 
from  the  Emperor,  Constantine  Copronymus,  would  have  kept 
Rome  still  faithful.  But  having  no  hope  from  his  arms,  and 
provoked  by  his  obstinate  intolerance,  the  pontiffs  had  re- 
course to  France ,'  and  the  service  they  had  rendered  to 
Pepin  led  to  reciprocal  obligations  of  the  greatest  magni- 


France.  CHARLEMAGNE.  13 

tude.  At  the  request  of  Stephen  II.  the  new  king  of  France 
descended  from  the  Alps,  drove  the  Lombards  from  their  re- 
cent conquests,  and  conferred  them  upon  the  pope.  This 
memorable  donation  nearly  comprised  the  modern  provinces 
of  Romagna  and  the  March  of  Ancona. 

§5.  Charlemagne  (a.d,  '768-814). —The  state  of  Italy, 
which  had  undergone  no  change  for  nearly  two  centuries, 
was  now  rapidly  verging  to  a  great  revolution.  Under  the 
shadow  of  a  mighty  name  the  Greek  empire  had  concealed 
the  extent  of  its  decline.  That  charm  was  now  broken  ;  and 
the  Lombard  kingdom,  which  had  hitherto  appeared  the  only 
competitor  in  the  lists,  proved  to  have  lost  its  own  energy  in 
awaiting  the  occasion  for  its  display.  France  was  far  more 
than  a  match  for  the  power  of  Italy,  even  if  she  had  not 
been  guided  by  the  towering  ambition  and  restless  activity 
of  the  son  of  Pepin.  It  was  almost  the  first  exploit  of  Char- 
lemagne, after  the  death  of  his  brother  Carloman  had  re- 
united the  Frankish  empire  under  his  dominion,  to  subjugate 
the  kingdom  of  Lombardy  (a.d.  774).  Neither  Pavia  nor  Ve- 
rona, its  most  considerable  cities,  interposed  any  material 
delay  to  his  arms ;  and  the  chief  resistance  he  encountered 
was  from  the  dukes  of  Friuli  and  Benevento,  the  latter  of 
whom  could  never  be  brought  into  thorough  subjection  to 
the  conqueror.  Italy,  however,  be  the  cause  what  it  might, 
seems  to  have  tempted  Charlemagne  far  less  than  the  dark 
forests  of  Germany.  For  neither  the  southern  provinces  nor 
Sicily  could  have  withstood  his  power  if  it  had  been  steadily 
directed  against  them.  Even  Spain  hardly  drew  so  much  of 
his  attention  as  the  splendor  of  the  prize  might  naturally 
have  excited.  He  gained,  however,  a  very  important  acces- 
sion to  his  empire,  by  conquering  from  the  Saracens  the  ter- 
ritory contained  between  the  Pyrenees  and  the  Ebro.  This 
was  formed  into  the  Spanish  March,  governed  by  the  Count 
of  Barcelona,  part  of  which  at  least  must  be  considered  as 
appertaining  to  France  till  the  twelfth  century. 

But  the  most  tedious  and  difficult  achievement  of  Charle- 
magne was  the  reduction  of  the  Saxons.  The  wars  with  this 
nation,  who  occupied  nearly  the  modern  circles  of  Westphalia 
and  Lower  Saxony,  lasted  for  thirty  years.  Whenever  the 
conqueror  withdrew  his  armies,  or  even  his  person,  the  Sax- 
ons broke  into  fresh  rebellion,  which  his  unparalleled  rapid- 
ity of  movement  seldom  failed  to  crush  without  delay.  From 
such  perseverance  on  either  side,  destruction  of  the  weaker 
could  alone  result.  A  large  colony  of  Saxons  were  finally 
transplanted  into  Flanders  and  Brabant,  countries  hitherto  ill« 


14  CHARLEMAGNE.  Chap.  I.  Part  I 

peopled,  in  which  their  descendants  preserved  the  same  un- 
conquerable spirit  of  resistance  to  oppression.  Many  fled  to 
the  kingdoms  of  Scandinavia,  and,  mingling  with  the  North- 
men, who  w^ere  just  preparing  to  ran  their  memorable  career, 
revenged  upon  the  children  and  subjects  of  Charlemagne  the 
devastation  of  Saxony.  The  remnant  embraced  Christianity, 
their  aversion  to  which  had  been  the  chief  cause  of  their  re- 
bellions, and  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  Charlemagne 
— a  submission  which  even  Witikind,  the^  second  Arniinius 
of  Germany,  after  such  irresistible  conviction  of  her  destiny, 
did  not  disdain  to  make.  But  they  retained,  in  the  main, 
their  own  laws;  they  were  governed  by  a  duke  of  their  own 
nation,  if  not  of  their  own  election ;  and  for  many  ages  they 
were  distinguished  by  their  original  character  among  the  na- 
tions of  Germany.® 

The  success  of  Charlemagne  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  his 
empire  against  the  Sclavonians  of  Bohemia  and  Huns  or 
Avars  of  Pannonia,  though  obtained  with  less  cost,  were 
hardly  less  eminent.  In  all  his  wars  the  newly  conquered 
nations,  or  those  whom  fear  had  made  dependent  allies,  were 
employed  to  subjugate  their  neighbors,  and  the  incessant 
waste  of  fatigue  and  the  sword  was  supplied  by  a  fresh  pop- 
ulation that  swelled  the  expanding  circle  of  dominion.  The 
limits  of  the  new  Western  empire  are  not  very  exactly  de- 
fined by  contemporary  writers,  nor  would  it  be  easy  to  ap- 
preciate the  degree  of  subjection  in  which  the  Sclavonian 
tribes  were  held.  As  an  organized  mass  of  provinces,  regu- 
larly governed  by  imperial  ofticers,  it  seems  to  have  been 
nearly  bounded,  in  Germany,  by  the  Elbe,  the  Saale,  the  Bo- 
hemian mountains,  and  a  line  drawn  from  thence  crossing  the 
Danube  above  Vienna,  and  prolonged  to  the  Gulf  of  Istria. 
Part  of  Dalmatia  was  comprised  in  the  Duchy  of  Friuli.  In 
Italy  the  empire  extended  not  much  beyond  the  modern 
frontier  of  Naples,  if  we  exclude,  as  was  the  fact,  the  Duchy 
of  Benevento  from  any  thing  more  than  a  titular  subjection. 
The  Spanish  boundary,  as  has  been  said  already,  was  the 
Ebro. 

§  6.  A  seal  was  put  to  the  glory  of  Charlemagne  when 
Leo  III.,  in  the  name  of  the  Roman  people,  placed  upon  his 
head  the  imperial  crown  (a.d.  800).  His  father,  Pepin,  had 
borne  the  title  of  Patrician,  and  he  had  himself  exercised, 
with  that  title,  a  regular  sovereignty  over  Rome.  Money 
was  coined  in  his  name,  and  an  oath  of  fidelity  was  taken 
by  the  clergy  and  people.     But  the  appellation  of  Emperor 

8  See  Note  VI.,  "  The  Subjection  of  the  Saxons." 


FRANCE.  CHARACTER  OF  CHARLEMAGNE.  15 

seemed  to  place  his  authority  over  all  his  subjects  on  a  new 
footing.  It  was  full  of  high  and  indefinite  pretension,  tend- 
ing to  overshadow  the  free  election  of  the  Franks  by  a  fic- 
titious descent  from  Augustus.  A  fresh  oath  of  fidelity  to 
him  as  emperor  was  demanded  from  his  subjects.* 

§  7.  In  analyzing  the  characters  of  heroes  it  is  hardly  pos- 
sible to  separate  altogether  the  share  of  fortune  from  their 
own.  The  epoch  made  by  Charlemagne  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  the  illustrious  families  which  prided  themselves 
in  him  as  their  progenitor,  the  very  legends  of  romance, 
which  are  full  of  his  fabulous  exploits,  have  cast  a  lustre 
around  his  head,  and  testify  the  greatness  that  has  embodied 
itself  in  his  name.  None,  indeed,  of  Charlemagne's  wars  can 
be  compared  with  the  Saracenic  victory  of  Charles  Martel ; 
but  that  was  a  contest  for  freedom,  his  for  conquest ;  and 
fame  is  more  partial  to  successful  aggression  than  to  patri- 
otic resistance.  As  a  scholar,  his  acquisitions  were  probably 
little  superior  to  those  of  his  unrespected  son  ;  and  in  sev- 
eral points  of  view  the  glory  of  Charlemagne  might  be  ex- 
tenuated by  an  analytical  dissection.  But,  rejecting  a  mode 
of  judging  equally  uncandid  and  fillacious,  w^e  shall  find 
that  he  possessed  in  every  thing  that  grandeur  of  conception 
which  distinguishes  extraordinary  minds.  Like  Alexander, 
he  seemed  born  for  universal  innovation :  in  a  life  restlessly 
active,  we  see  him  reforming  the  coinage  and  establishing 
the  legal  divisions  of  money  ;  gathering  about  him  the  learn- 
ed of  every  country ;  founding  schools  and  collecting  libra- 
ries ;  interfering,  but  with  the  tone  of  a  king,  in  religious 
controversies  ;  aiming,  though  prematurely,  at  the  formation 
of  a  naval  force  ;  attempting,  for  the  sake  of  commerce,  the 
magnificent  enterprise  of  uniting  the  Rhine  and  Danube ; 
and  meditating  to  mould  the  discordant  codes  of  Roman  and 
barbarian  laws  into  a  uniform  system. 

The  great  qualities  of  Charlemagne  were,  indeed,  alloyed 
by  the  vices  of  a  barbarian  and  a  conqueror.  Nine  wives, 
whom  he  divorced  with  very  little  ceremony,  attest  the  li- 
cense of  his  private  life,  which  his  temperance  and  frugality 
can  hardly  be  said  to  redeem.  Unsparing  of  blood,  though 
not  constitutionally  cruel,  and  wholly  indifferent  to  the  means 
which  his  ambition  prescribed,  he  beheaded  in  one  day  four 
thousand  Saxons — an  act  of  atrocious  butchery,  after  which 
his  persecuting  edicts,  pronouncing  the  pain  of  death  against 
those  who  refused  baptism,  or  even  w^ho  ate  flesh  during 
Lent,  seem  scarcely  w^orthy  of  notice.     This  union  of  barba- 

»  See  Note  VII. ,  "  Charlemagne,  Emperor." 


i(>  LOLltS  THE  DEBONAIK.  Chap.  I.  Part  1. 

rous  ferocity  with  elevated  views  of  national  improvement 
might  suggest  the  parallel  of  Peter  the  Great.  But  the  de- 
grading habits  and  brute  violence  of  the  Muscovite  place 
him  at  an  immense  distance  from  the  restorer  of  the  emjDire. 

A  strong  sympathy  for  intellectual  excellence  was  the 
leading  characteristic  of  Charlemagne,  and  this  undoubtedly 
biased  him  in  the  chief  political  error  of  his  conduct — that 
of  encouraging  the  power  and  pretensions  of  the  hierarchy. 
But,  perhaps,  his  greatest  eulogy  is  written  in  the  disgraces 
of  succeeding  times  and  the  miseries  of  Europe.  He  stands 
alone,  like  a  beacon  upon  a  waste,  or  a  rock  in  the  broad 
ocean.  His  sceptre  was  the  bow  of  Ulysses,  which  could 
not  be  drawn  by  any  weaker  hand.  In  the  Dark  Ages  of 
European  history  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  affords  a  solitary 
resting-place  between  two  long  periods  of  turbulence  and  ig- 
nominy, deriving  the  advantages  of  contrast  both  from  that 
of  the  preceding  dynasty  and  of  a  posterity  for  whom  he  had 
formed  an  empire  which  they  were  unworthy  and  unequal  to 
maintain. 

§  8.  Louis  the  Debonair  (a.d.  814-840). — Under  this 
prince,  called  by  the  Italians  the  Pious,  and  by  the  French 
the  Debonair,  or  good-natured,'"  the  mighty  structure  of  his 
father's  power  began  rapidly  to  decay.  I  do  not  know  that 
Louis  deserves  so  much  contempt  as  he  has  undergone  ;  but 
historians  have  in  general  more  indulgence  for  splendid  crimes 
than  for  the  weaknesses  of  virtue.  There  w^as  no  defect  in 
Louis's  understanding  or  courage;  he  was  accomplished  in 
martial  exercises,  and  in  all  the  learning  which  an  education, 
excellent  for  that  age,  could  supply.  No  one  was  ever  more 
anxious  to  reform  the  abuses  of  administration ;  and  who- 
ever compares  his  capitularies  with  those  of  Charlemagne 
will  perceive  that,  as  a  legislator,  he  was  even  superior  to  his 
father.  The  fault  lay  entirely  in  his  heart;  and  this  fault 
was  nothing  but  a  temper  too  soft  and  a  conscience  too 
strict.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  the  empire  should  have  been 
speedily  dissolved  ;  a  succession  of  such  men  as  Charles 
Martel,  Pepin,  and  Charlemagne  could  alone  have  preserved 
its  integrity ;  but  the  misfortunes  of  Louis  and  his  people 
were  immediately  owing  to  the  following  errors  of  his  con- 
duct. 

Soon  after  his  accession  Louis  thought  fit  to  associate  his 
eldest  son,  Lothaire,  to  the  empire,  and  to  confer  the  prov- 
inces of  Bavaria  and  Aquitaine,  as  subordinate  kingdoms 

10  These  names  meant  the  same  thins:.    Piu^  had,  even  in  good  Latin,  the  sense 
mitis,  meek,  forbearing,  or  what  the  French  call  debonnaire. 


Fkance.  LOUIS  THE  DEBONAIR.  17 

upon  the  two  younger,  Louis  and  Pepin,  a.d.  817.  The  step 
was,  in  appearance,  conformable  to  his  father's  policy,  who 
had  acted  towards  himself  in  a  similar  manner.  But  such 
measures  are  not  subject  to  general  rules,  and  exact  a  care- 
ful regard  to  characters  and  circumstances.  The  principle, 
however,  which  regulated  this  division  was  learned  from 
Charlemagne,  and  could  alone,  if  strictly  pursued,  have  given 
unity  and  permanence  to  the  empire.  The  elder  brother 
was  to  preserve  his  superiority  over  the  others,  so  that  they 
should  neither  make  peace  nor  war,  nor  even  give  answer  to 
ambassadors,  without  his  consent.  Upon  the  death  of  either 
no  further  partition  was  to  be  made ;  but  whichever  of  his 
children  might  become  the  popular  choice  was  to  inherit  the 
whole  kingdom,  under  the  same  superiority  of  the  head  of  the 
family.  This  compact  was,  from  the  beginning,  disliked  by 
the  younger  brothers ;  and  an  event  upon  which  Louis  does 
not  seem  to  have  calculated  soon  disgusted  his  colleague,  Lo- 
thaire.  Judith  of  Bavaria,  the  emperor's  second  wife,  an  am- 
bitious woman,  bore  him  a  son,  by  name  Charles,  whom  both 
parents  were  naturally  anxious  to  place  on  an  equal  footing 
with  his  brothers.  But  this  could  only  be  done  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Lothaire,  who  was  ill  disposed  to  see  his  empire  still 
further  dismembered  for  this  child  of  a  second  bed.  Louis 
passed  his  life  in  a  struggle  with  three  undutiful  sons,  who 
abused  his  paternal  kindness  by  constant  rebellions. 

These  were  rendered  more  formidable  by  the  concurrence 
of  a  different  class  of  enemies,  whom  it  had  been  another  er- 
ror of  the  emperor  to  provoke.  Charlemagne  had  assumed  a 
thorough  control  and  supremacy  over  the  clergy ;  and  his 
son  was  perhaps  still  more  vigilant  in  chastising  their  irreg- 
ularities, and  reforming  their  rules  of  discipline.  But  to  this, 
which  they  had  been  compelled  to  bear  at  the  hands  of  the 
first,  it  was  not  equally  easy  for  the  second  to  obtain  their 
submission.  Louis,  therefore,  drew  on  himself  the  inveterate 
enmity  of  men  who  united  M'ith  the  turbulence  of  martial 
nobles  a  skill  in  managing  those  engines  of  offense  which 
were  peculiar  to  their  order,  and  to  which  the  implicit  devo- 
tion of  his  character  laid  him  very  open.  Yet,  after  many 
vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  many  days  of  ignominy,  his  wish- 
es were  eventually  accomplished. 

§  9.  Upon  the  death  of  Louis  the  Debonair,  his  youngest 
son,  Charles,  surnamed  the  Bald,  obtained  most  part  of 
France,  while  Germany  fell  to  the  share  of  Louis,  and  the 
rest  of  the  imperial  dominions,  with  the  title,  to  the  eldest, 
Lothair.     This  partition  was   the   result    of  a    sanguinary, 


18      SUCCESSORS  OF  LOUIS  THE  DEBONAIR.     Chap.  I.  Pakt  I. 


though  short,  contest ;  and  it  gave  a  fatal  blow  to  the  em- 
pire of  the  Franks.  For  the  treaty  of  Verdun  in  843  abro- 
gated the  sovereignty  that  had  been  attached  to  the  eldest 
brother  and  to  the  imperial  name  in  former  partitions  :  each 
held  his  respective  kingdom  as  an  independent  right.  This 
is  the  epoch  of  a  final  separation  between  the  French  and 
German  members  of  the  empire.  Its  millenary  was  cele- 
brated by  some  of  the  latter  nation  in  1843.*^ 

SUCCESSORS  OF  LOUIS  THE  DEBONAIR. 

Louis  the  Debonair. 

(S 14-840). 


Lothaire, 
emperor 
(ob.  855). 


Louis  II., 
emperor 
(ob.  8T6). 


I 
Lothaire, 

k.of 
Lorraine 
(ob.  869). 


Charles, 

k.  of 
Burgundy 

and 
Provence 
(ob.  803). 


Pepin 
(ob.  838) 


Pepin  II., 

k.of 
Aquitaiue. 


Louis  the       Charles  the 
German  Bald, 

(ob.  8TG).        k.of  France 
(ob.  87T). 


Charles 
the  Fat, 
k.  and 
emperor 
(ob.  888). 


Louis 

le  Begue 
(ob.  879). 


Louis  III. 
(ob.  882). 


Carloman 
(ob.  884), 


Charles  the  Simple 
(ob.  929). 

Louis  IV. 

(d'Outremer) 

(ob.  954.) 


Lothaire 
(ob.  986). 

I 
Louis  V. 
(ob.  987). 


Charles, 

d.  of  Lorraine 

(ob.  992). 


The  subsequent  partitions  made  among  the  children  of 
these  brothers  are  of  too  rapid  succession  to  be  here  related. 
In  about  forty  years  the  empire  was  nearly  reunited  un- 
der Charles  the  Fat,  son  of  Louis  of  Germany  ;  but  his  short 
and  inglorious  reign  ended  in  his  deposition.  From  this 
time  the  possession  of  Italy  was  contested  among  her  native 
princes ;  Germany  fell  at  first  to  an  illegitimate  descendant 
of  Charlemagne,  and  in  a  short  time  was  entirely  lost  by  his 

"  In  the  division  made  by  the  treaty  of  Verdnn,  the  kingdom  of  France,  which  fell 
to  Charles  the  Bald,  had  for  its  eastern  boundary  the  Meuse,  the  Saoue,  and  the 
Rhone ;  which,  nevertheless,  can  only  be  understood  of  the  Upper  Meuse,  since  Bra- 
bant was  certainly  not  comprised  in  it.  Lothaire,  the  elder  brother,  besides  Italy, 
had  a  kingdom  called  Lorrain,  from  his  name  (Lotharingia),  extending  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Rhine  to  Provence,  bounded  by  that  river  on  one  frontier,  by  France  on 
the  other.    Louis  took  all  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  was  usually  styled  the  Germanic. 


France.  THE  CARLOVINGIAN  PERIOD.  19 

family ;  two  kingdoms,  afterwards  united,  were  formed  by- 
usurpers  out  of  what  was  then  called  Burgundy,  and  com- 
prised the  provinces  between  the  Rhone  and  the  Alps,  with 
Franche  Comte  and  great  part  of  Switzerland."  In  France 
the  Carlovingian  kings  continued  for  another  century  ;  but 
their  line  was  interrupted  two  or  three  times  by  the  election 
or  usurpation  of  a  powerful  family,  the  counts  of  Paris  and 
Orleans,  who  ended,  like  the  old  mayors  of  the  palace,  in  dis- 
persing the  phantoms  of  royalty  they  had  professed  to  serve. 
Hugh  Capet,  the  representative  of  this  House,  upon  the 
death  of  Louis  V.,  placed  himself  upon  the  throne  ;  thus 
founding  the  third  and  most  permanent  race  of  French  sov- 
ereigns. Before  this  happened,  the  descendants  of  Charle- 
magne had  sunk  into  insignificance,  and  retained  little  more 
of  France  than  the  city  of  Laon.  The  rest  of  the  kingdom 
had  been  seized  by  the  powerful  nobles,  who,  with  the  nom- 
inal fidelity  of  the  feudal  system,  maintained  its  practical  in- 
dependence and  rebellious  spirit. 

§  10.  The  second  period  of  Carlovingian  history,  or  that 
which  elapsed  from  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Bald  to  the  ac- 
cession of  Hugh  Capet,  must  be  reckoned  the  transitional 
state,  through  scenes  of  barbarous  anarchy,  from  the  artifi- 
cial scheme  devised  by  Charlemagne,  in  which  the  Roman 
and  German  elements  of  civil  policy  were  rather  in  conflict 
than  in  union,  to  a  new  state  of  society — the  feudal,  which, 
though  pregnant  itself  with  great  evil,  was  the  means  both  of 
preserving  the  frame  of  European  policy  from  disintegration, 
and  of  elaborating  the  moral  and  constitutional  principles 
upon  which  it  afterwards  rested. 

This  period  exhibits,  upon  the  w^hole,  a  failure  of  the  grand 
endeavor  made  by  Charlemagne  for  the  regeneration  of  his 
empire.  This  proceeded  very  much  from  the  common 
chances  of  hereditary  succession,  especially  when  not  coun- 
terbalanced by  established  powers  independent  of  it.  Three 
of  his  name,  Charles  the  Bald,  the  Fat,  and  the  Simple,  had 
time  to  pull  down  what  the  great  legislator  and  conqueror 
had  erected.  Encouraged  by  their  pusillanimity  and  weak- 
ness, the  nobility  strove  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  seventh 
century.  They  entered  into  a  coalition  with  the  bishops, 
though  Charles  the  Bald  had  often  sheltered  himself  behind 
the  crosier ;  and  they  compelled  his  son,  Louis  the  Stam- 
merer, not  only  to  confirm  their  own  privileges  and  those  of 
the  Church,  but  to  style  himself  "  King,  by  the  grace  of  God 
and  election  of  the  people ;"  which,  indeed,  according  to  the 

"  See  Note  VIII.,  "On  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy." 


20         CALAMITOUS  STATE  OF  THE  EMPIKE.     Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

established  constitution,  was  no  more  than  truth,  since  the 
absolute  right  to  succession  was  only  in  the  family.  The  in- 
ability of  the  crown  to  protect  its  subjects  from  their  in- 
vaders rendered  this  assumption  of  aristocratic  independ- 
ence absolutely  necessary.  In  this  age  of  agony,  Sismondi 
well  says,  the  nation  began  to  revive ;  new  social  bodies 
sprung  from  the  carcass  of  the  great  empire.  France,  so  de- 
fenseless under  the  Bald  and  the  Fat  Charleses,  bristled  with 
castles  before  930.  She  renewed  the  fable  of  Deucalion  ;  slie 
sowed  stones,  and  armed  men  rose  out  of  them.  The  lords 
surrounded  themselves  with  vassals;  and  had  not  tlie  Nor- 
man incursions  ceased  before,  they  would  have  met  Avith  a 
much  more  determined  resistance  than  in  the  preceding  cen- 
tury.^' 

The  theory  propounded  by  Thierry,  and  accepted  by  many 
French  writers,  to  elucidate  the  Carlovingian  period,  re- 
quires a  brief  notice.  Thierry  maintains  that  the  key  to  all 
the  revolutions  in  two  centuries  is  to  be  found  in  the  antip- 
athy of  the  Romans,  that  is,  the  ancient  inhabitants,  to  the 
Franks  or  Germans.  The  latter  were  represented  by  the 
house  of  Charlemagne ;  the  former  by  that  of  Robert  the 
Brave,  through  its  valiant  descendants,  Eudes,  Robert,  and 
Hugh  Capet.  But  though  the  differences  of  origin  and  lan- 
guage, so  far  as  they  existed,  might  be  by  no  means  unim- 
portant in  the  great  revolution  near  the  close  of  the  tenth 
century,  they  can  not  be  relied  upon  as  sufficiently  explain- 
ing its  cause.  The  partisans  of  either  family  were  not  exclu- 
sively of  one  blood.  The  house  of  Capet  itself  was  not  of 
Roman,  but  probably  of  Saxon  descent.  It  is  certainly  prob- 
able that  the  Neustrian  French  had  come  to  feel  a  greater 
sympathy  with  the  house  of  Capet  than  with  a  line  of  kings 
who  rarely  visited  their  country,  and  whom  they  could  not 
but  contemplate  as  in  some  adverse  relation  to  their  natural 
and  popular  chiefs.  But  the  national  voice  was  not  greatly 
consulted  in  those  ages.  It  is  remarkable  that  several 
writers  of  the  nineteenth  century,  however  they  may  some- 
times place  the  true  condition  of  the  people  in  a  vivid  light, 
are  constantly  relapsing  into  a  democratic  theory.  They  do 
not  by  any  means  underrate  the  oppressed  and  almost  servile 
condition  of  the  peasantry  and  burgesses,  when  it  is  their  aim 
to  draw  a  picture  of  society  ;  yet  in  reasoning  on  a  political 
revolution,  such  as  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  German  dynas- 
ty, they  ascribe  to  these  degraded  classes  both  the  will  and 
the  power  to  effect  it.     The  proud  nationality  which  spurnc-d 

»3  Sismondi,  "Hist,  des  Franf ais," iii.,  218,  878;  iv.,9. 


France.  THE  SCLAVONIANS.  21 

a  foreign  line  of  princes  could  not  be  felt  by  an  impoverished 
and  afflicted  commonalty. 

§  11.  These  were  times  of  great  misery  to  the  people,  and 
the  worst,  perhaps,  that  Europe  has  ever  known.  Even  un- 
der Charlemagne,  we  have  abundant  proofs  of  the  calamities 
which  the  people  suffered.  The  light  which  shone  around 
him  was  that  of  a  consuming  fire.  The  free  proprietors,  who 
had  once  considered  themselves  as  only  called  upon  to  resist 
foreign  invasion,  were  harassed  by  endless  expeditions,  and 
dragged  away  to  the  Baltic  Sea,  or  the  banks  of  the  Drave. 
Many  of  them,  as  we  learn  from  his  Capitularies,  became  ec- 
clesiastics to  avoid  military  conscription.  But  far  worse 
must  have  been  their  state  under  the  lax  government  of  suc- 
ceeding times,  when  the  dukes  and  counts,  no  longer  checked 
by  the  vigorous  administration  of  Charlemagne,  were  at  lib- 
erty to  play  the  tyrants  in  their  several  territories,  of  which 
they  now  became  almost  the  sovereigns.  The  poorer  land- 
holders accordingly  were  forced  to  bow  their  necks  to  the 
yoke ;  and,  either  by  compulsion  or  through  hope  of  being 
better  protected,  submitted  their  independent  patrimonies  to 
the  feudal  tenure. 

But  evils  still  more  terrible  than  these  political  abuses 
were  the  lot  of  those  nations  who  had  been  subject  to  Charle- 
magne. They,  indeed,  may  appear  to  us  little  better  than 
ferocious  barbarians ;  but  they  were  exposed  to  the  assaults 
of  tribes,  in  comparison  of  whom  they  must  be  deemed  hu- 
mane and  polished.  Each  frontier  of  the  empire  had  to 
dread  the  attack  of  an  enemy.  The  coasts  of  Italy  were 
continually  alarmed  by  the  Saracens  of  Africa,  who  possessed 
themselves  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  became  masters  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  Though  the  Greek  dominions  in  the 
south  of  Italy  were  chiefly  exposed  to  them,  they  twice  in- 
sulted and  ravaged  the  territory  of  Rome  (a.d.  846-849)  ; 
nor  was  there  any  security  even  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
maritime  Alps,  where,  early  in  the  tenth  century,  they  settled 
a  piratical  colony. 

§  12.  Much  more  formidable  were  the  foes  by  whom  Ger- 
many was  assailed.  The  Sclavonians,  a  w^idely  extended 
people,  whose  language  is  still  spoken  upon  half  the  surface 
of  Europe,  had  occupied  the  countries  of  Bohemia,  Poland, 
and  Pannonia,^*  on  the  eastern  confines  of  the  empire,  and 

^*  I  am  sensible  of  the  awkward  effect  of  introducing  this  name  from  a  more  an- 
cient geography,  but  it  saves  a  circumlocution  still  more  awkward.  Austria  would 
convey  an  imperfect  idea,  and  the  Austrian  dominions  could  not  be  named  without  a 
tremendous  anachronism. 


22  THE  NORMANS.  Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

from  the  time  of  Charlemagne  acknowledged  its  superiority. 
But  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  a  Tartarian  tribe,  the 
Hungarians,  overspreading  that  country  which  since  has 
borne  their  name,  and  moving  forward  like  a  vast  wave, 
brought  a  dreadful  reverse  upon  Germany.  Their  numbers 
were  great,  their  ferocity  untamed.  They  fought  with  light 
cavalry  and  light  armor,  trusting  to  their  showers  of  arrows, 
against  whom  the  swords  and  lances  of  the  European  armies 
could  not  avail.  The  memory  of  Attila  was  renewed  in  the 
devastations  of  these  savages,  who,  if  they  were  not  his  com- 
patriots, resembled  them  both  in  their  countenances  and  cus- 
toms. All  Italy,  all  Germany,  and  the  south  of  France,  felt 
this  scourge ;  till  Henry  the  Fowler  and  Otho  the  Great 
drove  them  back  by  successive  victories  within  their  own 
limits,  where,  in  a  short  time,  they  learned  peaceful  arts, 
adopted  the  religion  and  followed  the  policy  of  Christendom 
{a.d.  934-954). 

§  13.  If  any  enemies  could  be  more  destructive  than  these 
Hungarians,  they  w^ere  the  pirates  of  the  north,  known  com- 
monly by  the  name  of  Normans.  The  love  of  a  predatory 
life  seems  to  have  attracted  adventurers  of  different  nations 
to  the  Scandinavian  seas,  from  whence  they  infested,  not  only 
by  maritime  piracy,  but  continual  invasions,  the  northern 
coasts  both  of  France  and  Germany.  The  causes  of  their 
sudden  appearance  are  inexplicable,  or  at  least  could  only  be 
sought  in  the  ancient  traditions  of  Scandinavia.  For,  un- 
doubtedly, the  coasts  of  France  and  England  were  as  little 
protected  from  depredations  under  the  Merovingian  kings, 
and  those  of  the  Heptarchy,  as  in  subsequent  times.  Yet 
only  one  instance  of  an  attack  from  this  side  is  recorded,  and 
that  before  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  till  the  age  of 
Charlemagne.  In  787  the  Danes,  as  we  call  those  northern 
plunderers,  began  to  infest  England,  which  lay  most  immedi- 
ately open  to  their  incursions.  Soon  afterwards  they  rav- 
aged the  coasts  of  France.  Charlemagne  repulsed  them  by 
means  of  his  fleets;  yet  they  pillaged  a  few  places  during  his 
reign.  It  is  said  that,  perceiving  one  day,  from  a  port  in  the 
Mediterranean,  some  Norman  vessels  which  had  penetrated 
into  that  sea,  he  shed  tears,  in  anticipation  of  the  miseries 
which  awaited  his  empire.  In  Louis's  reign  their  depreda- 
tions upon  the  coast  were  more  incessant,  but  they  did  not 
penetrate  into  the  inland  country  till  that  of  Charles  the 
JBald.  The  wars  between  that  prince  and  his  family,  which 
exhausted  France  of  her  noblest  blood,  the  insubordination 
of  the  provincial  governors,  even  the  instigation  of  some 


France.  THE  NORMANS.  23 

of  Charles's  enemies,  laid  all  open  to  their  inroads.  They 
adopted  an  uniform  plan  of  warfare  both  in  France  and 
England ;  sailing  up  navigable  rivers  in  their  vessels  of  small 
burden,  and  fortifying  the  islands  which  they  occasionally 
found,  they  made  these  intrenchments  at  once  an  asylum  for 
their  women  and  children,  a  repository  for  their  plunder,  and 
a  place  of  retreat  from  superior  force.  After  pillaging  a 
town,  they  retired  to  these  strongholds  or  to  their  ships  ;  and 
it  was  not  till  872  that  they  ventured  to  keep  possession  of 
Angers,  which,  however,  they  were  compelled  to  evacuate. 
Sixteen  years  afterwards  they  laid  siege  to  Paris,  and  com- 
mitted the  most  ruinous  devastations  on  the  neighboring 
country.  As  these  Normans  were  unchecked  by  religious 
awe,  the  rich  monasteries,  which  had  stood  harmless  amidst 
the  havoc  of  Christian  war,  were  overwhelmed  in  the  storm. 
Perhaps  they  may  have  endured  some  irrecoverable  losses  of 
ancient  learning ;  but  their  complaints  are  of  monuments 
disfigured,  bones  of  saints  and  kings  dispersed,  treasures  car- 
ried away.  St.  Denis  redeemed  its  abbot  from  captivity 
with  six  hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds  of  gold.  AH  the 
chief  abbeys  were  stripped  about  the  same  time,  either  by 
the  enemy,  or  for  contributions  to  the  public  necessity.  So 
impoverished  was  the  kingdom,  that  in  860  Charles  the  Bald 
had  great  difficulty  in  collecting  three  thousand  pounds  of 
silver  to  subsidize  a  body  of  Normans  against  their  country- 
men. The  kings  of  France,  too  feeble  to  prevent  or  repel 
these  invaders,  had  recourse  to  the  palliative  of  buying  peace 
at  their  hands,  or  rather  precarious  armistices,  to  which  reviv- 
ing thirst  of  plunder  soon  put  an  end.  At  length  Charles 
the.  Simple,  in  918,  ceded  a  great  province,  which  they  had 
already  partly  occupied,  partly  rendered  desolate,  and  which 
has  derived  from  them  the  name  of  Normandy.  Ignomini- 
ous as  this  appears,  it  proved  no  impolitic  step.  Rollo,  the 
Norman  chief,  with  all  his  subjects,  became  Christians  and 
Frenchmen;  and  the  kingdom  was  at  once  relieved  from  a 
terrible  enemy,  and  strengthened  by  a  race  of  hardy  colo- 
nists. No  measure  was  so  conducive  to  the  revival  of  France 
from  her  abasement  in  the  ninth  century  as  the  cession  of 
Normandy.  The  Normans  had  been  distinguished  by  a  pe- 
culiar ferocity  towards  priests  ;  yet  when  their  conversion  to 
Christianity  was  made  the  condition  of  their  possessing  Nor- 
mandy, they  were  ready  enough  to  comply,  and  in  another 
generation  became  among  the  most  devout  of  the  French  na- 
tion. An  explanation  of  the  new  zeal  for  Christianity  which 
sprung  up  among  the  Normans  may  be  found  in, the  irapor' 


24  ACCESSION  OF  HUGH  CAFET.     Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

tant  circumstance  that,  having  few  women  with  them,  they 
took  wives  (they  had  made  widows  enough)  from  the  native 
inhabitants.  These  taught  their  own  faith  to  their  children. 
They  taught  also  their  own  language  ;  and  in  no  other  man- 
ner can  we  so  well  account  for  the  rapid  extinction  of  that 
of  Scandinavia  in  that  province  of  France. 

§  14.  The  accession  of  Hugh  Capet  (a.d.  987)  had  not  the 
immediate  effect  of  restoring  the  royal  authority  over  France. 
His  own  very  extensive  fief  was  now,  indeed,  united  to  the 
crown ;  but  a  few  great  vassals  occupied  the  remainder  of 
the  kingdom.  Six  of  these  obtained,  at  a  subsequent  time, 
the  exclusive  appellation  of  peers  of  France — the  Count  of 
Flanders,  whose  fief  stretched  from  the  Scheldt  to  the 
Somme  ;  the  Count  of  Champagne ;  the  Duke  of  Normandy, 
to  whom  Brittany  did  homage;  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  on 
whom  the  Count  of  Nivernois  seems  to  have  depended;  the 
Duke  of  Aquitaine,  w^hose  territory,  though  less  than  the  an- 
cient kingdom  of  that  name,  comprehended  Poitou,  Limou- 
sin, and  most  of  Guienne,  with  the  feudal  superiority  over  the 
Angoumois,  and  some  other  central  districts;  and, lastly,  the 
Count  of  Toulouse,  who  possessed  Languedoc,  wdth  the  small 
countries  of  Quercy  and  Rouergue,  and  the  superiority  over 
Auvergne.  Besides  these  six,  the  Duke  of  Gascony,  not  long 
afterwards  united  with  Aquitaine,  the  counts  of  Anjou,  Pon- 
thieu,  and  Vermandois,  the  Viscount  of  Bourges,  the  lords  of 
Bourbon  and  Coucy,  with  one  or  two  other  vassals,  held  im- 
mediately of  the  last  Carlovingian  kings.  This  was  the 
aristocracy,  of  which  Hugh  Capet  usurped  the  direction  ;  for 
the  suffrage  of  no  general  assembly  gave  a  sanction  to  his 
title.  On  the  death  of  Louis  V.  he  took  advantage  of  the 
absence  of  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine,  who,  as  the  deceased 
king's  uncle,  was  nearest  heir,  and  procured  his  own  consecra- 
tion at  Rheims.  At  first  he  was  by  no  means  acknowledged 
in  the  kingdom;  but  his  contest  with  Charles  proving  suc- 
cessful, the  chief  vassals  ultimately  gave  at  least  a  tacit  con- 
sent to  the  usurpation,  and  permitted  the  royal  name  to  de- 
scend undisputed  upon  his  posterity.  But  this  was  almost 
the  sole  attribute  of  sovereignty  which  the  first  kings  of  the 
third  dynasty  enjoyed. 

§  15.  For  a  long  period  before  and  after  the  accession  of 
that  family,  France  has,  properly  speaking,  no  national  his- 
tory. The  character  or  fortune  of  those  who  were  called  its 
kings  were  little  more  important  to  the  majority  of  the  na- 
tion than  those  of  foreign  princes.  Undoubtedly,  the  degree 
of  influence  which  they  exercised  with  respect  to  the  vassals 


Fk.aNce. 


SUCCESSORS  OF  HUGH  CAPET. 


25 


oi'the  crown  varied  according  to  their  power  and  their  prox- 
imity. Over  Giiienne  and  Toulouse  the  first  four  Capets 
had  very  little  authority  ;  nor  do  they  seem  to  have  ever  re- 
ceived assistance  from  them  either  in  civil  or  national  wars. 
With  provinces  nearer  to  their  own  domains,  such  as  Nor- 
mandy and  Flanders,  they  were  frequently  engaged  in  alli- 
ance or  hostility ;  but  each  seemed  rather  to  proceed  from 


SUCCESSORS  OF  HUGH  CAPET. 

Hcou  Capet,  king,  987-996 

Robert,  king,  996-1031. 


Hugh,  crowned  in  iiis  father's 
lifetime  (ob.  1026). 


Henry  L, 
king,  1031-1060. 

Ptiilip  I.,  king,  1000-1108. 

Louis  VI.  (le  Gros),  king,  1108-113T. 

Louis  VIL  (le  Jeune),  king,  1137-1180. 

Philip  IL  (Augustus),  king  1180-1223. 

Louis  VIII.,  king,  1223-1226. 


Robert,  dnke  of  Burgundy. 


Louis  IX.  (St.  Louis), 
king,  1226-1270. 


Charles,  count  oi"  Anjou  and  Provence, 
founder  of  the  Royal  House  of  Naples. 


Philip  IIL  (le  Hardi), 
king,  1270-12S5. 

I 


Robert,  count  of  Clermont, 
founder  of  the  House  of  Bourbon. 


Philip  IV.  (le  Bel), 
king,  1285-1314. 


Charles,  count  of  Valois, 
founder  of  the  house  of  Valois. 
(See  table,  p.  43.) 


Louis  X.  (le  Hutin), 
king,  1314-1316. 

I 

Jeanne,  m.  Philip, 

king  of  Navarre, 

ob.  1349. 

Charles, 
king  of  Navarre. 


Philip  V.  (le  Long), 
king, 1316-1322. 


I 

Charles  IV.  (le  Bel), 

king,  1322-1328. 


Isabella, 

m.  Edward  IL  of 

England. 

'«<l4af6*III. 


the  policy  of  independent  states  than  from  the  relation  of  a 
sovereign  towards  his  subjects. 

It  should  be  remembered  that,  when  the  fiefs  of  Paris  and 
Orleans  are  said  to  have  been  reunited  by  Hugh  Capet  to 
the  crown,  little  more  is  understood  than  the  feudal  superi- 
ority over  the  vassals  of  these  provinces.  As  the  kingdom 
of  Charlemagne's  posterity  was  split  into  a  number  of  great 
fiefs,  so  each  of  these  contained  many  barons,  possessing  ex- 

2 


26  LOUIS  VI.— LOUIS  VIL  Chap.  L  Fart  L 

elusive  immunities  within  their  own  territories,  waging  war 
at  their  pleasure,  administering  justice  to  their  military  ten- 
ants and  other  subjects,  and  free  from  all  control  beyond  the 
conditions  of  the  feudal  compact.  At  the  accession  of  Louis 
VI.  in  1108,  the  cities  of  Paris,  Orleans,  and  Bourges,  with 
the  immediately  adjacent  districts,  formed  the  most  consid- 
erable portion  of  the  royal  domain.  A  number  of  petty  bar- 
ons, with  their  fortified  castles,  intercepted  the  communica- 
tion between  these,  and  waged  war  against  the  king  almost 
under  the  walls  of  his  capital.  It  cost  Louis  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  to  reduce  the  lords  of  Montlhery,  and  other  places 
within  a  few  miles  of  Paris.  Under  this  prince,  however, 
who  had  more  activity  than  his  predecessors,  the  royal  au- 
thority considerably  revived.  From  his  reign  we  may  date 
the  systematic  rivalry  of  the  French  and  English  monarch- 
ies. Hostilities  had  several  times  occurred  between  Philip 
I.  and  the  two  Williams ;  but  the  wars  that  began  under 
Louis  VI.  lasted,  with  no  long  interruption,  for  three  centu- 
ries and  a  half,  and  form,  indeed,  the  most  leading  feature 
of  French  history  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Of  all  the  royal 
vassals  the  dukes  of  Normandy  were  the  proudest  and  most 
powerful.  Though  they  had  submitted  to  do  homage,  they 
could  not  forget  that  they  came  in  originally  by  force,  and 
that  in  real  strength  they  w^ere  fully  equal  to  their  sover- 
eign. Nor  had  the  conquest  of  England  any  tendency  to 
diminish  their  pretensions. 

§  16.  Louis  VII.  ascended  the  throne  (a. d.  1137)  with  bet- 
ter prospects  than  his  father.  He  had  married  Eleanor, 
heiress  of  the  great  duchy  of  Guienne.  But  this  union, 
which  promised  an  immense  accession  of  strength  to  the 
crown,  was  rendered  unhappy  by  the  levities  of  that  princess. 
Repudiated  by  Louis,  who  felt  rather  as  a  husband  than  a 
king,f)fil^^ior  immediately  married  Henry  II.  of  England, 
who,  al*^My  inheriting  Normandy  from  his  mother  and  An- 
jou  from  his  father,  became  possessed  of  more  than  one-half 
of  France,  and  an  overmatch  for  Louis,  even  if  the  great  vas- 
sals of  the  crown  had  been  always  ready  to  maintain  its  su- 
premacy. One  might  venture,  perhaps,  to  conjecture  that 
the  sceptre  of  France  would  eventually  have  passed  from  the 
Capets  to  the  Plantagenets,  if  the  vexatious  quarrel  with 
Becket  at  one  time,  and  the  successive  rebellions  fomented 
by  Louis  at  a  later  period,  had  not  embarrassed  the  great 
talents  and  ambitious  spirit  of  Henry. 

§  17.  But  the  scene  quite  changed  when  Philip  Augustus, 
son  of  Louis  VIL,  came  upon    the    stage   (a.d.  1180).     No 


France.  PHILIP  AUGUSTUS.— LOUIS  VIII.  27 

prince  comparable  to  him  in  systematic  ambition  and  mili- 
tary enterprise  had  reigned  in  France  since  Charlemagne. 
From  his  reign  the  French  monarchy  dates  the  recovery  of 
its  lustre.  He  wrested  from  the  Count  of  Flanders  the  Ver- 
mandois  (that  part  of  Picardy  which  borders  on  the  Isle  of 
France  and  Champagne)/^  and,  subsequently,  the  county  of 
Artois.  But  the  most  important  conquests  of  Philip  were 
obtained  against  the  kings  of  England.  Even  Richard  I., 
with  all  his  prowess,  lost  ground  in  struggling  against  an  ad- 
versary not  less  active,  and  more  politic,  than  himself.  But 
when  John  not  only  took  possession  of  his  brother's  domin- 
ions, but  confirmed  his  usurpation  by  the  murder,  as  was 
very  probably  surmised,  of  the  heir,  Philip,  artfully  taking 
advantage  of  the  general  indignation,  summoned  him  as  his 
vassal  to  the  court  of  his  peers.  John  demanded  a  safe-con- 
duct. Willingly,  said  Philip ;  let  him  come  unmolested. 
And  return  ?  inquired  the  English  envoy.  If  the  judgment 
of  his  peers  permit  him,  replied  the  king.  By  all  the  saints 
of  France,  he  exclaimed,  when  further  pressed,  he  shall  not 
return  unless  acquitted.  The  Bishop  of  Ely  still  remonstrated 
that  the  Duke  of  Normandy  could  not  come  without  the 
King  of  England  ;  nor  would  the  barons  of  that  country 
permit  their  sovereign  to  run  the  risk  of  death  or  imprison- 
ment. What  of  that,  my  lord  bishop?  cried  Philip.  It  is 
well  known  that  my  vassal  the  Duke  of  Normandy  acquired 
England  by  force.  But  if  a  subject  obtains  any  accession 
of  dignity,  shall  his  paramount  lord  therefore  lose  his  rights  ? 

John,  not  appearing  at  his  summons,  was  declared  guilty 
of  felony,  and  his  fiefs  confiscated.  The  execution  of  this 
sentence  was  not  intrusted  to  a  dilatory  arm.  Philip  poured 
his  troops  into  Normandy,  and  took  town  after  town,  while 
the  King  of  England,  infatuated  by  his  own  wickedness  and 
cowardice,  made  hardly  an  attempt  at  defense.  In  two 
years  Normandy,  Maine,  and  Anjou  were  irrecoverably  lost. 
Poitou  and  Guienne  resisted  longer ;  but  the  conquest  of  the 
first  was  completed  by  Louis  VIIL,  successor  of  Philip  (a.d. 
1223),  and  the  subjection  of  the  second  seemed  drawing  near, 
when  the  arms  of  Louis  were  diverted  to  different  but 
scarcely  less  advantageous  objects. 

§  18.  The  country  of  Languedoc,  subject  to  the  counts  of 
Toulouse,  had  been  unconnected,  beyond  any  other  part  of 
France,  with  the  kings  of  the  house  of  Capet.  Louis  VII., 
having  married  his  sister  to  the  reigning  count,  and  travelled 
himself  through  the  country,  began  to  exercise  some  degree 

"^  The  principal  towus  of  the  Vermantloie  are  St.  Queutiu  and  Pcronue. 


28  WAR  IN  LANGUEDOC.  Chap.  1.  Part  I. 

of  authority,  chiefly  in  confirming  the  rights  of  ecclesiastical 
bodies,  who  were  vain,  perhaps,  of  this  additional  sanction 
to  the  privileges  which  they  already  possessed.  But  the  re- 
moteness of  their  situation,  with  a  difterence  in  language  and 
legal  usages,  still  kept  the  people  of  this  province  apart  from 
those  of  the  north  of  France. 

About  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  certain  religious 
opinions,  which  it  is  not  easy,  nor,  for  our  present  purpose, 
material  to  define,  but,  upon  every  supposition,  exceedingly 
adverse  to  those  of  the  Church,^ ^  began  to  spread  over  Lan- 
guedoc.  Those  who  imbibed  them  have  borne  the  name  of 
Albigeois,  though  they  were  in  no  degree  peculiar  to  the 
district  of  Albi.  In  despite  of  much  preaching  and  some 
persecution,  these  errors  made  a  continual  progress ;  till  In- 
nocent III.,  in  1198,  dispatched  commissaries,  the  seed  of  the 
inquisition,  with  ample  powers  both  to  investigate  and  to 
chastise.  Raymond  VI.,  count  of  Toulouse,  whether  inclined 
towards  the  innovators,  as  was  then  the  theme  of  reproach, 
or,  as  is  more  probable,  disgusted  with  the  insolent  interfer- 
ence of  the  pope  and  his  missionaries,  provoked  them  to  pro- 
nounce a  sentence  of  excommunication  against  him.  Though 
this  was  taken  oiF,  he  was  still  suspected  ;  and  upon  the  as- 
sassination of  one  of  the  inquisitors,  in  which  Raymond  had 
no  concern.  Innocent  published  a  crusade  both  against  the 
count  and  his  subjects,  calling  upon  the  King  of  France,  and 
the  nobility  of  that  kingdom,  to  take  up  the  cross,  with  all 
the  indulgences  usually  held  out  as  allurements  to  religious 
warfare  (a.d.  1208).  Though  Philip  would  not  interfere,  a 
prodigious  number  of  knights  undertook  this  enterprise,  led 
partly  by  ecclesiastics,  and  partly  by  some  of  the  first  barons 
in  France.  It  was  prosecuted  with  every  atrocious  barbari- 
ty which  superstition,  the  mother  of  crimes,  could  inspire. 
Languedoc,  a  country,  for  that  age,  flourishing  and  civilized, 
was  laid  waste  by  these  desolators ;  her  cities  burned ;  her 
inhabitants  swept  away  by  fire  and  the  sword. 

The  Crusaders  were  commanded  by  Simon  de  Montfort,  a 
man  like  Cromwell,  whose  intrepidity,  hypocrisy,  and  ambi- 
tion marked  him  for  the  hero  of  a  holy  war.  The  energy  of 
such  a  mind,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  enthusiastic  warriors, 
may  well  account  for  the  successes  which  then  appeared  mi- 
raculous. But  Montfort  was  cut  ofl"  before  he  could  realize 
his  ultimate  object,  an  independent  principality ;  and  Ray- 
mond was  able  to  bequeath  the  inheritance  of  his  ancestors 

»«  For  the  real  teuets  of  the  Languedocian  sectaries  I  refer  to  the  last  chapter  of  the 
present  work,  where  the  subject  will  be  taken  up  again 


i^RANCE.  LOUIS  IX.  29 

to  his  son.  Rome,  however,  was  not  yet  appeased  ;  upon 
some  new  pretense  she  raised  up  a  still  more  formidable  en- 
emy against  the  younger  Raymond  (a.d.  1222).  Louis  VIII. 
sufiered  himself  to  be  diverted  from  the  conquest  of  Guienne, 
to  take  the  cross  against  the  supposed  patron  of  heresy.  Af- 
ter a  short  and  successful  war,  Louis,  dying  prematurely,  left 
the  crown  of  France  to  a  son  only  twelve  years  old.  But 
the  Count  of  Toulouse  was  still  pursued,  till,  hopeless  of  safe- 
ty in  so  unequal  a  struggle,  he  concluded  a  treaty  upon  very 
hard  terms.  By  this  he  ceded  the  greater  part  of  Languedoc 
(a.d.  1229) ;  and,  giving  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Alphonso, 
brother  of  Louis  IX.,  confirmed  to  them,  and  to  the  king  in 
failure  of  their  descendants,  the  reversion  of  the  rest,  in  ex- 
clusion of  any  other  children  whom  he  might  have.  Thus  fell 
the  ancient  house  of  Toulouse,  through  one  of  those  strange 
combinations  of  fortune  which  thwart  the  natural  course  of 
human  prosperity,  and  disappoint  the  plans  of  wise  policy 
and  beneficent  government. 

§  19.  The  rapid  progress  of  royal  power  under  Philip  Au- 
gustus and  his  son  had  scarcely  given  the  great  vassals  time 
to  reflect  upon  the  change  which  it  produced  in  their  situa- 
tion. The  crown,  with  which  some  might  singly  have  meas- 
ured their  forces,  was  now  an  equipoise  to  their  united 
weight.  The  minority  of  Louis  IX.  (a.d.  1226),  guided  only 
by  his  mother,  the  regent,  Blanche  of  Castile,  seemed  to  offer 
a  favorable  opportunity  for  recovering  their  former  situa- 
tion. They  broke  out  into  open  rebellion  ;  but  the  address 
of  Blanche  detached  some  from  the  league,  and  her  firmness 
subdued  the  rest.  For  the  first  fifteen  years  of  Louis's  reign, 
the  straggle  was  frequently  renewed ;  till  repeated  humilia- 
tions convinced  the  refractory  that  the  throne  was  no  longer 
to  be  shaken. 

But  Louis  IX.  had  methods  of  preserving  his  ascendency 
very  different  from  military  prowess.  That  excellent  prince 
was  perhaps  the  most  eminent  pattern  of  unswerving  probity 
and  Christian  strictness  of  conscience  that  ever  held  the  scep- 
tre in  any  country.  There  is  a  peculiar  beauty  in  the  reign 
of  St.  Louis,  because  it  shows  the  inestimable  benefit  which  a 
virtuous  king  may  confer  on  his  people,  Avithout  possessing 
any  distinguished  genius.  For  nearly  half  a  century  that  he 
governed  France  there  is  not  the  smallest  want  of  modera- 
tion or  disinterestedness  in  his  actions ;  and  yet  he  raised 
the  influence  of  the  monarchy  to  a  much  higher  point  than 
the  most  ambitious  of  his  predecessors.  To  the  surprise  of 
his  own  and  later  times,  he  restored  great  part  of  his  con- 


30  LOUIS  IX.  -HIS  CHARACTER.     Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

quests  to  Henry  III.,  whom  he  might  naturally  hope  to  have 
expelled  from  France  (a.d.  1259).  It  would  indeed  have  been 
a  tedious  work  to  conquer  Guienne,  which  was  full  of  strong 
places;  and  the  subjugation  of  such  a  province  might  have 
alarmed  the  other  vassals  of  his  crown.  But  it  is  the  privi- 
lege only  of  virtuous  minds  to  perceive  that  wisdom  resides 
in  moderate  counsels :  no  sagacity  ever  taught  a  selfish  and 
ambitious  sovereign  to  forego  the  sweetness  of  immediate 
power.  An  ordinary  king,  in  the  circumstances  of  the  French 
monarchy,  would  have  fomented,  or,  at  least,  have  rejoiced 
in,  the  dissensions  which  broke  out  among  the  principal  vas- 
sals ;  Louis  constantly  employed  himself  to  reconcile  them. 
In  this,  too,  his  benevolence  had  all  the  effects  of  far-sighted 
policy.  It  had  been  the  practice  of  his  last  three  predeces- 
sors to  interpose  their  mediation  in  behalf  of  the  less  power- 
ful classes,  the  clergy,  the  inferior  nobility,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants of  chartered  towns.  Thus  the  supremacy  of  the  crown 
became  a  familiar  idea;  but  the  perfect  integrity  of  St.  Louis 
wore  away  all  distrust,  and  accustomed  even  the  most  jeal- 
ous feudatories  to  look  upon  him  as  their  judge  and  legisla- 
tor. And  as  the  royal  authority  was  hitherto  shown  only  in 
its  most  amiable  prerogatives,  the  dispensation  of  favor  and 
the  redress  of  wrong,  few  were  watchful  enough  to  remark 
the  transition  of  the  French  constitution  from  a  feudal  league 
to  an  absolute  monarchy. 

It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for  the  display  of  St.  Louis's  vir- 
tues that  the  throne  had  already  been  strengthened  by  the 
less  innocent  exertions  of  Philip  Augustus  and  Louis  VIII. 
A  century  earlier  his  mild  and  scrupulous  character,  unsus- 
tained  by  great  actual  power,  might  not  have  inspired  suffi- 
cient awe.  But  the  crown  was  now  grown  so  formidable, 
and  Louis  was  so  eminent  for  his  firmness  and  bravery,  qual- 
ities without  which  every  other  virtue  would  have  been  inef- 
fectual, that  no  one  thought  it  safe  to  run  wantonly  into  re- 
bellion, while  his  disinterested  administration  gave  no  one  a 
pretext  for  it.  Hence  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  was  alto- 
gether tranquil,  and  employed  in  watching  over  the  public 
peace  and  the  security  of  travellers ;  administering  justice 
personally,  or  by  the  best  counsellors ;  and  compiling  that 
code  of  feudal  customs  called  the  Establishments  of  St.  Louis, 
which  is  the  first  monument  of  legislation  after  the  accession 
of  the  house  of  Capet.  Not  satisfied  with  the  justice  of  his 
own  conduct,  Louis  aimed  at  that  act  of  virtue  which  is  rare- 
ly yjracticed  by  private  men,  and  had  perhaps  no  example 
among  kings — restitution.     Commissaries  were  appointed  to 


France.  THE  CRUSADES.  31 

inquire  what  possessions  had  been  unjustly  annexed  to  the 
royal  domain  during  the  last  two  reigns.  These  were  re- 
stored to  the  proprietors,  or,  where  length  of  time  had  made 
it  difficult  to  ascertain  the  claimant,  their  value  was  distribu- 
ted among  the  poor. 

The  principal  weakness  of  this  king,  which  almost  effaced 
all  the  good  effects  of  his  virtues,  was  superstition.  No 
man  was  ever  more  impressed  than  St.  Louis  with  a  belief 
in  the  duty  of  exterminating  all  enemies  to  his  own  faith. 
With  these  he  thought  no  layman  ought  to  risk  himself  in 
the  perilous  ways  of  reasoning,  but  to  make  answer  with  his 
sword  as  stoutly  as  a  strong  arm  and  a  fiery  zeal  could  car- 
ry that  argument.  Though,  fortunately  for  his  fame,  the 
persecution  against  the  Albigeois,  which  had  been  the  dis- 
grace of  his  father's  short  reign,  was  at  an  end  before  he 
reached  manhood,  he  suffered  a  hypocritical  monk  to  estab- 
lish a  tribunal  at  Paris  for  the  suppression  of  heresy,  where 
many  innocent  persons  suffered  death.  But  no  events  in  his 
life  were  more  memorable  than  his  two  crusades,  which  lead 
us  to  look  back  on  the  nature  and  circumstances  of  those 
most  singular  phenomena  in  European  history.  Though  the 
crusades  involved  all  the  western  nations  of  Europe,  with- 
out belonging  particularly  to  any  one,  yet,  as  France  was 
more  distinguished  than  the  rest  in  most  of  those  enter- 
prises, I  shall  introduce  the  subject  as  a  sort  of  digression 
from  the  main  course  of  French  history. 

§  20.  Even  before  the  violation  of  Palestine  by  the  Sara- 
cen arms  it  had  been  a  prevailing  custom  among  the  Chris- 
tians of  Europe  to  visit  those  scenes  rendered  interesting  by 
religion,  partly  through  delight  in  the  efl'ects  of  local  associ- 
ation, partly  in  obedience  to  the  prejudices  or  commands  of 
superstition.  These  pilgrimages  became  more  frequent  in 
later  times,  in  spite,  perhaps  in  consequence,  of  the  danger 
and  hardships  which  attended  them.  For  a  while  the  Mo- 
hammedan possessors  of  Jerusalem  permitted,  or  even  en- 
couraged, a  devotion  which  they  found  lucrative;  but  this 
was  interrupted  whenever  the  ferocious  insolence  with 
which  they  regarded  all  infidels  got  the  better  of  their  ra- 
pacity. During  the  eleventh  century,  when,  from  increas- 
ing superstition,  and  some  particular  fancies,  the  pilgrims 
were  more  numerous  than  ever,  a  change  took  place  in  the 
government  of  Palestine,  which  was  overrun  by  the  Turk- 
ish hordes  from  the  North.  These  barbarians  treated  the 
visitors  of  Jerusalem  with  still  greater  contumely,  mingling 
with  their  Mohammedan  bigotry  a  consciousness  of  strength 


32  THE   CRUSADES.  Chai.  1.  PautL 

and  courage,  and  a  scorn  of  the  Christians,  whom  they  knew 
only  by  the  debased  natives  of  Greece  and  Syria,  or  by  these 
humble  and  defenseless  palmers.  When  such  insults  became 
known  throughout  Europe,  they  excited  a  keen  sensation  of 
resentment  among  nations  equally  courageous  and  devout, 
which,  though  wanting  as  yet  any  definite  means  of  satisfying 
itself,  was  ripe  for  whatever  favorable  conjuncture  might  arise. 

Twenty  years  before  the  first  crusade  Gregory  VII.  had 
projected  the  scheme  of  embodying  Europe  in  arms  against 
Asia — a  scheme  worthy  of  his  daring  mind,  and  which,  per- 
haps, was  never  forgotten  by  Urban  II.,  who  in  every  thing 
loved  to  imitate  his  great  predecessor.  This  design  of 
Gregory  was  founded  upon  the  supplication  of  the  Greek 
emperor  Michael,  which  was  renewed  by  Alexius  Comnenus 
to  Urban  with  increased  importunity.  The  Turks  had  now 
taken  Nice,  and  threatened,  from  the  opposite  shore,  the  very 
walls  of  Constantinople.  Every  one  knows  whose  hand  held 
the  torch  to  that  inflammable  mass  of  enthusiasm  that  per- 
vaded Europe ;  the  hermit  of  Picardy,  who,  roused  by  wit- 
nessed wrongs  and  imagined  visions,  journeyed  from  land  to 
land,  the  apostle  of  a  holy  war.  The  preaching  of  Peter  was 
powerfully  seconded  by  Urban  (a.d.  1095).  In  the  councils 
of  Piacenza  and  of  Clermont  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem 
was  eloquently  recommended  and  exultingly  undertaken. 
"It  is  the  will  of  God  !"  was  the  tumultuous  cry  that  broke 
from  the  heart  and  lips  of  the  assembly  at  Clermont ;  and 
these  words  afford  at  once  the  most  obvious  and  most  cer- 
tain explanation  of  the  leading  principle  of  the  Crusades. 

Every  means  was  used  to  excite  an  epidemical  frenzy  ;  the 
remission  of  penance,  the  dispensation  from  those  practices 
of  self-denial  which  superstition  imposed  or  suspended  at 
pleasure,  the  absolution  of  all  sins,  and  the  assurance  of 
eternal  felicity.  None  doubted  that  such  as  perished  in  the 
war  received  immediately  the  reward  of  martyrdom.  False 
miracles  and  fanatical  prophecieg,  which  were  never  so  fre- 
quent, wrought  up  the  enthusiasm  to  a  still  higher  pitch. 
And  these  devotional  feelings,  which  are  usually  thwarted 
and  balanced  by  other  passions,  fell  in  with  every  motive 
that  could  influence  the  men  of  that  time ;  with  curiosity, 
restlessness,  the  love  of  license,  thirst  for  war,  emulation, 
ambition.  Of  the  princes  who  assumed  the  cross,  some 
probably  from  the  beginning  speculated  upon  forming  inde- 
pendent establishments  in  the  East.  In  later  periods  the 
temporal  benefits  of  undertaking  a  crusade  undoubtedly 
blended   themselves  with  less  selfish  considerations.     Men 


France.  THE   CRUSADES.  33 

resorted  to  Palestine,  as  in  modern  times  they  have  done  to 
the  colonies,  in  order  to  redeem  their  fame  or  repair  their 
fortune.  Thus  Gui  de  Lusignan,  after  flying  from  France  for 
murder,  was  ultimately  raised  to  the  throne  of  Jerusalem. 
To  the  more  vulgar  class  were  held  out  inducements  which, 
though  absorbed  in  the  overruling  fanaticism  of  the  first 
crusade,  might  be  exceedingly  efficacious  when  it  began  rath- 
er to  flag.  During  the  time  that  a  Crusader  bore  tlie  cross 
he  was  free  from  suit  for  his  debts,  and  the  interest  of  them 
was  entirely  abolished  ;  he  Avas  exempted,  in  some  instances 
at  least,  from  taxes,  and  placed  under  the  protection  of  the 
Church,  so  that  he  could  not  be  impleaded  in  any  civil  court, 
except  on  criminal  charges,  or  disputes  relating  to  land. 

None  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  took  a  part  in  the  First 
Crusade  ;  but  many  of  their  chief  vassals,  great  part  of  the 
inferior  nobility,  and  a  countless  multitude  of  the  common 
people.  Numbers  of  women  and  children  swelled  the  crowd ; 
it  appeared  a  sort  of  sacrilege  to  repel  any  one  from  a  work 
which  was  considered  as  the  manifest  design  of  Providence. 
But  if  it  were  lawful  to  interpret  the  will  of  Providence  by 
events,  few  undertakings  have  been  more  branded  by  its 
disapprobation  than  the  Crusades.  So  many  crimes  and  so 
much  misery  have  seldom  been  accumulated  in  so  short  a 
space  as  in  the  three  years  of  the  first  expedition.  Wc 
should  be  warranted  by  contemporary  writers  in  stating  the 
loss  of  the  Christians  alone  during  this  period  at  nearly  a 
million ;  but  at  the  least  computation  it  must  have  exceeded 
half  that  number.  To  engage  in  the  crusade,  and  to  perish 
in  it,  were  almost  synonymous.  Few  of  those  myriads  who 
were  mustered  in  the  plains  of  Nice  returned  to  gladden 
their  friends  in  Europe  with  the  story  of  their  triumph  at 
Jerusalem.  Besieging  alternately,  and  besieged  in  Antioch, 
they  drained  to  the  lees  the  cup  of  misery :  three  hundred 
thousand  sat  down  before  that  place;  next  year  there  re- 
mained but  a  sixth  part  to  pursue  the  enterprise.  But  their 
losses  were  least  in  the  field  of  battle;  the  intrinsic  superi- 
ority of  European  prowess  was  constantly  displayed ;  the 
angel  of  Asia,  to  apply  the  bold  language  "of  our  poet,  high 
and  unmatchable,  where  her  rival  was  not,  became  a  fear ; 
and  the  Christian  lances  bore  all  before  them  in  their  shock 
from  Nice  to  Antioch,  Edessa,  and  Jerusalem  (a.d.  1099).*' 

1'^  The  work  of  Mailly,  entitled  L'Esprit  des  Croisades,  is  deserving  of  considerable 
praise  for  its  diligence  and  impartiality.  It  carries  the  history,  however,  no  farther 
than  the  first  expedition.  Gibbon's  two  chapters  on  the  Crasades,  thougli  not  with- 
out inaccuracies,  are  a  brilliant  portion  of  his  great  work.  Several  new  documents 
have  been  collected  by  the  industry  of  the  modern  historians  of  the  Crusades,  Michaud 

2* 


3i  THE   CRUSADES.  Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

The  conquests  obtained  at  such  a  price  by  the  first  cru 
sade  were  chiefly  comprised  in  the  maritime  parts  of  Syria. 
Except  the  state  of  Edessa  beyond  the  Euphrates/^  which, 
in  its  best  days,  extended  over  great  part  of  Mesopotamia, 
the  Latin  possessions  never  reached  more  than  a  few  leagues 
from  the  sea.  Within  the  barrier  of  Mount  Libanus  their 
arms  might  be  feared,  but  their  power  was  never  establish- 
ed; and  the  prophet  was  still  invoked  in  the  mosques  of 
Aleppo  and  Damascus.  The  principality  of  Antioch  to  the 
north,  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  with  its  feudal  dependencies 
of  Tripoli  and  Tiberius  to  the  south,  were  assigned,  the  one 
to  Boemond,  a  brother  of  Robert  Guiscard,  count  of  Apulia, 
the  other  to  Godfrey  of  Boulogne,  whose  extraordinary  merit 
had  justly  raised  him  to  a  degree  of  influence  with  the  chief 
Crusaders  that  has  been  sometimes  confounded  with  a  legit- 
imate authority.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  Tyre,Ascalon, 
and  the  other  cities  upon  the  sea-coast,  were  subjected  by 
the  successors  of  Godfrey  on  the  throne  of  Jerusalem.  But 
as  their  enemies  had  been  stunned,  not  killed,  by  the  West- 
ern storm,  the  Latins  were  constantly  molested  by  the  Mo- 
hammedans of  Egypt  and  Syria.  They  were  exposed  as  the 
outposts  of  Christendom,  with  no  respite  and  few  resources. 

A  Second  Crusade  (a.d.  11 4*7),  in  which  the  Emperor  Con- 
rad IIL  and  Louis  VII.  of  France  were  engaged,  each  with 
seventy  thousand  cavalry,  made  scarce  any  diversion ;  and 
that  vast  army  wasted  away  in  the  passage  of  Natolia. 

The  decline  of  the  Christian  establishments  in  the  East  is 
ascribed  by  William  of  Tyre  to  the  extreme  viciousness  of 
their  manners,  to  the  adoption  of  European  arms  by  the  Ori- 
entals, and  to  the  union  of  the  Mohammedan  principalities 
under  a  single  chief  Without  denying  the  operation  of 
these  causes,  and  especially  the  last,  it  is  easy  to  perceive 
one  more  radical  than  all  the  three — the  inadequacy  of  their 
means  of  self-defense.  The  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  was 
guarded  only,  exclusive  of  European  volunteers,  by  the  feud- 
al service  of  866  knights,  attended  each  by  four  archers  on 
horseback,  by  a  militia  of  5075  burghers,  and  by  a  conscrip- 
tion, in  great  exigencies,  of  the  remaining  population.  Wil- 
liam of  Tyre  mentions  an  army  of  1300  horse  and  15,000  foot, 
as  the  greatest  which  had  ever  been  collected,  and  predicts 

and  Wilken.    The  original  writers  are  chiefly  collected  in  two  folio  volumes,  entitled 
Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  Hanover,  1611. 

18  EdcBsa  was  a  little  Christian  principality,  surrounded  by,  and  tributary  to,  the 
Turks.  The  inhabitants  invited  Baldwin,  on  his  progress  in  the  first  crusade,  and  he 
made  no  great  scruple  of  supplanting  the  reigning  prince,  who  indeed  is  represented 
as  a  tyrant  and  usurper. 


Fkance.  the  crusades.  35 

the  utmost  success  from  it,  if  wisely  conducted.  This  was 
a  little  before  the  irruption  of  Saladin.  Nothing  can  more 
strikingly  evince  the  ascendency  of  Europe  than  the  resist- 
ance of  these  Frankish  acquisitions  in  Syria  during  nearly 
two  hundred  years.  Several  of  their  victories  over  the  Mos- 
lems were  obtained  against  such  disparity  of  numbers,  that 
they  may  be  compared  with  whatever  is  most  illustrious  in 
history  or  romance.  These,  perhaps,  were  less  due  to  the  de- 
scendants of  the  first  Crusaders,  settled  in  the  Holy  Land, 
than  to  those  volunteers  from  Europe  whom  martial  ardor 
and  religious  zeal  impelled  to  the  service.  It  was  the  pen- 
ance commonly  imposed  upon  men  of  rank  for  the  most 
heinous  crimes,  to  serve  a  number  of  years  under  the  banner 
of  the  cross.  Thus  a  perpetual  supply  of  warriors  was  pour- 
ed in  from  Europe;  and  in  this  sense  the  Crusades  may  be 
said  to  have  lasted  without  intermission  during  the  whole 
period  of  the  Latin  settlements.  Of  these  defenders  the 
most  renowned  were  the  military  orders  of  the  Knights  of 
the  Temple  and  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John ;  instituted,  the 
one  in  1124,  the  other  in  1118,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  pro- 
tecting the  Holy  Land.  The  Teutonic  order,  established  in 
1190,  when  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  was  falling,  soon  di- 
verted its  schemes  of  holy  warfare  to  a  very  diiferent  quar- 
ter of  the  world.  Large  estates,  as  well  in  Palestine  as 
throughout  Europe,  enriched  the  two  former  institutions ; 
but  the  pride,  rapaciousness,  and  misconduct  of  both,  espe- 
cially of  the  Templars,  seem  to  have  balanced  the  advantages 
derived  from  their  valor.  At  length  the  famous  Saladin, 
usurping  the  throne  of  a  feeble  dynasty  which  had  reigned 
in  Egypt,  broke  in  upon  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem ;  the 
king  and  the  kingdom  fell  into  his  hands ;  nothing  remained 
but  a  few  strong  towns  upon  the  sea-coast  (a.d.  1187). 

These  misfortunes  roused  once  more  the  princes  of  Europe, 
and  the  Third  Crusade  (a.d.  1189)  was  undertaken  by  three 
of  her  sovereigns,  the  greatest  in  personal  estimation  as  well 
as  dignity — by  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa,  Philip 
Augustus  of  France,  and  our  own  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 
But  this,  like  the  preceding  enterprise,  failed  of  permanent 
effect ;  and  those  feats  of  romantic  prowess  which  made  the 
name  of  Richard  so  famous  both  in  Europe  and  Asia  proved 
only  the  total  inefficacy  of  all  exertions  in  an  attempt  so  im- 
practicable ;  Palestine  was  never  the  scene  of  another  cru- 
sade. One  great  armament  was  diverted  to  the  siege  of 
Constantinople  (a.d.  1204) ;  and  another  wasted  in  fruitless 
attempts  upon  Egypt  (a.d.  1218).     The  Emperor  Frederick 


36  THE  CRUSADES.  Chap.  I.  Part  I. 

II.  afterwards  procured  the  restoration  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Saracens ;  but  the  Christian  princes  of  Syria  were  unable  to 
defend  it,  and  their  possessions  were  gradually  reduced  to 
the  maritime  towns.  Acre,  the  last  of  these,  was  finally 
taken  by  storm  in  1291  ;  and  its  ruin  closes  the  history  of 
the  Latin  dominion  in  Syria,  which  Europe  had  already 
ceased  to  protect. 

The  last  two  crusades  were  undertaken  by  St.  Louis.  In 
the  first  he  was  attended  by  2800  knights  and  50,000  ordi- 
nary troops.  He  landed  at  Damietta,  in  Egypt,  for  that 
country  was  now  deemed  the  key  of  the  Holy  Land,  and 
easily  made  himself  master  of  the  city  (a.d.  1248).  But  ad- 
vancing up  the  country,  he  found  natural  impediments  as 
well  as  enemies  in  his  way  ;  the  Turks  assailed  him  with 
Greek  fire,  an  instrument  of  warfare  almost  as  surprising 
and  terrible  as  gunpowder ;  he  lost  his  brother,  the  Count  of 
Artois,  with  many  knights,  at  Massoura,  near  Cairo ;  and 
began  too  late  a  retreat  towards  Damietta.  Such  calami- 
ties now  fell  upon  this  devoted  army  as  have  scarce  ever 
been  surpassed ;  hunger  and  want  of  every  kind,  aggravated 
by  an  unsparing  pestilence.  At  length  the  king  was  made 
prisoner,  and  very  few  of  the  army  escaped  the  Turkish 
scimiter  in  battle  or  captivity.  Four  hundred  thousand 
livres  were  paid  as  a  ransom  for  Louis.  He  returned  to 
France,  and  passed  near  twenty  years  in  the  exercise  of 
those  virtues  which  are  his  best  title  to  canonization.  But 
the  fatal  illusions  of  superstition  were 'still  always  at  his 
heart ;  nor  did  it  fail  to  be  painfully  observed  by  his  subjects 
that  he  still  kept  the  cross  upon  his  garment.  His  last  ex- 
pedition was  originally  designed  for  Jerusalem.  But  he  had 
received  some  intimation  that  the  King  of  Tunis  was  desir- 
ous of  embracing  Christianity.  That  these  intentions  might 
be  carried  into  effect,  he  sailed  out  of  his  way  to  the  coast 
of  Africa,  and  laid  siege  to  that  city  (a.d.  1270).  A  fever 
here  put  an  end  to  his  life,  sacrificed  to  that  ruling  passion 
which  never  would  have  forsaken  him.  But  he  had  sur- 
vived the  spirit  of  the  Crusades ;  the  disastrous  expedition 
to  Egypt  had  cured  his  subjects,  though  not  himself,  of  their 
folly ;  his  son,  after  making  terms  with  Tunis,  returned  to 
France  ;  the  Christians  were  suffered  to  lose  what  they  still 
retained  in  the  Holy  Land ;  and  though  many  princes  in 
subsequent  ages  talked  loudly  of  renewing  the  war,  the 
promise,  if  it  were  ever  sincere,  was  never  accomplished. 

§  21.  Louis  IX.  had  increased  the  royal  domain  by  the  an- 
nexation of  several  counties  and  other  less  important  fiefs ; 


France.  PHILIP  III.— PHILIP  IV.  87 

but  soon  aftei  the  accession  of  Philip  III.,  surnamed  the 
Bold  (a.d.  12V0),  it  received  a  far  more  considerable  aug- 
mentation. Alfonso,  the  late  king's  brother,  had  been  in- 
vested with  the  county  of  Poitou,  ceded  by  Henry  III.,  to- 
gether with  part  of  Auvergne  and  of  Saintonge  ;  and  held 
also,  as  has  been  said  before,  the  remains  of  the  great  fief 
of  Toulouse,  in  right  of  his  wufe  Jane,  heiress  of  Raymond 
VII.  Upon  his  death,  and  that  of  his  countess,  which  hap- 
pened about  the  same  time,  the  king  entered  into  possession 
of  all  these  territories  (a.d.  1271).  This  acquisition  brought 
the  sovereigns  of  France  into  contact  with  new  neighbors, 
the  kings  of  Arragon  and  the  powers  of  Italy.  The  first 
great  and  lasting  foreign  w^ar  which  they  carried  on  was 
that  of  Philip  III.  and  Philip  IV.  against  the  former  king- 
dom, excited  by  the  insurrection  of  Sicily.  Though  effect- 
ing  no  change  in  the  boundaries  of  their  dominions,  this  war 
may  be  deemed  a  sort  of  epoch  in  the  history  of  France  and 
Spain,  as  well  as  in  that  of  Italy,  to  which  it  more  peculiar- 
ly belongs. 

§  22.  There  still  remained  five  great  and  ancient  fiefs  of 
the  French  crown  ;  Champagne,  Guienne,  Flanders,  Burgun- 
dy, and  Brittany.  But  Philip  IV.,  usually  called  the  Fair 
(a.d.  1285),  married  the  heiress  of  the  first,  a  little  before  his 
father's  death;  and  although  he  governed  that  country  in 
her  name,  without  pretending  to  reunite  it  to  the  royal  do- 
main, it  was,  at  least  in  a  political  sense,  no  longer  a  part 
of  the  feudal  body.  With  some  of  his  other  vassals  Philip 
used  more  violent  methods.  A  parallel  might  be  drawn  be- 
tween this  prince  and  Philip  Augustus.  But  while  in  ambi- 
tion, violence  of  temper,  and  unprincipled  rapacity,  as  well 
as  in  the  success  of  their  attempts  to  establish  an  absolute 
authority,  they  may  be  considered  as  nearly  equal,  Ave  may 
remark  this  difference,  that  Philip  the  Fair,  who  was  desti- 
tute of  military  talents,  gained  those  ends  by  dissimulation 
wdiich  his  predecessor  had  reached  by  force. 

The  duchy  of  Guienne,  though  somewhat  abridged  of  its 
original  extent,  was  still  by  far  the  most  considerable  of  the 
French  fiefs,  even  independently  of  its  connection  with  En- 
gland. Philip,  by  dint  of  perfidy,  and  by  the  egregious  inca- 
pacity of  Edmond,  brother  of  Edward  I.,  contrived  to  obtain, 
and  to  keep  for  several  years,  the  possession  of  this  great 
province.  A  quarrel  among  some  French  and  English  sail 
ors  having  provoked  retaliation,  till  a  sort  of  piratical  war 
commenced  between  the  two  countries,  Edward,  as  Duke  of 
Guienne,  was  summoned  into  the  king's  cou»'t  to  answer  foi 


38  PHILIP  IV.  Chap.  I.  Part  1 

the  trespass  of  his  subjects  (a.d.  1292).  Upon  this  he  di&< 
patched  his  brother  to  settle  terms  of  reconciliation,  with 
fuller  powers  than  should  have  been  intrusted  to  so  credu- 
lous a  negotiator.  Philip  so  outwitted  this  prince,  through 
a  fictitious  treaty,  as  to  procure  from  him  the  surrender 
of  all  the  fortresses  in  Guienne.  He  then  threw  off  the 
mask,  and,  after  again  summoning  Edward  to  appear,  pro- 
nounced the  confiscation  of  his  fief  This  business  is  the 
greatest  blemish  in  the  political  character  of  Edward.  But 
his  eagerness  about  the  acquisition  of  Scotland  rendered  him 
less  sensible  to  the  danger  of  a  possession  in  many  respects 
more  valuable;  and  the  spirit  of  resistance  among  the  En- 
glish nobility,  which  his  arbitrary  measures  had  provoked, 
broke  out  very  opportunely  for  Philip,  to  thwart  every  ef- 
fort for  the  recovery  of  Guienne  by  arms.  But  after  re- 
peated suspensions  of  hostilities  a  treaty  was  finally  con- 
cluded, by  which  Philip  restored  the  province,  on  the  agree- 
ment of  a  marriage  betw^een  his  daughter  Isabel  and  the 
heir  of  England. 

To  this  restitution  he  w^as  chiefly  induced  by  the  ill  suc- 
cess that  attended  his  arms  in  P^landers,  another  of  the  great 
fiefs  which  this  ambitious  monarcli  had  endeavored  to  con- 
fiscate. The  Flemings  made,  however,  so  vigorous  a  resist- 
ance, that  Philip  was  unable  to  reduce  that  small  country; 
and  in  one  famous  battle  at  Courtray  they  discomfited  a 
powerful  army  with  that  utter  loss  and  ignominy  to  which 
the  undisciplined  impetuosity  of  the  French  nobles  was  pre- 
eminently exposed  (a.d.  1302.) 

Two  other  acquisitions  of  Philip  the  Fair  deserve  notice; 
that  of  the  counties  of  Angouleme  and  La  Marche,  upon  a 
sentence  of  forfeiture  (and,  as  it  seems,  a  very  harsh  one) 
passed  against  the  reigning  count :  and  that  of  the  city  of 
Lyons,  and  its  adjacent  territory,  which  had  not  even  feudal- 
ly been  subject  to  the  crown  of  France  for  more  than  three 
hundred  years. 

§  23.  One  of  the  most  memorable  events  in  the  reign  of 
Philip  ly.  was  the  condemnation  and  suppression  of  the  Or- 
der of  the  Knights  Templars  on  the  charge  of  systematic 
blasphemy  and  impiety,  shameless  immorality,  and  deliber- 
ate apostasy  from  the  Christian  faith.  Their  innocence  or 
guilt  has  been  the  subject  of  much  controversy.  The  gen- 
eral current  of  popular  writers  in  the  eighteenth  century  was 
in  favor  of  their  innocence ;  in  England  it  would  have  been 
almost  paradoxical  to  doubt  of  it.  The  rapacious  and  un- 
principled character  of  Philip,  the  submission  of  the  Pope, 


i^RANCE.      SUPPRESSION  OF  TPIE  KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS.  39 

Clement  V.,  to  his  will,  the  apparent  incredibility  of  the 
charges  from  their  monstroiisness,the  just  prejudice  against 
confessions  obtained  by  torture  and  retracted  afterwards — 
the  other  prejudice,  not  always  so  just,  but  in  the  case  of 
those  not  convicted  on  fair  evidence  deserving  a  better 
name,  in  favor  of  assertions  of  innocence  made  on  the  scaf- 
fold and  at  the  stake — created,  as  they  still  preserve,  a  strong 
willingness  to  disbelieve  the  accusations  which  came  so  sus- 
piciously before  us.  The  strongest  case  against  them  is  con- 
tained in  an  Essay  written  by  Count  Hammer  Purgstall,-* 
in  which  he  endeavors  to  establish  the  identity  of  the  idola° 
try  ascribed  to  the  Templars  with  that  of  the  ancient  Gnos 
tic  sects,  and  especially  with  those  denominated  Ophites,  oi 
w^orshippers  of  the  serpent ;  and  to  prove  also  that  the  ex' 
treme  impurity  which  forms  one  of  the  revolting  and  hardly 
credible  charges  adduced  by  Philip  IV.  is  similar  in  all  its 
details  to  the  practice  of  the  Gnostics.  This  attack  is  not 
conducted  with  all  the  coolness  which  bespeaks  impartiali- 
ty ;  but  the  evidence  is  startling  enough  to  make  refutation 
apparently  difficult.  The  first  part  of  the  proof,  which  con- 
sists in  identifying  certain  Gnostic  idols,  or,  as  some  suppose, 
amulets,  though  it  comes  much  to  the  same,  with  the  de- 
scription of  what  are  called  Baphometic,  in  the  proceedings 
against  the  Templars,  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  raise  a  consid- 
erable presumption.  We  find  the  word  inetis  continually  on 
these  images,  of  which  Von  Hammer  is  able  to  describe 
twenty-four.  Baphomet  is  a  secret  word  ascribed  to  the 
Templars.^"  But  the  more  important  evidence  is  that  fur- 
nished by  the  comparison  of  sculptures  extant  on  some  Gnos- 
tic and  Ophitic  bowls  with  those  in  churches  built  by  the 
Templars.  Of  these  there  are  many  in  Germany,  and  some 
in  France.  Von  Hammer  has  examined  several  in  the  Aus- 
trian dominions,  and  collected  accounts  of  others.  It  is  a 
striking  fact  that  in  some  we  find,  concealed  from  the  com- 
mon observer,  images  and  symbols  extremely  obscene ;  and 
as  these,  which  can  not  here  be  more  particularly  adverted 
to,  betray  the  depravity  of  the  architects,  and  can  not  be  ex- 

f)lained  away,  we  may  not  so  much  hesitate  as  at  first  to  be- 
ieve  that  impiety  of  a  strange  kind  was  mingled  up  with  this 

19  "Mysterinm  Baphometis  Revelatura,  sen  Fratres  Militiae  Terapli  qna  Gnostici  et 
qaidem  Ophiani,  Apostasiae,  Idolodnliae,  et  Impnritatis  convicti  per  ipsa  eorum  Moii- 
nraenta."  Published  iu  the  sixth  vohime  of  the  "Mines  de  I'Orient  Exploitees." 
Vienna,  1818. 

20  This  word  is  generally  identified  with  Mohammed,  bnt  Hammer  supposes  it  to 
be  "the  God  who  baptizes  according  to  the  spirit  (Ba^^/  ^xi]^lho^)■,  the  God  of  the 
Gnostics  and  of  the  Manichaeans."    See  Martin,  "  Hist,  de  France,"  vol.  iv.,  p,  47T 


40  REIGNS  OF  CHILDREN  OF  PHILIP  IV.       Ch.  I.  Pt.  L 

turpitude.  The  presumptions,  of  course,  from  the  absohite 
identity  of  many  emblems  in  churches  with  the  Gnostic  su- 
perstitions in  their  worst  form,  grow  stronger  and  strong- 
er by  multiplication  of  instances ;  and  though  coincidence 
might  be  credible  in  one,  it  becomes  infinitely  improbable 
in  so  many.  One  may  here  be  mentioned,  though  among 
the  slightest  resemblances.  The  Gnostic  emblems  exhibit  a 
peculiar  form  of  cross,  "J";  and  this  is  common  in  the  churches 
built  by  the  Templars.  But  the  Freemasons,  or  that  society 
of  architects  to  whom  we  owe  so  many  splendid  churches, 
do  not  escape  M.  von  Hammer's  ill  opinion  better  than  the 
Templars.  Though  he  conceives  them  to  be  of  earlier  ori- 
gin, they  had  drunk  at  the  same  foul  spring  of  impious  and 
impure  Gnosticism.  Still,  this  evidence  has  not  been  uni- 
versally received.  It  was  attempted  to  be  refuted  by  Ray- 
nouard,'^'  who  had  been  partially  successful  in  repelling 
some  of  his  opponent's  arguments,  though  it  appears  to  me 
that  he  had  left  much  untouched.^'*  It  seems  that  the  archi- 
tectural evidence  is  the  most  positive,  and  can  only  be  re- 
sisted by  disproving  its  existence,  or  its  connection  with  the 
Freemasons  and  Templars. 

§  24.  Philip  the  Fair  left  three  sons,  who  successively 
reigned  in  France:  Louis  X.  (a.d.  1314),  surnamed  Hutin  ; 
Philip  v.,  surnamed  the  Long ;  and  Charles  IV.,  surnamed 
the  Fair;  with  a  daughter,  Isabel,  married  to  Edward  II.  of 
England.^^  Louis,  the  eldest,  survived  his  father  little  more 
than  a  year,  leaving  one  daughter  and  his  queen  pregnant. 
The  circumstances  that  ensued  require  to  be  accurately 
stated.  Louis  had  possessed,  in  right  of  his  mother,  the 
kingdom  of  Navarre,  with  the  counties  of  Champagne  and 
Brie.  Upon  his  death,  Philip,  his  next  brother,  assumed  the 
regency  both  of  France  and  I^^avarre ;  and  not  long  after- 
wards entered  into  a  treaty  with  Eudes,  Duke  of  Burgun- 
dy, uncle  of  the  princess  Jane,  Louis's  daughter,  by  which 
her  eventual  rights  to  the  succession  were  to  be  regulated. 
It  was  agreed  that,  in  case  the  queen  should  be  delivered  of 
a  daughter,  these  two  princesses,  or  the  survivor  of  them, 
should  take  the  grandmother's  inheritance,  Navarre  and 
Champagne,  on  releasing  all  claim  to  the  throne  of  France. 
But  this  was  not  to  take  place  till  their  age  of  consent,  when, 
if  they  should  refuse  to  make  such  renunciation,  their  claim 

21  ••Jotirnal  des  Savans"  for  1819, 

22  H.  Martin,  who  has  given  at  great  length  the  history  of  the  condemnation  of  the 
Templars  ("Hist,  de  France,"  vol.  iv.,  pp.  46T^9T),  says— "Les  Inmieres  que  I'etnde 
des  documents  origiuaux  ajetees  snr  la  question,  sembleut  permettre  aujourd'hui  de 
condaraner  moralement  I'ordre.  niais  avec  de  grandes  reserves  pour  les  individus." 

28  See  Genealogical  T.-sble,  p.  24. 


France.  QUESTION  OF  SALIC  LAW.  41 

was  to  remain,  and  right  to  he  done  to  them  therein;  but  in 
return,  the  release  made  by  Philip  of  Navarre  and  Cham- 
pagne was  to  be  null.  In  the  mean  time,  he  was  to  hold  the 
government  of  France,  Navarre,  and  Champagne,  receiving- 
homage  of  vassals  in  all  these  countries  as  governor ;  saving 
the  right  of  a  male  heir  to  the  late  king,  in  the  event  of 
whose  birth  the  treaty  was  not  to  take  effect. 

This  convention  was  made  on  the  17th  of  July,  1316  ;  and 
on  the  15th  of  November  the  queen  brought  into  the  world 
a  son,  John  I.  (as  some  called  him),  who  died  in  four  days. 
The  conditional  treaty  was  now  become  absolute ;  in  spirit, 
at  least,  if  any  cavil  might  be  raised  about  the  expression  : 
and  Philip  was,  by  his  own  agreement,  j^recluded  from  taking 
any  other  title  than  that  of  regent  or  governor,  until  the 
princess  Jane  should  attain  the  age  to  concur  in  or  disclaim 
the  provisional  contract  of  her  uncle.  Instead  of  this,  how- 
ever, he  procured  himself  to  be  consecrated  at  Rheims.  Upon 
his  return  to  Paris,  an  assembly  composed  of  prelates,  barons, 
and  burgesses  of  that  city,  was  convened,  who  acknowledged 
him  as  their  lawful  sovereign,  and,  if  we  may  believe  an  his- 
torian, expressly  declared  that  a  woman  was  incapable  of 
succeeding  to  the  crown  of  France.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
however,  made  a  show  of  supporting  his  niece's  interests,  till, 
tempted  by  the  prospect  of  a  marriage  with  the  daughter  of 
Philip,  he  shamefully  betrayed  her  cause,  and  gave  up  in  her 
name,  for  an  inconsiderable  pension,  not  only  her  disputed 
claim  to  the  whole  monarchy,  but  her  unquestionable  right 
to  Navarre  and  Champagne. 

In  this  contest,  every  way  memorable,  but  especially  on  ac- 
count of  that  which  sprung  out  of  it,  the  exclusion  of  females 
from  the  throne  of  France  was  first  publicly  discussed.  The 
French  writers  almost  unanimously  concur  in  asserting  that 
such  an  exclusion  was  built  upon  a  fundamental  maxim  of 
their  government.  No  written  law,  nor  even,  as  far  as  I 
know,  the  direct  testimony  of  any  ancient  writer,  has  been 
brought  forward  to  confirm  this  position.  For  as  to  the 
text  of  the  Salic  law,  which  was  frequently  quoted,  and  has 
indeed  given  a  name  to  this  exclusion  of  females,  it  can  only 
by  a  doubtful  and  refined  analogy  be  considered  as  bearing 
any  relation  to  the  succession  of  the  crown.**     It  is  certain, 

2*  The  Salic  law  simply  provided  that  Salic  land  (?.  e.,  the  allodial  property  of  the 
tribe)  should  not  descend  to  females,' and  is  improperly  applied  to  the  law  which  ex- 
cluded females  from  the  crown.  But  from  the  accession  of  Philip  the  Long  this  so- 
called  "Salic  law  has  been  regarded  as  an  essential  constitutional  principle  in  France. 
The  advantages  of  such  an  enactment  are  great  and  obvious.  It  secured  the  con- 
solid.uion  of  the  royal  authority  in  the  hands  of  a  line  of  native  princes;  it  tended 
to  e^rcliide  foreign  influence  from  the  highest  functions  and  affairs  of  state;  and,  by 
makiiig  it  impossible  that  the  crown  of  France  should  ever  be  acquired  by  raarr'age. 


42  CLAIM  OF  EDWARD  III.         Chap.  I.  Part  1. 

nevertheless,  that,  from  the  time  of  Clovis,  no  woman  had 
ever  reigned  in  France ;  and  although  not  an  instance  of  a 
sole  heiress  had  occurred  before,  yet  some  of  the  Merovingian 
kings  left  daughters,  who  might,  if  not  rendered  incapable  by 
their  sex,  have  shared  with  their  brothers  in  partitions  then 
commonly  made.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  these  times  were 
gone  quite  out  of  memory,  and  France  had  much  in  the 
analogy  of  her  existing  usages  to  reconcile  her  to  a  female 
reign.  The  crown  resembled  a  great  fief;  and  the  great 
fiefs  might  universally  descend  to  women.  Even  at  the  con- 
secration of  Philip  himself,  Maud,  countess  of  Artois,  held 
the  crown  over  his  head  among  the  other  peers.  And  it 
was  scarcely  beyond  the  recollection  of  persons  living  that 
Blanche  had  been  legitimate  regent  of  France  during  the 
minority  of  St.  Louis. 

For  these  reasons,  and  much  more  from  the  provisional 
treaty  concluded  between  Philip  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
it  may  be  fairly  inferred  that  the  Salic  law,  as  it  was  "called, 
was  not  so  fixed  a  principle  at  that  time  as  has  been  contend- 
ed. But  however  this  may  be,  it  received  at  the  accession 
of  Philip  the  Long  a  sanction  which  subsequent  events  more 
thoroughly  confirmed.  Philip  himself  leaving  only  three 
daughters,  his  brother  Charles  (a.d.  1322)  mounted  the 
throne;  and  upon  his  death  (a.d.  1328)  the  rule  was  so  un- 
questionably established,  that  his  only  daughter  was  excluded 
by  the  Count  of  Valois,  grandson  of  Philip  the  Bold.  This 
prince  first  took  the  regency,  the  queen-dowager  being  preg- 
nant, and,  upon  her  giving  birth  to  a  daughter,  was  crowned 
king.  No  competitor  or  opponent  appeared  in  France ;  but 
one  more  formidable  than  any  whom  France  could  have  pro- 
duced was  awaiting  the  occasion  to  prosecute  his  imagined 
right  with  all  the  resources  of  valor  and  genius,  and  to  carry 
desolation  over  that  great  kingdom  with  as  little  scrujjle  as 
if  he  were  preferring  a  suit  before  a  civil  tribunal. 

§  25.  From  the  moment  of  Charles  IV.'s  death,  Edward  III. 
of  England  buoyed  himself  up  with  the  notion  of  his  title  to 
the  crown  of  France,  in  right  of  his  mother  Isabel,  sister  to 
the  last  three  kings.  We  can  have  no  hesitation  in  condem- 
ning the  injustice  of  this  pretension.  Whether  the  Salic  law 
were,  jv  were  not  valid,  no  advantage  could  be  gained  by  Ed- 
ward. Even  if  he  could  forget  the  express  or  tacit  decision 
of  all  France,  there  stood  in  his  way  Jane,  the  daughter  of 
Louis  X.,  three  of  Philip  the  Long,  and  one  of  Charles  the 
Fair.     Aware  of  this,  Edward  set  up  a  distinction,  that,  al- 

it  cut  oflF  a  dangerous  temptation,  which,  in  other  countries,  has  proclnced  destructive 
consequences."    See  Martin,  vol.  iv.,  p.  536 ;  "  Student's  Hist,  cf  Frauce,"p.  190. 


France.         THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS  OF  FRANCE.  43 

though  females  were  excluded  from  succession,  the  same  rule 
did  not  apply  to  their  male  issue ;  and  thus,  though  his  moth- 
er Isabel  could  not  herself  become  Queen  of  France,  she  might 
transmit  a  title  to  him.  But  this  was  contrary  to  the  common- 
est rules  of  inheritance  ;  and  if  it  could  have  been  regarded  at 
all,  Jane  had  a  son,  afterwards  the  famous  King  of  Navarre, 
who  stood  one  degree  nearer  to  the  crown  than  Edward. 

GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OP  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS  OF  FRANCE. 

Charles,  count  of  Valois,  younger  son  of  King  Philip  III.    (See  Table,  p.  25.) 

Philip  VI.,  king,  1328-1350. 


),kii 


JoiiN  (le  Bon),  king,  1350-1364. 


C  JAELES  V.  (le  Sage),  Louis,  duke  of  Aujou,         John,  duke  Philip,  duke 

king,  1304-1380,  founder  of  the  2d  royal  of  Berry.  of  Burgundy, 

house  of  Naples.  ob,  1404. 

Jean  Sanspeur, 
assassinated  at 
Montereau,  1419. 


Charles  VI.  (le  Bieu-aimu).  king.  1380-1422  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans, 

=  Isabella  of  Bavaria.  assassinated  at  Paris,  1407, 

I  founder  of  the  line  of  Valois-Orleans, 

Louis,  John,  Charles  VII.  Ii!<abella  Catherine 

ob.l415.      ob.l4ia.         (leVictorieux),       =1.  Richard  IL  of  England.      =  Henry  V. 

king,  1422-14G1.  2.  Duke  of  Orleans.  of  England. 

L_ . 

Louis  XL,  king,  1461-1483.  Charles,  duke  of  Berry,  Four  daughters. 


Charles  VTIL,  king,  Anne=:  Jeanne  =: 

1483-1498.  Sire  de  Beaujeu.  Duke  of  Orleans, 

afterwards  Louis  XII. 

It  is  asserted  in  some  French  authorities  that  Edward  pre- 
ferred a  claim  to  the  regency  immediately  after  the  decease 
of  Charles  the  Fair,  and  that  the  States-General,  or  at  least 
the  peers  of  France,  adjudged  that  dignity  to  Philip  de  Val- 
ois. Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  it  is  clear  that  he  enter- 
tained projects  of  recovering  his  right  as  early;  though  his 
youth  and  the  embarrassed  circumstances  of  his  government 
threw  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  execution. 
He  did  liege  homage,  therefore,  to  Philip  for  Guienne,  and 
for  several  years,  while  the  affairs  of  Scotland  engrossed  his 
attention,  gave  no  sign  of  meditating  a  more  magnificent  en- 
terprise. As  he  advanced  in  manhood,  and  felt  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  strength,  his  early  designs  grew  mature,  and  pro- 
duced a  series  of  the  most  important  and  interesting  revolu- 
tions in  the  fortunes  of  France,  These  will  form  the  subject 
of  the  ensuing  pages. 


44  WAR  OF  EDWARD  III.  IN  FRANCE.     Chap.  I,  Part  II, 


PART   II. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  PHILIP  OF  VALOIS  TO  THE  INVASION  OP 
NAPLES  BY  CHARLES  VIIL 

i  1.  War  of  Edward  III.  iu  Frauce.  §  2.  Causes  of  his  Success.  §  3,  Civil  disturb- 
ances of  Frauce.  §  4.  Peace  of  Bretigui.  §  5.  Charles  V.  Reuevval  of  the  War. 
§  C.  Charles  VI.  His  Minority  and  lusauity.  §  7.  Civil  dissensious  of  the  Parties 
of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  Assassination  of  both  these  Princes.  §  S.  Intrigues 
of  their  Parties  with  England  uuder  Henry  IV.  Henry  V.  invades  France.  §  9. 
Treaty  of  Troyes.  §  10.  State  of  France  in  the  first  Years  of  Charles  VII,  §  11. 
Progress  and  subsequent  Decline  of  the  English  Arms.  §  12,  Their  Expulsion 
from  France.  §  13.  Change  in  the  Political  Constitution.  §  14.  Louis  XI.  His 
Character.  Leagues  formed  against  him.  §  15,  Charles  Duke  of  Burgundy.  His 
Prosperity  and  Fall.  §  16.  Louis  obtains  possession  of  Burgundy.  5  17.  His  death. 
§  18.  Charles  VIII,    Acquisition  of  Brittany. 

§  1.  No  war  had  broken  out  in  Europe,  since  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  so  memorable  as  that  of  Edward  III.  and  his 
successors  against  France,  whether  we  consider  its  duration, 
its  object,  or  the  magnitude  and  variety  of  its  events.  It 
was  a  struggle  of  120  years,  interrupted  but  once  by  a  regu- 
lar pacification,  Avhere  the  most  ancient  and  extensive  domin- 
ion in  the  civilized  world  was  the  prize,  twice  lost  and  twice 
recovered  in  the  conflict,  while  individual  courage  was 
wrought  up  to  that  high  pitch  which  it  can  seldom  display 
since  the  regularity  of  modern  tactics  has  chastised  its  en- 
thusiasm and  levelled  its  distinctions.  There  can  be  no 
occasion  to  dwell  upon  the  events  of  this  war,  which  are  fa- 
miliar to  almost  every  reader :  it  is  rather  my  aim  to  devel- 
op and  arrange  those  circumstances  which,  when  rightly  uu' 
derstood,  give  the  clue  to  its  various  changes  of  fortune. 

§  2.  France  was,  even  in  the  fourteenth  century,  a  king- 
dom of  such  extent  and  compactness  of  figure,  such  popula- 
tion and  resources,  and  filled  with  so  spirited  a  nobility,  that 
the  very  idea  of  subjugating  it  by  a  foreign  force  must  have 
seemed  the  most  extravagant  dream  of  ambition.  Yet,  in  the 
course  of  about  twenty  years  of  war,  this  mighty  nation  was 
reduced  to  the  lowest  state  of  exhaustion,  and  dismembered 
of  considerable  provinces  by  an  ignominious  peace.  What 
was  the  combination  of  political  causes  which  brought  about 
60  strange  a  revolution,  and,  though  not  realizing  Edward's 
hopes  to  their  extent,  redeemed  them  from  the  imputation 
of  rashness  in  the  judgment  of  his  own  and  succeeding  ages? 

The  first  advantage  which  Edward  III.  possessed  iu  this 


FuANCE.  WAR  OF  EDWARD  III.  IN  FRANCE.  45 

contest  was  derived  from  the  splendor  of  his  personal  char, 
acter  and  from  the  still  more  eminent  virtues  of  his  son.    Be- 
sides prudence  and  military  skill,  these  great  princes  were 
endowed  with   qualities  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  times   in 
which  they  lived.     Chivalry  was  then  in  its  zenith ;  and  in 
all  the  virtues  which    adorned   the  knightly  character   in 
courtesy,  munificence,  gallantry,  in  all  delicate  and  magnani- 
mous feelings,  none  were  so  conspicuous  as  Edward  III.  and 
the  Black  Prince.     As  later  princes  have  boasted  of  being 
the  best  gentlemen,  they  might   claim  to  be   the  prowest 
knights  in  Europe — a  character  not  quite  dissimilar,  yet  of 
more  high  pretension.     Their  court  was,  as  it  were,  the  sun 
of  that  system  which  embraced  the  valor  and  nobility  of  the 
Christian  w^orld ;  and  the  respect  w^hich  was  felt  for  their  ex- 
cellences, while  it  drew  many  to  their  side,  mitigated  in  all 
the  rancor  and  ferociousness  of  hostility.     This  war  was  like 
a  great  tournament,  where   the   combatants  fought  indeed 
d  oictrance,  but  with  all  the  courtesy  and  fair  play  of  such  an 
entertainment,  and  almost  as  much  for  the  honor  of  their  la 
dies.     In  the  school  of  the  Edwards  were  formed  men  not 
inferior  in  any  nobleness  of  disposition  to  their  masters — 
Manni  and  the  Captal  de  Buch,Knollys  and  Calverley,  Chan- 
dos  and  Lancaster.     On  the  French  side,  especially  after  Du 
Guesclin  came  on  the  stage,  these  had  rivals  almost  equally 
deserving  of  renown.     If  w^e  could  forget,  what  never  should 
be  forgotten,  the  Avretchedness  and  devastation  that  fell  upon 
a  great  kingdom,  too  dear  a  price  for  the  display  of  any  her- 
oism, we  might  count  these  English  w^ars  in  France  among 
the  brightest  periods  in  history. 

Philip  of  Valois,  and  John  his  son,  showed  but  poorly  in 
comparison  with  their  illustrious  enemies.  Yet  they  both 
had  considerable  virtues  ;  they  w^ere  brave,  just,  liberal;  and 
the  latter,  in  particular,  of  unshaken  fidelity  to  his  word. 
But  neither  was  beloved  by  his  subjects ;  the  misgovernment 
and  extortion  of  their  predecessors  during  half  a  century  had 
alienated  the  public  mind,  and  rendered  their  own  taxes  and 
debasement  of  the  coin  intolerable.  Philip  was  made  by  mis- 
fortune, John  by  nature,  suspicious  and  austere  ;  and  although 
their  most  violent  acts  seem  never  to  have  wanted  absolute 
justice,  yet  they  were  so  ill-conducted,  and  of  so  arbitrary  a 
complexion,  that  they  greatly  impaired  the  reputation,  as 
well  as  interests,  of  these  monarchs. 

Next  to  the  personal  qualities  of  the  King  of  England,  his 
resources  in  this  war  must  be  taken  into  the  account.  It 
^ras  after  Ions:  hesitation  that  he  assumed  the  title  and  arms 


46  CIVIL  DISTURBANCES  OF  FRANCE.     Chap.  I.  PartIL 

of  France,  froni  which,  unless  upon  tlie  best  terms,  he  could 
not  recede  without  loss  of  honor.  In  the  mean  time  he 
strengthened  himself  by  alliances  with  the  emperor,  with 
the  cities  of  Flanders,  and  with  most  of  the  princes  in  the 
Netherlands  and  on  the  Rhine.  Yet  I  do  not  know  that  he 
profited  much  by  these  conventions,  since  he  met  with  no 
success  till  the  scene  of  the  war  was  changed  from  the  Flem- 
ish frontier  to  Normandy  and  Poitou.  The  troops  of  Hain- 
ault  alone  were  constantly  distinguished  in  his  service. 

But  his  intrinsic  strength  was  at  home.  England  had 
been  growing  in  riches  since  the  wise  government  of  his 
grandfather,  Edward  I.,  and  through  the  market  opened  for 
her  wool  with  the  manufacturing  towns  of  Flanders.  She 
was  tranquil  within ;  and  her  northern  enemy,  the  Scotch, 
had  been  defeated  and  quelled.  The  Parliament,  after  some 
slight  precautions  agiiinst  a  very  probable  effect  of  Edward's 
conquest  of  France,  the  reduction  of  their  own  island  into  a 
province,  entered,  as  warmly  as  improvidently,  into  his  quar- 
rel. The  people  made  it  their  own,  and  grew  so  intoxicated 
with  the  victories  of  this  war,  that  for  some  centuries  the 
injustice  and  folly  of  the  enterprise  do  not  seem  to  have 
struck  the  gravest  of  our  countrymen. 

There  is,  indeed,  ample  room  for  national  exultation  at  the 
names  of  Crecy,  Poitiers,  and  Azincourt.  So  great  was  the 
disparity  of  numbers  upon  those  famous  days,  that  we  can 
not,  with  the  French  historians,  attribute  the  discom.fiture 
of  their  hosts  merely  to  mistaken  tactics  and  too  impetuous 
valor.  They  yielded  rather  to  that  intrepid  steadiness  in 
danger  which  had  already  become  the  characteristic  of  our 
English  soldiers,  and  which,  during  five  centuries,  has  insured 
their  superiority,  whenever  ignorance  or  infatuation  has  not 
led  them  into  the  field.  But  these  victories,  and  the  quali- 
ties that  secured  them,  must  chiefly  be  ascribed  to  the  free- 
dom of  our  constitution,  and  to  the  superior  condition  of  the 
people.  Not  the  nobility  of  England,  not  the  feudal  tenants, 
won  the  battles  of  Crecy  and  Poitiers;  for  these  were  fully 
matched  in  the  ranks  of  France;  but  the  yeomen,  who  drew 
the  bow  with  strong  and  steady  arms,  accustomed  to  use  it 
in  their  native  fields,  and  rendered  fearless  by  personal  com- 
petence and  civil  freedom.  It  is  well  known  that  each  of 
the  three  great  victories  was  due  to  our  archers,  who  were 
chiefly  of  the  middle  class,  and  attached,  according  to  the 
system  of  that  age,  to  the  knights  and  squires  who  fought  in 
heavy  armor  with  the  lance.  Even  at  the  battle  of  Poitiers, 
of  which  our  country  seems  to  have  the  least  right  to  boast. 


France.  SUCCESSES  OF  EDWARD  HI.  47 

since  the  greater  part  of  the  Black  Prince's  small  army  was 
composed  of  Gascons,  the  merit  of  the  English  bowmen  is 
strongly  attested  by  Froissart. 

§  3.  Yet  the  glorious  termination  to  which  Edward  was 
enabled,  at  least  for  a  time,  to  bring  the  contest,  was  rather 
the  work  of  fortune  than  of  valor  and  prudence.  Until  the 
battle  of  Poitiers  he  had  made  no  progress  towards  the  con- 
quest of  France.  That  country  was  too  vast,  and  his  army 
too  small,  for  such  a  revolution.  The  victory  of  Crecy  gave 
him  nothing  but  Calais,  a  post  of  considerable  importance  in 
war  and  peace,  but  rather  adapted  to  annoy  than  to  subju- 
gate the  kingdom.  But  at  Poitiers  he  obtained  the  great- 
est of  prizes,  by  taking  prisoner  the  king  of  France.  Not 
only  the  love  of  freedom  tempted  that  prince  to  ransom  him- 
self by  the  utmost  sacrifices,  but  his  captivity  left  France  de- 
fenseless, and  seemed  to  annihilate  the  monarchy  itself  The 
government  was  already  odious;  a  spirit  was  awakened  in 
the  people  which  might  seem  hardly  to  belong  to  the  four- 
teenth century ;  and  the  convulsions  of  our  own  time  are 
sometimes  strongly  paralleled  by  those  which  succeeded  the 
battle  of  Poitiers.  Already  the  States-General  had  estab- 
lished a  fundamental  principle  that  no  resolution  could  be 
passed  as  the  opinion  of  the  whole  unless  each  of  the  three 
orders  concurred  in  its  adoption.  The  right  of  levying  and 
of  regulating  the  collection  of  taxes  was  recognized.  But 
that  assembly,  which  met  at  Paris  immediately  after  the  bat- 
tle, went  far  greater  lengths  in  the  reform  and  control  of 
government.  From  the  time  of  Philip  the  Fair  the  abuses 
natural  to  arbitrary  power  had  harassed  the  people.  There 
now  seemed  an  opportunity  of  redress;  and  however  sedi- 
tious, or  even  treasonable,  may  have  been  the  motives  of 
those  who  guided  this  assembly  of  the  States,  especially  the 
famous  Marcel,  it  is  clear  that  many  of  their  reformations 
tended  to  liberty  and  the  public  good.*  But  the  tumultu- 
ous scenes  which  passed  in  the  capital,  sometimes  heighten- 
ed into  civil  war,  necessarily  distracted  men  from  the  com- 
mon defense  against  Edward.  These  tumults  were  excited, 
and  the  distraction  increased,  by  Charles  King  of  Navarre, 
surnamed  the  Bad.  He  was  grandson  of  Louis  Hutin,  by 
his  daughter  Jane,  and,  if  Edward's  pretense  of  claiming 
through  females  could  be  admitted,  was  a  nearer  heir  to  the 
crown  ;  the  consciousness  of  which  seems  to  have  suggested 

1  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  next  chapter  for  more  information  on  this  subject. 
This  separation  is  inconvenient,  but  it  arose  indispensably  out  of  my  arrangement, 
and  prevented  greater  inconvenience. 


48  SUFFERINGS  OF  FRANCE.     Chap.  I.  Part  II. 

itself  to  his  depraved  mind  as  an  excuse  for  his  treacheries, 
though  he  could  entertain  very  little  prospect  of  asserting 
the  claim  against  either  contending  party.  He  entered  into 
alliances  with  Edward,  and  fomented  the  seditious  sj)int  of 
Paris.  Eloquent  and  insinuating,  he  was  the  favorite  of  the 
people,  whose  grievances  he  affected  to  pity,  and  with  whose 
leaders  he  intrigued. 

There  is  no  affliction  which  did  not  fall  upon  France  dur- 
ing this  miserable  period.  A  foreign  enemy  was  in  the  lieart 
of  the  kingdom,  the  king  a  prisoner,  the  capital  in  sedition, 
a  treacherous  prince  of  the  blood  in  arms  against  the  sover- 
eign authority.  Famine,  the  sure  and  terrible  companion  of 
war,  for  several  years  desolated  the  country.  In  1348  a  pes- 
tilence, the  most  extensive  and  unsparing  of  which  we  have 
any  memorial,  visited  France  as  well  as  the  rest  of  Europe, 
and  consummated  the  work  of  hunger  and  the  sword.^  The 
companies  of  adventure,  mercenary  troops  in  the  service 
of  John  or  Edward,  finding  no  immediate  occupation  after 
the  truce  of  1357,  scattered  themselves  over  the  country  in 
search  of  pillage.  No  force  existed  sufficiently  powerful  to 
check  these  robbers  in  their  career.  Undismayed  oy  supersti- 
tion, they  compelled  the  pope  to  redeem  himself  in  Avignon 
by  the  payment  of  forty  thousand  crowns.  France  was  the 
passive  victim  of  their  license,  even  after  the  pacification 
concluded  with  England,  till  some  were  diverted  into  Italy, 
and  others  led  by  Du  Guesclin  to  the  war  of  Castile.  Im- 
patient of  this  wretchedness,  and  stung  by  the  insolence  and 
luxury  of  their  lords,  the  peasantry  of  several  districts  broke 
out  into  a  dreadful  insurrection  (a.d.  1358).  This  was  call- 
ed the  Jacquerie,  from  the  cant  phrase  Jacques  Bonhomme, 
applied  to  men  of  that  class ;  and  was  marked  by  all  the 
circumstances  of  horror  incident  to  the  rising  of  an  exasper- 
ated and  unenlightened  populace. 

§  4.  Subdued  by  these  misfortunes,  though  Edward  had 
made  but  slight  progress  tow^ards  the  conquest  of  the  coun- 

2  A  full  account  of  the  ravages  made  by  this  memorable  plague  may  be  found  in 
Matteo  Villaui,  the  second  of  that  family  who  wrote  the  history  of  Florence.  His 
brother  and  predecessor,  John  Villani,  was  himself  a  victim  to  it.  The  disease  began 
in  the  Levant  about  1346 ;  from  whence  Italian  traders  brought  it  to  Sicily,  Pisa,  and 
Genoa.  In  134S  it  passed  the  Alps,  spread  over  France  and  Spain  ;  in  the  next  year  it 
reached  Britain,  and  in  1350  laid  waste  Germany  and  other  northern  states ;  lasting 
generally  about  Ave  months  in  each  country.  At  Florence  more  than  three  out  of 
live  died.  The  stories  of  Boccaccio's  Decamerone,  as  is  well  known,  are  supposed  to 
be  related  by  a  society  of  Florentine  ladies  and  gentlemen  retired  to  the  country  dur- 
ing this  pestilence. 

Another  pestilence,  only  less  destructive  than  the  former,  wasted  both  France  and 
England  in  1361.  The  plague  caused  a  truce  of  several  months.  The  war  was  in  fact 
carried  on  with  less  vigor  for  some  years.  \ 


France.  CHARLES  V.— PEACE  OF  BRETIGNI.  49 

try,  the  regent  of  France,  afterwards  Charles  V.,  submitted 
to  the  peace  of  Bretigni  (a.d.  1360).  By  this  treaty,  not  to 
mention  less  important  articles,  all  Guienne,  Gascony,  Poitou, 
Saintonge,  the  Limousin,  and  the  Angoumois,  us  well  as 
Calais,  and  the  country  of  Ponthieu,  were  ceded  in  full  sov- 
ereignty to  Edward ;  a  price  abundantly  compensating  his 
renunciation  of  the  title  of  France,  which  was  the  sole  con- 
cession stipulated  in  return.  At  Calais  this  treaty  was  re- 
newed by  John,  who,  as  a  prisoner,  had  been  no  party  to 
the  former  compact,  and  who  now  returned  to  his  dominions. 

When  the  peace  of  Bretigni  was  to  be  carried  into  effect 
the  nobility  of  the  south  remonstrated  against  the  loss  of 
the  king's  sovereignty,  and  showed,  it  is  said,  in  their  char- 
ters granted  by  Charlemagne,  a  promise  never  to  transfer 
the  right  of  protecting  them  to  another.  The  citizens  of 
Rochelle  implored  the  king  not  to  desert  them,  and  protest- 
ed their  readiness  to  pay  half  their  estates  in  taxes,  rather 
than  fall  under  the  power  of  England.  John  with  heaviness 
of  heart  persuaded  these  faithful  people  to  comply  with  that 
destiny  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  surmount.  At  length 
they  sullenly  submitted  :  we  will  obey,  they  said,  the  En- 
glish with  our  lips,  but  our  hearts  shall  never  forget  their  al- 
legiance. Such  unwilling  subjects  might  perhaps  have  been 
won  by  a  prudent  government ;  but  the  temper  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  which  was  rather  stern  and  arbitrary,  did  not  con- 
ciliate their  hearts  to  his  cause.  After  the  expedition  into 
Castile,  a  most  injudicious  and  fatal  enterprise,  he  attempted 
to  impose  a  heavy  tax  upon  Guienne.  This  was  extended 
to  the  lands  of  the  nobility,  who  claimed  an  immunity  from 
all  impositions.  Many  of  the  chief  lords  in  Guienne  and 
Gascony  carried  their  complaints  to  the  throne  of  Charles  V., 
who  had  succeeded  his  father  in  1364,  appealing  to  him  as 
the  prince's  sovereign  and  judge.  After  a  year's  delay  the 
king  ventured  to  summon  the  Black  Prince  to  answer  these 
charges  before  the  peers  of  France,  and  the  war  immediate- 
ly recommenced  between  the  two  countries  (a.d.  1368). 

§  5.  Though  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile  the  conduct  of 
Charles  upon  this  occasion  to  the  stern  principles  of  rectitude 
which  ought  always  to  be  obeyed,  yet  the  exceeding  injustice 
of  Edward  in  the  former  war,  and  the  miseries  Avhich  he  in- 
flicted upon  an  unoffending  people  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
claim,  w^ill  go  far  towards  extenuating  this  breach  of  the 
treaty  of  Bretigni.  The  measures  of  Charles  had  been  so  sa- 
gaciously taken,  that,  except  through  that  perverseness  of 
fortune,  against  winch,  especially  in  war,  there  is  no  security, 

3 


50  RENEWAL  OF  THE  WAR.       Chap.  I.  Part  II. 

he  cc'tIcI  hardly  fail  of  success.  The  elder  Edward  was  de- 
clining through  age,  and  the  younger  through  disease;  the 
ceded  provinces  were  eager  to  return  to  their  native  king, 
and  their  garrisons,  as  we  may  infer  by  their  easy  reduction, 
feeble  and  ill-supplied.  France,  on  the  other  hand,  had  re- 
covered breath  after  her  losses ;  the  sons  of  those  who  had 
fallen  or  fled  at  Poitiers  were  in  the  field ;  a  king,  not  per- 
sonally warlike,  but  eminently  wise  and  popular,  occupied 
the  throne  of  the  rash  and  intemperate  John.  She  was  re- 
stored by  the  policy  of  Charles  V.  and  the  valor  of  Du 
Guesclin.  This  hero,  a  Breton  gentleman  without  fortune 
or  exterior  graces,  was  the  greatest  ornament  of  France  dur- 
ing that  age.  Though  inferior,  as  it  seems,  to  Lord  Chandos 
in  military  skill,  as  well  as  in  the  polished  virtues  of  chival- 
ry, his  unwearied  activity,  his  talent  of  inspiring  confidence, 
his  good  fortune,  the  generosity  and  frankness  of  his  charac- 
ter, have  preserved  a  fresh  recollection  of  his  name,  which 
has  hardly  been  the  case  with  our  countryman. 

In  a  few  campaigns  the  English  were  deprived  of  almost 
all  their  conquests,  and  even,  in  a  great  degree,  of  their  orig- 
inal possessions  in  Guienne.  They  were  still  formidable  en- 
emies, not  only  from  their  courage  and  alacrity  in  the  war, 
but  on  account  of  the  keys  of  P>ance  which  they  held  in 
their  hands — Bordeaux,  Bayonne,  and  Calais,  by  inheritance 
or  conquest ;  Brest  and  Cherbourg,  in  mortgage  from  their 
allies,  the  Duke  of  Brittany  and  King  of  Navarre.  But  the 
successor  of  Edward  III.  was  Richard  II. ;  a  reign  of  fee- 
bleness and  sedition  gave  no  opportunity  for  prosecuting 
schemes  of^ambition^  The  war,  protracted  witli  few  dis- 
tinguished events  for 'several  years,  was  at  length  suspended 
by  repeated  armistices,  not,  indeed,  very  strictly  observed, 
and  which  the  animosity  of  the  English  would  not  permit  to 
settle  in  any  regular  treaty.  Nothing  less  than  the  terms 
obtained  at  Bretigni,  emphatically  called  the  Great  Peace, 
would  satisfy  a  frank  and  courageous  people,  who  deemed 
themselves  cheated  by  the  manner  of  its  infraction.  The 
war  was  therefore  always  popular  in  England,  and  the  credit 
which  an  ambitious  prince,  Thomas  duke  of  Gloucester,  ob- 
tained in  that  country,  was  chiefly  owing  to  the  determined 
opposition  which  he  showed  to  all  French  connections.  But 
the  politics  of  Richard  IL  were  of  a  diflerent  cast ;  and  Hen- 
ry IV.  was  equally  anxious  to  avoid  hostilities  with  France  ; 
so  that,  before  the  unhappy  condition  of  that  kingdom  tempt- 
ed his  son  to  revive  the  claims  of  Edward  in  still  more  fa- 
vorable circumstances,  there  had  been  thirty  years  of  respite, 


Fkance.  accession  OF  CHARLES  VI.  51 

and  even  some  intervals  of  friendly  intercourse  between  the 
two  nations. 

§  6.  Charles  Y.,  surnaraed  the  Wise,  after  a  reign  which, 
if  we  overlook  a  little  obliquity  in  the  rupture  of  the  peace 
of  Bretigni,  may  be  deemed  one  of  the  most  honorable  in 
French  history,  dying  prematurely,  left  the  crown  to  his  son, 
Charles  V^I.  (a.d.  1380),  a  boy  of  thirteen,  under  the  care  of 
three  ambitious  uncles,  the  dukes  of  Anjou,  Berry,  and  Bur- 
_;yundy.  Charles  V.  had  retrieved  the  glory,  restored  the 
tranquillity,  revived  the  spirit,  of  his  country ;  the  severe 
trials  which  exercised  his  regency  after  the  battle  of  Poi- 
tiers had  disciplined  his  mind;  he  became  a  sagacious  states- 
man, an  encourager  of  literature,  a  beneficent  lawgiver.  But 
all  the  fruits  of  his  wisdom  were  lost  in  the  succeeding  reign. 
During  the  forty  years  that  Charles  VI.  bore  the  name  of 
king,  rather  than  reigned,  in  France,  that  country  was  re- 
duced to  a  state  far  more  deplorable  than  during  the  captiv- 
ity of  John. 

A  great  change  had  occurred  in  the  political  condition  of 
France  during  the  fourteenth  century.  As  the  feudal  mili- 
tia became  unserviceable,  the  expenses  of  war  were  in- 
creased through  the  necessity  of  taking  troops  into  constant 
pay.  Hence  taxes,  hitherto  almost  unknown,  were  levied 
incessantly,  and  with  all  those  circumstances  of  oppression 
which  are  natural  to  the  fiscal  proceedings  of  an  arbitrary 
government.  The  ill  faith  with  which  the  new  government 
imposed  subsidies,  after  promising  their  abolition,  provoked 
the  people  of  Paris,  and  sometimes  of  other  places,  to  repeat- 
ed seditions.  The  States-General  not  only  compelled  the 
government  to  revoke  these  impositions  and  restore  the  na- 
tion, at  least  according  to  the  language  of  edicts,  to  all  their 
liberties,  but,  with  less  wisdom,  refused  to  make  any  grant 
of  money.  Indeed  a  remarkable  spirit  of  democratical  free- 
dom was  then  rising  in  those  classes  on  whom  the  crown 
and  nobility  had  so  long  trampled.  An  example  was  held 
out  by  the  Flemings,  who,  always  tenacious  of  their  privi- 
leges, because  conscious  of  their  ability  to  maintain  them, 
were  em^aged  in  a  furious  conflict  with  Louis,  count  of  Flan- 
ders. The  court  of  France  took  part  in  this  war ;  and  after 
obtaining  a  decisive  victory  over  the  citizens  of  Ghent, 
Charles  V.  returned  to  chastise  those  of  Paris.  Unable  to 
resist  the  royal  army,  the  city  was  treated  as  the  spoil  of 
conquest;  its  immunities  abridged;  its  most  active  leaders 
put  to  death ;  a  fine  of  uncommon  severity  imposed ;  and 
the  taxes  renewed  by  arbitrary  prerogative.     But  the  peo- 


52  CIVIL  DISSENSIONS  OF  THE  PARTIES    Cii.  I.  Ft.  IL 

pie  preserved  their  indignation  for  a  favorable  moment; 
and  were  unfortunately  led  by  it,  when  rendered  subservient 
to  the  ambition  of  others,  into  a  series  of  crimes,  and  a  long 
alienation  from  the  interests  of  their  country. 

Though  Charles  VI.  was  considered  from  the  time  of  his 
coronation  as  reigning  with  full  personal  authority,  the  act- 
ual exercise  of  government  was  divided  betw^een  Anjou, 
Berry,  and  Burgundy,  together  with  the  king's  maternal 
uncle,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon.  The  first  of  these  soon  un- 
dertook an  expedition  into  Italy,  to  possess  himself  of  the 
crown  of  Naples,  in  which  he  perished.  Beny  was  a  pro- 
fuse and  voluptuous  man,  of  no  great  talents;  though  his 
rank,  and  the  middle  position  which  he  held  between  strug- 
gling parties,  made  him  rather  conspicuous  throughout  the 
revolutions  of  that  age.  The  most  respectable  of  the  king's 
uncles,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  being  farther  removed  from 
the  royal  stem,  and  of  an  unassuming  character,  took  a  less 
active  part  than  his  three  coadjutors.  Burgundy,  an  am- 
bitious and  able  prince,  maintained  the  ascendancy,  until 
Charles,  weary  of  a  restraint  which  had  been  protracted  by 
his  uncle  till  he  was  in  his  twenty-first  year,  took  the  reins 
into  his  own  hands  (a.d.  1387).  The  dukes  of  Burgundy 
and  Berry  retired  from  court,  and  the  administration  was 
committed  to  a  d liferent  set  of  men,  at  the  head  of  whom 
appeared  the  constable  de  Clisson,  a  soldier  of  great  fame  in 
the  English  wars.  The  people  rejoiced  in  the  fall  of  the 
princes  by  whose  exactions  tliey  had  been  plundered;  but 
the  new  ministers  soon  rendered  themselves  odious  by  sim- 
ilar conduct. 

Charles  VI.  had  reigned  five  years  from  his  assumption  of 
power,  when  he  was  seized  with  a  derangement  of  intellect 
(a.d.  1393),  which  continued,  through  a  series  of  recoveries 
and  relapses,  to  his  death.  He  passed  thirty  years  in  a  piti- 
able state  of  suffering,  neglected  by  his  family,  particularly 
by  the  most  infamous  of  women,  Isabel  of  Bavaria,  his  queen, 
to  a  degree  which  is  hardly  credible.'  The  ministers  were 
immediately  disgraced;  the  princes  reassumed  their  stations. 

§  7.  For  several  years  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  conducted 

'  Sismondi  inclines  to  speak  more  favorably  of  this  qneen  than  most  have  done. 
He  discredits  the  suspicion  of  a  criminal  intercourse  with  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and 
represents  her  as  merely  an  indolent  woman  fond  of  good  cheer.  Yet  he  owns  that 
the  king  was  so  neglected  as  to  suffer  from  an  excessive  want  of  cleanliness,  some- 
times even  from  hunger  (xii.,  218,  225).  Was  t'_,is  no  imputation  on  his  wife  ?  Martin 
says  that  contemporary  writers  do  not  mention  expressly  the  criminal  intercourse 
between  Isabel  and  the  duke  of  Orleans,  but  he  adds,  "ce  qn'on  salt  des  moeurs  du 
due  et  de  sa  bcUe-soeur  permet  difficilemeut  de  croire  en  I'iuuoceuce  de  leur  intimitu," 
(▼..  471). 


France.  OF  ORLEANS  AND  BURGUNDY.  63 

the  government.  But  this  was  in  opposition  to  a  formida- 
ble rival,  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  the  king's  brother.  It  was 
impossible  that  a  prince  so  near  to  the  throne,  favored  by 
the  queen  perhaps  with  criminal  fondness,  and  by  the  peo- 
ple on  account  of  his  external  graces,  should  not  acquire  a 
share  of  power.  He  succeeded  at  length  in  obtaining  the 
whole  management  of  affairs ;  wherein  the  outrageous  dis- 
soluteness of  his  conduct,  and  still  more  the  excessive  taxes 
imposed,  render  him  altogether  odious.  The  Parisians  com- 
pared his  administration  with  that  of  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy; and  from  that  time  ranged  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  latter  and  his  family,  throughout  the  long  distractions 
to  which  the  ambition  of  these  princes  gave  birth. 

The  death  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  1404,  after  several 
fluctuations  of  success  between  him  and  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans, by  no  means  left  his  party  without  a  head.  Equally 
brave  and  ambitious,  but  far  more  audacious  and  unprinci- 
pled, his  son  John,  surnamed  Sanspeur,  sustained  the  same 
contest.  A  reconciliation  had  been,  however,  brought  about 
with  the  Duke  of  Orleans ;  they  had  sworn  reciprocal  friend- 
ship, and  participated,  as  was  the  custom,  in  order  to  render 
these  obligations  more  solemn,  in  the  same  communion.  In 
the  midst  of  this  outward  harmony,  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
was  assassinated  in  the  streets  of  Paris  (a.d.  1407).  After  a 
slight  attempt  at  concealment.  Burgundy  avowed  and  boast- 
ed of  the  crime.  From  this  fatal  moment  the  dissensions  of 
the  royal  family  began  to  assume  the  complexion  of  civil 
war.  The  queen,  the  sons  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  with  the 
dukes  of  Berry  and  Bourbon,  united  against  the  assassin. 
But  he  possessed,  in  addition  to  his  own  appanage  of  Bur- 
gundy, the  county  of  Flanders  as  his  maternal  inheritance ; 
and  the  people  of  Paris,  who  hated  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
readily  forgave,  or  rather  exulted  in,  his  murder.  He  soon 
obtained  the  management  of  affairs,  and  drove  his  adversa- 
ries from  the  capital.  The  princes,  headed  by  the  father-in- 
law  of  the  young  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Count  of  Armagnac, 
from  whom  their  party  was  now  denominated,  raised  their 
standard  against  him ;  and  the  north  of  France  was  rent  to 
pieces  by  a  protracted  civil  war,  in  which  neither  party  scru- 
pled any  extremity  of  pillage  or  massacre.  The  dauphin, 
aware  of  the  tyranny  which  the  two  parties  alternately  ex- 
ercised, was  forced,  even  at  the  expense  of  perpetuating  a 
civil  war,  to  balance  one  against  the  other,  and  permit  nei- 
ther to  be  wholly  subdued.  In  1417  the  Count  of  Armagn- 
ac, now  constable  of  France,  was  in  possession  of  the  gov 


54  CHARLES  VI.  Chap.  I.  Part  li 

ernraent.  But  his  severity,  and  the  weight  of  taxes,  revived 
the  Burgundian  party  in  Paris,  which  a  rigid  proscription 
had  endeavored  to  destroy.  He  brought  on  his  head  the 
implacable  hatred  of  the  queen,  whom  he  had  not  only  shut 
out  from  public  affairs,  but  disgraced  by  the  detection  of 
her  gallantries.  Notwithstanding  her  ancient  enmity  to 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  she  made  overtures  to  him,  and,  be 
ing  delivered  by  his  troops  from  confinement,  declared  her- 
self openly  on  his  side.  A  few  obscure  persons  stole  the. 
city  keys,  and  admitted  the  Burgundians  into  Paris.  The 
tumult  which  arose  showed  in  a  moment  the  disposition  of 
the  inhabitants ;  but  this  was  more  horribly  displayed  a 
few  days  afterwards,  when  the  populace,  rushing  to  the  pris- 
ons, massacred  the  constable  D'Armagnac  and  his  partisans 
(a.d.  1418).  Between  three  and  four  thousand  persons  were 
murdered  on  this  day,  which  has  no  parallel  but  what  the 
last  age  witnessed,  in  the  massacre  perpetrated  by  the  same 
ferocious  populace  of  Paris  under  circumstances  nearly  sim- 
ilar. Not  long  afterwards  an  agreement  took  place  be- 
tween the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  had  now  the  king's  per- 
son as  well  as  the  capital  in  his  hands,  and  the  dauphin, 
whose  party  was  enfeebled  by  the  loss  of  almost  all  its  lead- 
ers. This  reconciliation,  which  mutual  interest  should  have 
rendered  permanent,  had  lasted  a  very  short  time,  when  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  was  assassinated  at  Montereau,  at  an  in- 
terview with  Charles,  in  his  presence,  and  by  the  hands  of 
his  friends,  though  not,  perhaps,  with  his  previous  knowl- 
edge (a.d.  1419).  From  whomsoever  the  crime  proceeded, 
it  was  a  deed  of  infatuation,  and  plunged  France  afresh  into 
a  sea  of  perils,  from  which  the  union  of  these  factions  had 
just  afforded  a  hope  of  extricating  her. 

§  8.  It  has  been  mentioned  already  that  the  English  war 
had  almost  ceased  during  the  reigns  of  Richard  II.  and 
Henry  IV.  A  long  commercial  connection  had  subsisted 
between  England  and  Flanders,  which  the  dukes  of  Bur- 
gundy, when  they  became  sovereigns  of  the  latter  country 
upon  the  death  of  Count  Louis,  in  1384,  were  studious  to 
preserve  by  separate  truces.  They  acted  upon  the  same  pa- 
cific policy  when  their  interest  predominated  in  the  councils 
of  France.  Henry  had  even  a  negotiation  pending  for  the 
marriage  of  his  eldest  son  with  a  princess  of  Burgundy, 
when  an  unexpected  proposal  from  the  opposite  side  set 
more  tempting  views  before  his  eyes.  The  Armagnacs, 
pressed  hard  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  offered,  in  consid- 
eration of  only  4000  troops,  the  pay  of  which  they  would 


FiiAscE.  BATTLE  OF  AZINCOURT.  55 

themselves  defray,  to  assist  him  in  the  recovery  of  Guienne 
and  Poitou.  Four  princes  of  the  blood — Berry,  Bourbon, 
Orleans,  and  Alen9on  —  disgraced  their  names  by  signing 
this  treaty  (May,  1412).  Henry  broke  off  his  alliance  with 
Burgundy,  and  sent  a  force  into  France,  which  found,  on  its 
arrival,  that  the  princes  had  made  a  separate  treaty,  witliout 
the  least  concern  for  their  English  allies.  After  his  death, 
Henry  V.  engaged  for  some  time  in  a  series  of  negotiations 
with  the  French  court,  where  the  Orleans  party  now  pre- 
vailed, and  with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  He  even  secretly 
treated  at  the  same  time  for  a  marriage  with  Catherine  of 
France  (which  seems  to  have  been  his  favorite,  as  it  was  ul- 
timately his  successful,  project),  and  with  a  daughter  of  the 
duke — a  duplicity  not  creditable  to  his  memory.  But  Hen- 
ry's ambition,  which  aimed  at  the  highest  quarry,  was  not 
long  fettered  by  negotiation ;  and,  indeed,  his  proposals  of 
marrying  Catherine  were  coupled  with  such  exorbitant  de- 
mands as  France,  notwithstanding  all  her  weakness,  could 
not  admit,  though  she  would  have  ceded  Guienne,  and  given 
a  vast  dowry  with  the  princess.  He  invaded  Normandy, 
took  Harfleur,  and  won  the  great  battle  of  Azincourt,  on  his 
march  to  Calais  (a.d.  1415). 

Tlie  flower  of  French  chivalry  was  mowed  down  in  this 
fatal  day;  but  especially  the  chiefs  of  the  Orleans  party,  and 
the  princes  of  the  royal  blood,  met  with  death  or  captivity. 
Burgundy  had  still  suffered  nothing;  but  a  clandestine  ne- 
gotiation had  secured  the  duke's  neutrality,  though  he  seems 
not  to  have  entered  into  a  regular  alliance  till  a  year  after 
the  battle  of  Azincourt,  when,  by  a  secret  treaty  at  Calais, 
he  acknowledged  the  right  of  Henry  to  the  crown  of  France, 
and  his  own  obligation  to  do  him  homage,  though  its  per- 
formance was  to  be  suspended  till  Henry  should  become 
master  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  kingdom.  In  a  second 
invasion  the  English  achieved  the  conquest  of  Normandy ; 
and  this,  in  all  subsequent  negotiations  for  peace  during  the 
life  of  Henry,  he  would  never  consent  to  relinquish.  After 
several  conferences,  which  his  demands  rendered  abortive, 
the  French  court  at  length  consented  to  add  Normandy  to 
the  cessions  made  in  the  peace  at  Bretigni ;  and  the  treaty, 
though  laboring  under  some  difficulties,  seems  to  have  been 
nearly  completed,  when  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  for  reasons 
unexplained,  suddenly  came  to  a  reconciliation  with  the 
dauphin  (July  11,  1419).  This  event,  which  must  have  been 
intended  adversely  to  Henry,  Avould  probably  have  broken 
off  all  parley  on  the  subject  of  peace,  if  it  had  not  beer* 


6G  THE  TREATY  OF  TROYES.      Ciiav.  1.  Paut  11. 

speedily  followed  by  one  still  more  surprising — the  assassina- 
tion of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  at  Montereau  already  men- 
tioned (Sept.  10,  1419). 

§  9.  An  act  of  treachery  s(5  apparently  unprovoked  in^ 
flamed  the  minds  of  that  powerful  party  which  had  looked 
up  to  the  duke  as  their  leader  and  patron.  The  city  of 
Paris,  especially,  abjured  at  once  its  respect  for  the  supposed 
author  of  the  murder,  though  the  legitimate  heir  of  the 
crown.  A  solemn  oath  was  taken  by  all  ranks  to  revenge 
the  crime ;  the  nobility,  the  clergy,  the  Parliament,  vying 
with  the  populace  in  their  invectives  against  Charles,  whom 
they  now  styled  only  pretended  (soi-disant)  dauphin.  Philip, 
son  of  the  assassinated  duke,  who,  w^ith  all  the  popularity 
and  much  of  the  ability  of  his  father,  did  not  inherit  all  his 
depravity,  was  instigated  by  a  pardonable  excess  of  filial 
resentment  to  ally  himself  with  the  King  of  England.  These 
passions  of  the  people,  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  concur- 
ring with  the  imbecility  of  Charles  VI.  and  the  rancor  of 
Isabel  towards  her  son,  led  to  the  treaty  of  Troyes  (May, 
1420).  This  compact,  signed  by  the  queen  and  duke,  as 
proxies  of  the  king,  who  had  fallen  into  a  state  of  uncon- 
scious idiotcy,  stipulated  that  Henry  V.,  upon  his  marriage 
with  Catherine,  should  become  immediately  regent  of  PVance, 
and,  after  the  death  of  Charles,  succeed  to  the  kingdom,  in 
exclusion  not  only  of  the  dauphin,  but  of  all  the  royal  fim- 
ily.  It  is  unnecessary  to  remark  that  these  flagitious  pro- 
visions w^ere  absolutely  invalid.  But  they  had  at  the  time 
the  strong  sanction  of  force ;  and  Henry  might  plausibly 
flatter  himself  w4th  a  hope  of  establishing  his  own  usurpa- 
tion as  firmly  in  France  as  his  father's  had  been  in  England. 
What  not  even  the  comprehensive  policy  of  Edward  III., 
the  energy  of  the  Black  Prince,  the  valor  of  their  KnoUyses 
and  Chandoses,  nor  his  own  victories,  could  attain,  now 
seemed,  by  a  strange  vicissitude  of  fortune,  to  court  his  am- 
bition. During  two  years  that  Henry  lived  after  the  treaty 
of  Troyes,  he  governed  the  north  of  I"* ranee  with  unlimited 
authority  in  the  name  of  Charles  YI.  The  latter  survived 
his  son-in-law  but  a  few  weeks;  and  the  infant  Henry  VI. 
was  immediately  proclaimed  King  of  France  and  England, 
under  the  regency  of  his  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 

§  10.  Notwithstanding  the  disadvantage  of  a  minority,  the 
English  cause  was  less  weakened  by  the  death  of  Heniy 
than  might  have  been  expected.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  par- 
took of  the  same  character,  and  resembled  his  brother  in 
faults  as  well  as  virtues ;  in  his  haughtiness  and  arbitrary 


France.     PROGRESS  OF  I^NGLISH  ARMS-^iN  FRANCE.  57 

temper  as  in  his  energy  and  address.  At  the  accession  of 
Charles  VIL  (a.d.  1422)  the  usurper  was  acknowledged  by- 
all  the  northern  provinces  of  France,  excepts,  few  fortresses, 
by  most  of  Guienne,  and  the  dominions  of  Burgundy.  The 
Duke  of  Brittany  soon  afterwards  acceded  to  the  treaty  of 
Troyes,  but  changed  his  party  again  several  times  within  a 
few  years.  The  central  provinces,  with  Languedoc,  Poitou, 
and  Dauphine,  were  faithful  to  the  king.  For  some  years 
the  war  continued  without  any  decisive  result ;  but  the  bal- 
ance was  clearly  swayed  in  favor  of  England.  For  this  it  is 
not  difficult  to  assign  several  causes.  The  animosity  of  the 
Parisians  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  against  the  Armagnac 
party  still  continued,  mingled  in  the  former  with  dread  of 
the  king's  return,  whom  they  judged  themselves  to  have  in- 
expiably  offended.  The  war  had  brought  forward  some  ac- 
complished commanders  in  the  English  army ;  surpassing 
not,  indeed,  in  valor  and  enteri^rise,  but  in  military  skill,  any 
whom  France  could  oppose  to  them.  Of  these  the  most  dis- 
tinguished, besides  the  Duke  of  Bedford  himself,  were  War- 
wick, Salisbuiy,  and  Talbot.  Their  troops,  too,  were  still 
very  superior  to  the  French.  But  this,  we  must  in  candor 
allow,  proceeded  in  a  great  degree  from  the  mode  in  which 
they  were  raised.  The  war  was  so  poj^ular  in  England,  that 
it  was  easy  to  pick  the  best  and  stoutest  recruits,  and  their 
high  pay  allured  men  of  respectable  condition  to  the  service. 
We  find  in  Rymer  a  contract  of  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  to 
supply  a  body  of  troops,  receiving  a  shilling  a  day  for  every 
man-at-arms,  and  sixpence  for  each  archer.*  This  is,  perhaps, 
equal  to  fifteen  times  the  sum  at  our  present  value  of  money. 
They  were  bound,  indeed,  to  furnish  their  own  equipments 
and  horses.  But  France  was  totally  exhausted  by  her  civil 
and  foreign  war,  and  incompetent  to  defray  the  expenses 
even  of  the  small  force  which  defended  the  wreck  of  the 
monarchy.  Charles  VII.  lived  in  the  utmost  poverty  at 
Bourges.  The  nobility  had  scarcely  recovered  from  the  fatal 
slaughter  of  Azincourt ;  and  the  infantry,  composed  of  peas- 
ants or  burgesses,  which  had  made  their  army  so  numerous 
upon  that  day,  whether  from  inability  to  compel  their  serv- 
ices, or  experience  of  their  inefficacy,  were  never  called  into 
the  field. 
It  was,  however,  in  the  temper  of  Charles  YII.  that  his 

*  Rym.  t.  X.,  p.  392.  This  contract  w-as  for  600  meu-at-arms,  including  six  bannerets 
ind  thirty-four  bachelors ;  and  for  1700  archers ;  bien  et  suffisamment  montez,  armez, 
et  arraiez  comme  a  leurs  estate  appartient.  The  pay  was,  for  the  earl,6«,  8d.  a  day; 
for  a  banneret,  4s. ;  for  a  bachelor,  2s. ;  for  every  other  man-at-arms,  1«.  ;  and  for  each 
<ircher,  GcZ.    Artillerymen  were  paid  higher  than  men-at-arms. 

3* 


68  THE  MAID  OF  ORLEANS.         Chap.  I.  Part  II. 

enemies  found  their  chief  advantage.  This  prince  is  one  of 
the  few  whose  character  has  been  improved  by  prosperity. 
During  the  calamitous  morning  of  his  reign  he  shrunk  from 
fronting  the  storm,  and  strove  to  forget  himself  in  pleasure. 
Though  brave,  he  was  never  seen  in  war ;  though  intelli- 
gent, he  was  governed  by  flatterers.  Those  Avho  had  com- 
mitted the  assassination  at  Montereau  under  his  eyes  were 
his  first  favorites ;  as  if  he  had  determined  to  avoid  the  only 
measure  through  which  he  could  hope  for  better  success — a 
reconciliation  with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 

§  11.  It  can  not,  therefore,  surprise  us  that,  with  all  these 
advantages,  the  regent  Duke  of  Bedford  had  almost  com- 
pleted the  capture  of  the  fortresses  north  of  the  Loire  when 
he  invested  Orleans  in  1428.  If  this  city  had  fallen,  the 
central  provinces,  which  were  less  furnished  with  defensible 
places,  would  have  lain  open  to  the  enemy ;  and  it  is  said 
that  Charles  VII.  in  despair  was  about  to  retire  into  Dau- 
phine.  At  this  time  his  affairs  were  j-estored  by  one  of 
the  most  marvellous  revolutions  in  history.  A  country  giri 
overthrew  the  power  of  England.  We  can  not  pretend  to 
explain  the  surprising  story  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans;  for, 
however  easy  it  may  be  to  suppose  that  a  heated  and  en- 
thusiastic imagination  produced  her  own  visions,  it  is  a 
much  greater  problem  to  account  for  the  credit  they  ob- 
tained, and  for  the  success  that  attended  her.  Nor  will  this 
be  solved  by  the  hypothesis  of  a  concerted  stratagem; 
which,  if  we  do  not  judge  altogether  irom  events,  must  ap- 
pear liable  to  so  many  chances  of  failure  that  it  could  not 
have  suggested  itself  to  any  rational  person.  However,  it 
is  certain  that  the  appearance  of  Joan  of  Arc^  turned  the 
tide  of  war,  which  from  that  moment  flowed  without  inter- 
ruption in  Charles's  favor.  A  superstitious  awe  enfeebled 
the  sinews  of  the  English.  They  hung  back  in  their  own 
country,  or  deserted  from  the  army,  through  fear  of  the  in- 
cantations by  which  alone  they  conceived  so  extraordinary 
a  person  to  succeed.  A«  men  always  make  sure  of  Provi- 
dence for  an  ally,  whatever  untoward  fortune  appeared  to 
result  from  preternatural  causes  was  at  once  ascribed  to  in- 
fernal enemies ;  and  such  bigotry  may  be  pleaded  as  an  ex- 
cuse, though  a  very  miserable  one,  for  the  detestable  murder 
of  this  heroine. 

*  I  have  followed  the  common  practice  of  translating  Jeanne  d'Arc  by  Joan  of  Arc. 
It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any  such  place  as  Arc  exists  in  that  neighborhood, 
though  there  is  a  town  of  that  name  at  a  considerable  distance.  Joan  was,  as  is 
known,  a  native  of  the  village  of  Domremy,  in  Lorraine.  The  correct  orthography  of 
her  name  is  Dare,  as  is  shown  by  Michelet  and  H.  Martin. 


France.  CONDITION  OF  FRANCE.  59 

The  spirit  which  Joan  of  Arc  had  roused  did  not  subside. 
France  recovered  confidence  in  her  own  strength*  which 
had  been  chilled  by  a  long  course  of  adverse  fortune.  Thi 
king,  too,  shook  off*  his  indolence,®  and  permitted  Richemont. 
brother  of  the  Duke  of  Brittany,  to  exclude  his  unworthy 
favorites  from  the  court.  This  led  to  a  very  important 
consequence.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy,  whose  alliance  with 
England  had  been  only  the  fruit  of  indignation  at  his  fa- 
ther's murder,  fell  naturally,  as  that  passion  wore  out,  into 
sentiments  more  congenial  to  his  birth  and  interests.  . 
prince  of  the  house  of  Capet  could  not  willingly  see  the  ii  - 
heritance  of  his  ancestors  transferred  to  a  stranger.  Ye  ; 
the  union  of  his  sister  with  Bedford,  the  obligations  by 
which  he  was  bound,  and,  most  of  all,  the  favor  shown  by 
Charles  VIL  to  the  assassins  of  his  father,  kept  him  for  many 
years  on  the  English  side,  although  rendering  it  less  and 
less  assistance.  But  at  length  he  concluded  a  treaty  at  Ar- 
ras (a.d.  1435),  the  terms  of  which  he  dictated  rather  as  a 
conqueror  than  a  subject  negotiating  with  his  sovereign. 
Charles,  however,  refused  nothing  for  such  an  end ;  and,  in 
a  very  short  time,  the  Burgundians  were  ranged  with  the 
French  against  their  old  allies  of  England. 

§  12.  It  was  now  time  for  the  latter  to  abandon  those  mag- 
nificent projects  of  conquering  France  which  temporary  cir- 
cumstances alone  had  seemed  to  render  feasible.  As  foreign 
enemies,  they  were  odious  even  in  that  part  of  France  which 
had  acknowledged  Henry  ;  and  when  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
deserted  their  side,  Paris  and  every  other  city  were  impa- 
tient to  throw  off  the  yoke.  A  feeble  monarchy,  and  a  self- 
ish council,  completed  their  ruin :  the  necessary  stlbsidies 
were  raised  with  difficulty,  and,  when  raised,  misapplied.     It 

«  It  is  a  curreut  piece  of  history  that  Agues  Sorel,  mistress  of  Charles  VII,,  had  the 
merit  of  dissuading  him  from  giving  np  the  kingdom  as  lost  at  the  time  when  Orleans 
was  besieged  in  1428.  Mezeray,  Daniel,  Villaret,  and,  I  believe,  every  other  modern 
historian,  have  mentioned  this  circumstance ;  and  some  of  them,  among  whom  is 
Hume,  with  the  addition  that  Agnes  threatened  to  leave  the  court  of  Charles  for  that 
of  Henry,  affirming  that  she  was  born  to  be  the  mistress  of  a  great  king.  The  latter 
part  of  this  tale  is  evidently  a  fabrication,  Henry  VI.  being  at  the  time  a  child  of  seven 
years  old.  But  the  story  is  not  mentioned  by  contemporary  writers,  and  Martin  has 
shown  (vi.,  321)  that  Charles  did  not  become  acquainted  with  Agnes  Sorel  before  1433 ; 
consequently  five  years  after  the  siege  of  Orleans.  The  tradition,  however,  is  as  an- 
cient as  Francis  I.,  who  made  in  her  honor  a  quatrain  which  is  well  known.  This 
probably  may  have  brought  the  story  more  into  vogue,  and  led  Mezeray,  who  waa 
not  very  critical,  to  insert  it  in  his  history,  from  which  it  has  passed  to  his  followers. 
Its  origin  was  apparently  the  popular  character  of  Agnes.  She  was  the  Nell  Gwyn 
of  France,  and  justly  beloved,  not  only  for  her  charity  and  courtesy,  but  for  bring- 
ing forward  men  of  merit  and  turning  her  influence,  a  virtue  very  rare  in  her  class, 
towards  the  public  interest.  From  thence  it  was  natural  to  bestow  upon  her,  in  after 
times,  a  merit  not  ill  suited  to  her  character,  but  which  au  accurate  observation  of 
dates  renders  impossible. 


GO  CONDITION  OF  FRANCE.         Chap.  I.  Taut  II 

is  a  proof  of  the  exhaustion  of  France,  that  Charles  wai 
unable,  for  several  years,  to  reduce  Normandy  or  Guienne, 
which  were  so  ill-provided  for  defense.  At  last  he  came 
with  collected  strength  to  the  contest,  and,  breaking  an  ar- 
mistice upon  slight  pretenses,  within  two  years  overwhelmed 
the  English  garrisons  in  each  of  these  provinces  (a.d.  1449). 
All  the  inheritance  of  Henry  II.  and  Eleanor,  all  the  con- 
quests of  Edward  III.  and  Henry  V.  except  Calais  and  a 
small  adjacent  district,  were  irrecoverably  torn  from  the 
crown  of  England.  A  barren  title,  that  idle  trophy  of  dis- 
appointed ambition,  was  preserved  with  strange  obstinacy 
to  our  own  age. 

§  13.  At  the  expulsion  of  the  English,  France  emerged 
from  the  chaos  with  an  altered  character  and  new  features 
of  government.  The  royal  authority  and  supreme  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Parliament  were  universally  recognized.  Yet 
there  was  a  tendency  towards  insubordination  left  among 
the  great  nobility,  arising  in  part  from  the  remains  of  old 
feudal  privileges,  but  still  more  from  that  lax  administration 
which,  in  the  convulsive  struggles  of  the  war,  had  been  suf- 
fered to  prevail.  In  the  south  were  some  considerable  vas- 
sals, the  houses  of  Foix,  Albret,  and  Armagnac,  who,  on  ac- 
count of  their  distance  from  the  seat  of  empire,  had  always 
maintained  a  very  independent  conduct.  The  dukes  of  Brit- 
tany and  Burgundy  were  of  a  more  formidable  character, 
and  might  rather  be  ranked  among  foreign  powers  than 
privileged  subjects.  The  princes,  too,  of  the  royal  blood, 
who,  duriiiig  the  late  reign,  had  learned  to  partake  or  con- 
tend for  the  management,  were  ill-inclined  towards  Charles 
VII.,  himself  jealous,  from  old  recollections,  of  their  ascend- 
ancy. They  saw  that  the  constitution  was  verging  rapidly 
t-owards  an  absolute  monarchy,  from  the  direction  of  which 
they  would  studiously  be  excluded.  This  apprehension  gave 
rise  to  several  attempts  at  rebellion  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  VII.  Among  the  pretenses  alleged  by  the  revolters 
in  each  of  these,  the  injuries  of  the  people  were  not  for- 
gotten; but  from  the  people  they  received  small  support. 
Weary  of  civil  dissension,  and  anxious  for  a  strong  govern- 
ment to  secure  them  from  depredations,  the  French  had  no 
inducement  to  intrust  even  their  real  grievances  to  a  few 
malcontent  princes,  whose  regard  for  the  common  good  they 
had  much  reason  to  distrust.  Every  circumstance  favored 
Charles  VII.  and  his  son  in  the  attainment  of  arbitrary  pow- 
er. The  country  was  pillaged  by  military  ruffians.  Charles 
established  his  companies  of  ordonnance,  the  basis  of  the 


Fkance.  LOUIS  XI.  Gl 

French  regular  army,  in  order  to  protect  the  country  from 
such  depredators.  They  consisted  of  about  9000  soldiers, 
all  cavalry,  of  whom  1500  were  heavy-armed  ;  a  force  not 
very  considerable,  but  the  first,  except  mere  body-guards^ 
which  had  been  raised  in  any  part  of  Europe  as  a  national 
standing  army.  These  troops  were  paid  out  of  the  produce 
of  a  permanent  tax,  called  the  taille;  an  innovation  still 
more  important  than  the  former.  But  the  present  benefit 
cheating  the  people,  now  prone  to  submissive  habits,  little 
or  no  opposition  was  made,  except  in  Guienne,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  which  had  speedy  reason  to  regret  the  mild  govern- 
oient  of  England,  and  vainly  endeavored  to  return  to  its  pro- 
tection. 

§  14.  It  was  not  long  before  the  new  despotism  exhibited 
itself  in  its  harshest  character.  Louis  XL,  son  of  Charles 
VII.,  who,  during  his  father's  reign,  had  been  connected 
with  the  discontented  princes,  came  to  the  throne  (a.d.  1461^ 
greatly  endowed  with  those  virtues  and  vices  which  con- 
spire to  the  success  of  a  king.  Laborious  vigilance  in  busi- 
ness, contempt  of  pomp,  aftability  to  inferiors,  were  his  ex- 
cellences; qualities  especially  praiseworthy  in  an  age  char- 
acterized by  idleness,  love  of  pageantry,  and  insolence.  To 
these  virtues  he  added  a  perfect  knowledge  of  all  persons 
eminent  for  talents  or  influence  in  the  countries  with  which 
he  was  connected,  and  a  well-judged  bounty,  that  thought 
no  expense  wasted  to  draw  them  into  his  service  or  interest. 
In  the  fifteenth  century  this  political  art  had  hardly  been 
known,  except  perhaps  in  Italy ;  the  princes  of  Europe  had 
contended  with  each  other  by  arms,  sometimes  by-treachery, 
but  never  with  such  complicated  subtlety  of  intrigue.  Of 
that  insidious  cunning,  which  has  since  been  brought  to  per- 
fection, Louis  XI.  may  be  deemed  not  absolutely  the  invent- 
or, but  the  most  eminent  improver;  and  its  success  has  led, 
perhaps,  to  too  high  an  estimate  of  his  abilities.  Like  most 
bad  men,  he  sometimes  fell  into  his  own  snare,  and  was  be- 
trayed by  his  confidential  ministers,  because  his  confidence 
was  generally  reposed  in  the  wicked.  And  his  dissimula- 
tion was  so  notorious,  his  tyranny  so  oppressive,  that  he  was 
naturally  surrounded  by  enemies,  and  had  occasion  for  all 
his  craft  to  elude  those  rebellions  and  confederacies  which 
jaight  perhaps  not  have  been  raised  against  a  more  upright 
sovereign.  At  one  time  the  monarchy  was  on  the  point  of 
sinking  before  a  combination  wliich  would  have  ended  in  dis- 
membering France.  This  was  the  league  denominated  of 
the  Public  Weal  (a.d.  1461),  in  Avhich  all  the  princes  and 


62  APPANAGES.  Chap.  I.  Part  II. 

great  vassals  of  the  French  crown  were  concerned;  the 
dukes  of  Brittany,  Burgundy,  Alen9on,  Bourbon,  the  Count 
of  Dunois,  so  renowned  for  his  valor  in  the  English  wars^ 
the  families  of  Foix  and  Armagnac ;  and  at  the  head  of  all, 
Charles,  duke  of  Berry,  the  king's  brother  and  presumptive 
heir.  So  unanimous  a  combination  was  not  formed  without 
a  strong  provocation  from  the  king,  or  at  least  without 
weighty  grounds  for  distrusting  his  intentions ;  but  the 
more  remote  cause  of  this  confederacy,  as  of  those  which 
had  been  raised  against  Charles  YII.,  was  the  critical  posi- 
tion of  the  feudal  aristocracy  from  the  increasing  power 
of  the  crown.  This  war  of  the  Public  Weal  was,  in  fact,  a 
struggle  to  preserve  their  independence;  and  from  the  weak 
character  of  the  Duke  of  Berry,  whom  they  would,  if  success- 
ful, have  placed  upon  the  throne,  it  is  possible  that  France 
might  have  been  in  a  manner  partitioned  among  them  in  the 
event  of  their  success,  or,  at  least,  that  Burgundy  and  Brit- 
tany would  have  thrown  off  the  sovereignty  that  galled 
them. 

The  strength  of  the  confederates  in  this  w^ar  much  exceed- 
ed that  of  the  king;  but  it  was  not  judiciously  employed; 
and  after  an  indecisive  battle  at  Montlhery  they  failed  in  the 
great  object  of  reducing  Paris,  which  would  have  obliged 
Louis  to  fly  from  his  dominions.  It  w^as  his  policy  to  prom- 
ise every  thing,  in  trust  that  fortune  would  afford  some  open- 
ing to  repair  his  losses  and  give  scope  to  his  superior  pru- 
dence. Accordingly,  by  the  treaty  of  Conflans,  he  not  only 
surrendered  afresh  the  towns  upon  the  Somme,  which  he  had 
lately  redeemed  from  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  but  invested 
his  brother  with  the  duchy  of  Normandy  as  his  appanage. 

The  term  appanage  denotes  the  provision  made  for  the 
younger  children  of  the  King  of  France.  This  always  con- 
sisted of  lands  and  feudal  superiorities  held  of  the  crown  by 
the  tenure  of  peerage.  It  is  evident  that  this  usage,  as  it 
produced  a  new  class  of  powerful  feudatories,  wns  hostile  to 
the  interests  and  policy  of  the  sovereign,  and  retarded  the 
subjugation  of  the  ancient  aristocracy.  But  an  usage  coeval 
with  the  monarchy  was  not  to  be  abrogated,  and  the  scarcity 
of  money  rendered  it  impossible  to  provide  for  the  younger 
branches  of  the  royal  family  by  any  other  means.  It  was 
restrained,  however,  as  far  as  circumstances  would  permit. 
Philip  IV.  declared  that  the  county  of  Poitiers,  bestowed  by 
him  on  his  son,  should  revert  to  the  crown  on  the  extinction 
of  male  heirs.  But  this,  though  an  important  precedent,  was 
not,  as  has  often  been  nsserted,  a  general  law.     Charles  V, 


Fkanck.  appanages.  G;J 

limited  the  appanages  of  his  own  sons  to  twelve  thousand 
iivres  of  annual  value  in  land.  By  means  of  their  appan- 
ages, and  through  the  operation  of  the  Salic  law,  which  made 
their  inheritance  of  the  crown  a  less  remote  contingency,  the 
princes  of  the  blood  royal  in  France  Avere  at  all  times  (for 
the  remark  is  applicable  long  after  Louis  XL)  a  distinct  and 
formidable  class  of  men,  whose  influence  was  always  disad- 
vantageous to  the  reigning  monarch,  and,  in  general,  to  the 
people. 

No  appanage  had  ever  been  granted  to  France  so  enor- 
mous as  the  duchy  of  Normandy.  One-third  of  the  whole 
national  revenue,  it  is  declared,  was  derived  from  that  rich 
province.  Louis  could  not,  therefore,  sit  down  under  such 
terms  as,  with  his  usual  insincerity,  he  had  accepted  at  Con- 
flans.  In  a  very  short  time  he  attacked  Normandy,  and 
easily  compelled  his  brother  to  take  refuge  in  Brittany ;  nor 
were  his  enemies  ever  able  to  procure  the  restitution  of 
Charles's  appanage.  During  the  rest  of  his  reign  Louis  had 
powerful  coalitions  to  withstand ;  but  his  prudence  and  com- 
pliance with  circumstances,  joined  to  some  mixture  of  good 
fortune,  brought  him  safely  through  his  perils.  The  Duke 
of  Brittany,  a  prince  of  moderate  talents,  was  unable  to  make 
any  formidable  impression,  though  generally  leagued  with 
the  enemies  of  the  king.  The  less  powerful  vassals  were  suc- 
cessfully crushed  by  Louis  with  decisive  vigor;  the  duchy 
of  Alenyon  was  confiscated;  the  Count  of  Armagnac  was  as- 
sassinated ;  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  and  the  constable  of  St. 
Poll,  a  politician  as  treacherous  as  Louis,  who  had  long  be- 
trayed both  him  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  suffered  upon 
the  scaffold.  The  king's  brother  Charles,  after  disquieting 
him  for  many  years,  died  suddenly  in  Guienne,  which  had 
finally  been  granted  as  his  appanage  (a.d.  1472),  Edward 
IV.  of  England  was  too  dissipated  and  too  indolent  to  be 
fond  of  war;  and,  though  he  once  entered  France  with  an 
army  more  considerable  than  could  have  been  expected  af- 
ter such  civil  bloodshed  as  England  had  witnessed,  he  was 
induced,  by  the  stipulation  of  a  large  pension,  to  give  up  the 
enterprise.  So  terrible  was  still  in  France  the  apprehension 
of  an  English  war,  that  Louis  prided  himself  upon  no  part 
of  his  policy  so  much  as  the  warding  this  blow  (a.d.  1475). 
Edward  showed  a  desire  to  visit  Paris ;  but  the  king  gave 
him  no  invitation,  lest,  he  said,  his  brother  should  find  some 
handsome  woman  there,  Avho  might  tempt  him  to  return  in 
a  different  manner.  Hastings,  Howard,  and  other  of  Ed- 
ward's ministei-s,  were  secured  by  bribes  in  the  interest  of 


04  THE  HOUSE  OF  BURGUNDY.   Chap,  I.  PartIL 

Louis,  which  the  first  of  these  did  not  scruple  to  receive  at 
the  same  time  from  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 

§  15.  This  was  the  most  powerful  enemy  whom  the  craft 
of  Louis  had  to  counteract.  In  the  last  days  of  the  feudal 
system,  when  the  house  of  Capet  had  almost  achieved  the 
subjugation  of  those  proud  vassals  among  whom  it  liad  been 
originally  numbered,  a  new  antagonist  sprang  up  to  dispute 
the  field  against  the  crown.  John,  king  of  France,  granted 
the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  by  way  of  appanage,  to  his  third 
son,  Philip.  By  his  marriage  with  Margaret,  heiress  of  Louis, 
count  of  Flanders,  Philip  acquired  that  province,  Artois,  the 
county  of  Burgundy'  (or  Franche-comte),  and  the  Nivernois. 
Philip  the  Good,  his  grandson,  who  carried  the  prosperity 
of  this  family  to  its  height,  possessed  himself,  by  various 
titles,  of  the  several  other  provinces  which  composed  the 
Netherlands.  These  were  fiefs  of  the  empire,  but  latterly 
not  much  dependent  upon  it,  and  alienated  by  their  owners 
without  its  consent.  At  the  peuce  of  Arras  the  districts 
of  Macon  and  Auxerre  were  r.br.olutely  ceded  to  Pliilip,  and 
great  part  of  Picardy  conditionally  made  over  to  him,  re- 
deemable on  the  payment  of  four  hundred  thousand  crowns. 

GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OP  THE  SECOND  DUCAL  HOUSE  OP  BURGUNDY. 

John,  king  of  France,  inherits  the  duchy  as  nearest  heir  male  of  the  late  Duke  Philippo 
de  Rouvre,  13G1. 

Philip,  fourth  son  of  King  John,  created  Duke  of  Burgundy,  13C4,  ob.  1404. 

Jean  Sanspeur,  killed  at  Moutereau,  1419. 

Philip  (le  Bon),  ob.  146T. 

Charles  (le  Temeraire),  ob.  1477. 

Mary,  dacbess  of  Burgundy=Maximilian,  archduke  of  Austria. 

Philip,  archduke  of  Austria,       =   Juana,  heiress  of  Castile  and  Aragon. 
and  sovereign  of  the  Nelherliuids, 
ob.  1506. 

Charles  V.,  king  of  Spain,  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands,  and  emperor,  1519. 

These  extensive,  though  not  compact  dominions,  were  abun- 
dant in  population  and  wealth,  fertile  in  corn,  wine,  and  salt, 
and  full  of  commercial  activity.  Thirty  years  of  peace  which 
followed  the  treaty  of  Arras,  with  a  mild  and  free  govern- 
ment, raised  the  subjects  of  Burgundy  to  a  degree  of  pros- 
perity quite  unparalleled  in  these  times  of  disorder ;  and  this 
was  displayed  in  general  sumptuousness  of  dress  and  feast- 
ing. The  court  of  Philip  and  of  his  son  Charles  was  distin- 
guished for  its  pouip  and  riches,  for  pageants  and  tourna- 

7  See  NoTK  VIII.,  p.  T4. 


Fkance.  CHARLES  THE  BOLD.  65 

ments  ;  the  trappings  of  chivalry,  perhaps  without  its  spirit  •, 
for  the  military  cliaracter  of  Burgundy  had  been  impaired 
by  long  tranquillity. 

During  the  lives  of  Philip  and  Charles  VII.  each  underv 
stood  the  other's  rank,  and  their  amity  was  little  interrupt- 
ed. But  their  successors,  the  most  opposite  of  human  kind 
in  character,  had  one  common  quality,  ambition,  to  render 
their  antipathy  more  powerful.  Louis  was  eminently  timid 
and  suspicious  in  policy ;  Charles  intrepid  beyond  all  men, 
and  blindly  presumptuous;  Louis  stooped  to  any  humilia- 
tion to  reach  his  aim  ;  Charles  was  too  haughty  to  seek  the 
fairest  means  of  strengthening  his  party.  An  alliance  of  his 
daughter  with  the  Duke  of  Guieniie,  brother  of  Louis,  was 
what  the  malcontent  French  princes  most  desired  and  the 
king  most  dreaded  ;  but  Charles,  either  averse  to  any  French 
connection,  or  willing  to  keep  his  daughter's  suitors  in  de- 
pendence, would  never  directly  accede  to  that  or  any  other 
yjroposition  for  her  marriage.  On  Philip's  death,  in  1467,  he 
inherited  a  great  treasure,  which  he  soon  wasted  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  his  schemes.  These  w^ere  so  numerous  and  vast, 
that  he  had  not  time  to  live,  says  Comines,  to  complete 
them,  nor  would  one-half  of  Europe  have  contented  him.  It 
w^as  his  intention  to  assume  the  title  of  king ;  and  the  em- 
peror Frederick  III.  was  at  one  time  actually  on  his  road  to 
confer  this  dignity,  when  some  suspicion  caused  him  to  re- 
tire, and  the  project  was  never  renewed.  It  is  evident  that, 
if  Charles's  capacity  had  borne  any  proportion  to  his  pride 
and  courage,  or  if  a  prince  less  politic  than  Louis  XI.  had 
been  his  contemporary  in  P7-ance,  the  province  of  Burgundy 
must  have  been  lost  to  th-e  monarchy.  For  several  years 
these  great  rivals  were  engaged,  sometimes  in  open  hostili- 
ty, sometimes  in  endeavors  to  overreach  each  other;  but 
Charles,  though  not  much  more  scrupulous,  was  far  less  an 
adept  in  these  mysteries  of  politics  than  the  king. 

Notwithstanding  the  power  of  Burgundy,  there  were  some 
disadvantages  in  its  situation.  It  presented  (I  speak  of  all 
Charles's  dominions  under  the  commoii  name.  Burgundy)  a 
very  exposed  frontier  on  the  side  of  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, as  well  as  France  ;  and  Louis  exerted  a  considerable 
influence  over  the  adjacent  princes  of  the  empire,  as  well  as 
the  united  Cantons.  The  people  of  Liege,  a  very  populous 
city,  had  for  a  long  time  been  continually  rebelling  against 
their  bishops,  Avho  were  the  allies  of  Burgundy ;  Louis  was 
of  course  not  backward  to  foment  their  inslirrections,  which 
sometimes   gave  the    dukes  a  good  deal    of  trouble.     The 


66  DEATH  OF  CHARLES  THE  BOLD.    Chap.  I.  Par  IL 

Flemings,  and  especially  the  people  of  Ghent,  had  been  dur- 
ing a  century  noted  for  their  republican  spirit  and  contuma- 
cious defiance  of  their  sovereign.  Liberty  never  wore  a  more 
unamiable  countenance  than  among  these  burghers,  who 
abused  the  strength  she  gave  them  by  cruelty  and  insolence. 
Ghent  was  absolutely  impregnable  at  a  time  when  artillery 
was  very  imperfect  both  in  its  construction  and  manage- 
ment. Hence,  though  the  citizens  of  Ghent  were  generally 
beaten  in  the  field  with  great  slaughter,  they  obtained  tol- 
erable terms  from  their  masters,  who  knew  the  danger  of 
forcing  them  to  a  desperate  defense. 

An  almost  uninterrupted  success  had  attended  the  duke's 
enterprises  for  a  length  of  time,  and  rendered  his  disposition 
still  more  overweening.  His  first  failure  was  before  Neuss, 
a  little  town  near  Cologne  (a.d.  1474),  the  possession  of 
which  would  have  made  him  nearly  master  of  the  whole 
course  of  the  Rhine,  for  he  had  already  obtained  the  land- 
graviate  of  Alsace.  Though  compelled  to  raise  the  siege, 
(\(i  succeeded  m  occupyi;ig,  next  year,  the  duchy  of  Lorraine. 
But  his  overthrow  was  reserved  for  an  enemy  whom  he  de- 
spised, and  v;hom  none  could  have  thought  equal  to  the  con- 
test. The  Swiss  had  given  him  some  slight  provocation,  for 
which  they  were  ready  to  atone  ;  but  Charles  was  unused  to 
rbrbear;  and  perhaps  Switzerland  came  within  his  projects 
of  conquest.  At  Granson,  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  he  was  en- 
tirely routed,  wuth  more  disgrace  than  slaughter.  But  hav- 
ing reassembled  his  troops  and  met  the  confederate  army  of 
Swiss  and  Germans  at  Morat,  near  Friburg,  he  was  again  de- 
feated witTi  vast  loss.  On  this  day  the  power  of  Burgundy 
was  dissipated  :  deserted  by  his  allies,  betrayed  by  his  mer- 
cenaries, he  set  his  life  upon  another  cast  at  Nancy,  desper- 
ately giving  battle  to  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  with  a  small  dis- 
pirited army,  and  perished  in  the  engagement  (a.d.  1477). 

§  16.  Now  was  the  moment  when  Louis,  who  had  held 
back  while  his  enemy  was  breaking  his  force  against  the 
rocks  of  Switzerland,  came  to  gather  a  harvest  which  his 
labor  had  not  reaped.  Charles"  left  an  only  daughter,  un- 
doubted heiress  of  Flanders  and  Artois,  as  well  as  of  his  do- 
minions out  of  France,  but  whose  right  of  succession  to  the 
duchy  of  Burgundy  was  more  questionable.  Originally  the 
great  fief  of  the  crown  descended  to  females,  and  this  was 
the  case  with  respect  to  the  two  first  mentioned.  But  John 
had  granted  Burgundy  to  his  son  Philip  by  way  of  appan- 
age;  and  it  wnj?  contended  that  the  appanages  reverted  to 
the  crown  in  default  of  male  heirs.     In  the  form  of  Philip's 


France.  LOUIS  XI.— HIS  ILLNESS.  67 

investiture,  the  duchy  was  granted  to  him  and  his  lawful 
heirs,  without  designation  of  sex.  The  construction,  there- 
fore, must  be  left  to  the  established  course  of  law.  This, 
however,  was  by  no  means  acknowledged  by  Mary,  Charles's 
daughter,  who  maintained  both  that  no  general  law  restrict- 
ed appanages  to  male  heirs,  and  that  Burgundy  had  always 
been  considered  as  a  feminine  fief,  John  himself  having  pos- 
sessed it,  not  by  reversion  as  king  (for  descendants  of  the 
first  dukes  were  then  living)  but  by  inheritance  derived 
through  females.  ^ 

There  was  one  obvious  mode  of  preventing  all  further 
contest,  and  of  aggrandizing  the  French  monarchy  far  more 
than  by  the  reunion  of  Burgundy.  This  was  the  marriage 
of  Mary  with  the  dauphin,  which  was  ardently  wished  in 
France.  Whatever  obstacles  might  occur  to  this  connection 
it  was  natural  to  expect  on  the  opposite  side — from  Mary's 
repugnance  to  an  infant  husband,  or  from  the  jealousy  which 
her  subjects  were  likely  to  entertain  of  being  incorporated 
with  a  country  worse  governed  than  their  own.  The  arts 
of  Louis  would  have  been  well  employed  in  smoothing  these 
impediments.  But  he  chose  to  seize  upon  as  many  towns 
as,  in  those  critical  circumstances,  lay  exposed  to  him,  and 
stripped  the  young  duchess  of  Artois  and  Franche-comte. 
Expectations  of  the  marriage  he  sometimes  held  out,  but,  as 
it  seems,  without  sincerity.  Indeed  he  contrived  irreconcil- 
ably to  alienate  Mary  by  a  shameful  perfidy,  betraying  the 
ministers  whom  she  had  intrusted  upon  a  secret  mission  to 
the  people  of  Ghent,  who  put  them  to  the  torture,  and  after- 
wards to  death,  in  the  presence  and  amidst  the  tears  and 
supplications  of  their  mistress.  Thus  the  French  alliance 
becoming  odious  in  France,  this  princess  married  (a.d.  14V7) 
Maximilian  of  Austria,  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederick — a  con- 
nection which  Louis  strove  to  prevent,  though  it  was  im- 
possible then  to  foresee  that  it  was  ordained  to  retard  the 
growth  of  France  and  to  bias  the  fate  of  Europe  during  three 
hundred  years.  This  war  lasted  till  after  the  death  of  Mary, 
who  left  one  son,  Philip,  and  one  daughter,  Margaret.  By 
a  treaty  of  peace  concluded  at  Arras,  in  1482,  it  was  agreed 
that  this  daughter  should  become  the  dauphin's  wife,  with 
Franche-comte  and  Artois,  whicli  Louis  held  already,  for  her 
dowry,  to  be  restored  in  case  the  marriage  should  not  take 
efl:ect.     The  homage  of  Flanders  was  reserved  to  the  crown, 

§  1^.  Meanwhile  Louis  was  lingering  in  disease  and  tor- 
ments  of  mind,  the  retribution  of  fraud  and  tyranny.  Two 
years  before  his  death  he  was  struck  with  an  apoplexy,  from 


68  LOUIS  XL— HIS  CHARACTER.     Chap.  L  Part  IL 

which  he  never  wholly  recovered.  As  he  felt  his  disorder 
increasing,  he  shut  himself  up  in  a  palace  near  Tours,  to 
hide  from  the  world  the  knowledge  of  his  decline.^  His  sol- 
itude was  like  that  of  Tiberius  at  Capreae,  full  of  terror  and 
suspicion,  and  deep  consciousness  of  universal  hatred.  All 
ranks, he  Avell  knew,  had  their  several  injuries  to  remember: 
the  clergy,  whose  liberties  he  had  sacrificed  to  the  See  of 
Rome,  by  revoking  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Charles  VII. ; 
the  princes,  whose  blood  he  had  poured  upon  the  scaffold ; 
the  Parliament,  whose  course  of  justice  he  had  turned  aside  ; 
the  commons,  who  groaned  under  his  extortion,  and  were 
plundered  by  his  soldiery.^  The  palace,  fenced  with  port- 
cullises and  spikes  of  iron,  was  guarded  by  archers  and  cross- 
bow-men, who  shot  at  any  that  approached  by  night.  Few 
entered  this  den  ;  but  to  them  he  showed  himself  in  magnifi- 
cent apparel,  contrary  to  his  former  custom,  hoping  thus  to 
disguise  the  change  of  his  meagre  body.  He  distrusted  his 
friends  and  kindred,  his  daughter  and  his  son,  the  last  of 
whom  he  had  not  suffered  even  to  read  or  write,  lest  he 
should  too  soon  become  his  rival.  No  man  ever  so  much 
feared  death,  to  avert  which  he  stooped  to  every  meanness 
and  sought  every  remedy.  His  pliysician  had  sworn  that 
if  he  were  dismissed  the  king  would  not  survive  a  week; 
and  Louis,  enfeebled  by  sickness  and  terror,  bore  the  rudest 
usage  from  this  man,  and  endeavored  to  secure  his  services 
by  vast  rewards.  Always  credulous  in  relics,  though  seldom 
restrained  by  superstition  from  any  crime,  he  eagerly  bought 
up  treasures  of  this  sort,  and  even  procured  a  Calabrian  her- 
mit, of  noted  sanctity,  to  journey  as  far  as  Tours  in  order  to 
restore  his  health.  Philip  de  Comines,  who  attended  him 
during  his  infirmity,  draws  a  parallel  between  the  torments 
he  then  endured  and  those  he  had  formerly  inflicted  on 
others.  Indeed  the  whole  of  his  life  was  vexation  of  spirit. 
"  I  have  known  him,"  says  Comines,  "  and  been  his  servant 
in  the  flower  of  his  age,  and  in  the  time  of  his  greatest  pros- 
perity ;  but  never  did  I  see  him  without  uneasiness  and  care. 
Of  all  amusements  he  loved  only  the  chase,  and  hawking  in 
its  season.     And  in  this  he  had  almost  as  much  uneasiness 

*  Plessis,  his  last  residence,  about  an  English  mile  from  Tours,  is  now  a  dilapidated 
farm-house,  and  can  never  have  been  a  very  large  building.  The  vestiges  of  royalty 
about  it  are  few ;  but  the  principal  apartments  have  been  destroyed,  either  in  the 
course  of  ages  or  at  the  revolution. 

»  See  a  remarkable  chapter  in  Philip  de  Comines,  1.  iv.  c.  19,  wherein  he  tells  us  that 
Charles  VII.  had  never  raised  more  than  1,800,000  francs  a  year  in  taxes;  but  Louis 
XL,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  raised  4,700,000,  exclusive  of  some  military  impositions- 
et  surement  c'estoit  compassion  de  voir  et  scavoir  la  panvretc  du  peuple. 


France.  AFFAIRS  OF  BRITTANY.  69 

as  pleasure ;  for  he  rode  hard  and  got  up  early,  and  some- 
times went  a  great  way,  and  regarded  no  weatlier ;  so  that 
he  used  to  return  very  weary,  and  almost  ever  in  wrath  with 
some  one.  I  think  that  from  his  childhood  he  never  had  any 
respite  of  labor  and  trouble  to  his  death.  And  I  am  certain 
that  if  all  the  happy  days  of  his  life,  in  which  he  had  more 
enjoyment  than  uneasiness,  were  numbered,  they  would  be 
found  very  few ;  and  at  least  that  they  would  be  twenty  of 
sorrow  for  every  one  of  pleasure." 

§  18.  Charles  VIII.  was  about  thirteen  years  old  when  he 
succeeded  his  father  Louis  (a.d.  1483).  Though  the  law  of 
France  fixed  the  majority  of  her  kings  at  that  age,  yet  it 
seems  not  to  have  been  strictly  regarded  on  this  occasion, 
and  at  least  Charles  was  a  minor  by  nature,  if  not  by  law. 
A  contest  arose,  therefore,  for  the  regency,  which  Louis  had 
intrusted  to  his  daughter  Anne,  wife  of  the  Lord  de  Beau- 
jeu,  one  of  the  Bourbon  family.  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  af- 
terwards Louis  XII.,  claimed  it  as  presumptive  heir  of  the 
crown,  and  was  seconded  by  most  of  the  princes.  Anne, 
however,  maintained  her  ground,  and  ruled  France  for  sev- 
eral years  in  her  brother's  name  with  singular  spirit  and  ad- 
dress, in  spite  of  the  rebellions  which  the  Orleans  party 
raised  up  against  her.  These  were  supported  by  the  Duke 
of  Brittany,  the  last  of  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown,  whose 
daughter,  as  he  had  no  male  issue,  was  the  object  of  as  many 
suitors  as  Mary  of  Burgundy. 

The  duchy  of  Brittany  was  peculiarly  circumstanced.  The 
inhabitants,  whether  sprung  from  the  ancient  republicans 
of  Armorica,  or,  as  some  have  thought,  from  an  emigration 
of  Britons  during  the  Saxon  invasion,  had  not  originally  be- 
longed to  the  body  of  the  French  monarchy.  They  Avere 
governed  by  their  own  princes  and  laws,  though  tributary, 
perhaps,  as  the  weaker  to  the  stronger,  to  the  Merovingian 
kings.  In  the  ninth  century  the  dukes  of  Brittany  did  hom- 
age to  Charles  the  Bold,  the  right  of  which  was  transfcn-ed 
afterwards  to  the  dukes  of  Normandy.  This  formality,  at 
that  time  no  token  of  real  subjection,  led  to  consequences 
beyond  the  views  of  either  party.  For  when  the  ieudal 
chains  that  had  hung  so  loosely  upon  the  shoulders  of  the 
great  vassals  began  to  be  straightened  by  the  dextei'ity  of 
the  court,  Brittany  found  itself  drawn  among  the  rest  to  the 
same  centre.  The  old  privileges  of  independence  were  treat- 
ed as  usurpation;  the  dukes  were  menaced  with  confiscation 
of  their  fief,  their  right  of  coining  money  disputed,  their 
jurisdiction  impaired  by  appeals  to  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 


70  THE  FKENCIi  MOJSAUOllY.     Cuai-.  I.  rAiixII, 

However,  tliey  stood  boldly  upon  their  right,  and  always 
refused  to  pay  liege  homage,  wliich  implied  an  obligation  of 
service  to  the  lord,  in  contradistinction  to  simjyle  homage, 
which  was  a  mei-e  symbol  of  feudal  dependence.  In  Francis 
II.,  the  then  duke,  the  male  line  of  that  family  was  about  to 
be  extinguished.  His  daughter  Anne  was  naturally  the  ob- 
ject of  many  suitors,  and  was  at  length  married  by  proxy  to 
Maximilian,  king  of  the  Romans  (a.d.  1489).  But  France 
was  resolved  at  all  events  to  break  off  so  dangerous  a  con- 
nection. And  as  Maximilian  himself  was  unable,  or  took 
not  sufficient  pains,  to  relieve  his  betrotlied  Avife  from  her 
embarrassments,  she  was  ultimately  compelled  to  accept  the 
hand  of  Charles  VIIL  He  had  long  been  engaged  by  the 
treaty  of  Arras  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Maximilian,  and 
that  princess  was  educated  at  the  French  court.  But  this 
engagement  had  not  prevented  several  years  of  hostilities, 
and  continual  intrigues  with  the  towns  of  Flanders  against 
Maximilian.  The  double  injury  which  the  latter  sustained 
in  the  marriage  of  Charles  with  the  heiress  of  Brittany 
seemed  likely  to  excite  a  protracted  contest ;  but  the  King 
of  France,  Avho  had  other  objects  in  view,  and  perhaps  was 
conscious  that  he  liad  not  acted  a  fair  part,  soon  came  to  an 
accommodation,  by  which  he  restored  Artois  and  Franche- 
comte.  Both  these  provinces  had  revolted  to  Maximilian; 
so  that  Charles  must  have  continued  the  war  at  some  disad- 
vantage (a.d.  1492). 

France  was  now  consolidated  into  a  great  kingdom :  tlie 
feudal  system  was  at  an  end.  The  vigor  of  Philip  Augustus, 
the  paternal  wisdom  of  St.  Louis,  the  policy  of  Philip  the 
Fair,  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  powerful  monarchy,  which 
neither  the  arms  of  England,  nor  seditions  of  Paris,  nor  re- 
bellions of  the  princes,  were  atile  to  shake.  Besides  the  orig- 
inal fiefs  of  the  French  crown,  it  had  acquired  two  countries 
beyond  the  Rhone,  which  properly  depended  only  upon  the 
empire — Dauj^hine,  under  Philip  of  Valois,  by  tlie  bequest  of 
Humbert,  tlie  last  of  its  princes  ;  and  Provence,  under  Louis 
XI.,  by  that  of  Charles  of  Anjou.'"  Thus  having  conquered 
herself,  if  T  may  use  the  phrase,  and  no  longer  apprehensive 

">  The  country  now  called  Dauphioc  formed  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Aries  or  1  ro- 
Teuce,  bequeathed  by  Kodolph  III.  to  the  emperor,  Conrad  I.  But  the  dominion  of 
the  empire  over  these  new  acquisitions  being  little  more  than  nominal,  a  few  of  the 
chief  nobility  converted  their  respective  fiefs  into  independent  ijriiicipalities.  One 
of  these  was  the  lord  or  dauphin  of  Vienne,  whose  family  became  ultimately  masters 
of  the  whole  province.  Provence,  like  Daui)hine,  was  changed  from  a  feudal  depend- 
ency to  a  sovereignty,  in  the  weakness  and  dissolution  of  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  about 
the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  century. 


NOTES  TO  CllAi'TER  I. 


71 


of  any  foreign  enemy,  France  was  prepared,  under  a  monarch 
fluslied  with  sanguine  ambition,  to  carry  her  arms  into  other 
countries,  and  to  contest  the  prize  of  glory  and  power  upon 
the  ample  theatre  of  Europe.*^ 

11  See  NoTK  IX.,  "Authorities  for  French  History." 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 


I.  THE    ARMORICAX    REPUBLIC. 

TuE  existence  of  an  Armorican  Republic 
is  now  adniitled  by  most  French  histori- 
ans. Early  in  the  lifth  century,  according 
to  Zasinius  (vi.  5),  about  the  time  when 
(;(;ii.^c:uitine  usurped  the  throne  of  Brit- 
ain and  Gaul,  or,  as  the  sense  shows,  a  lit- 
tle later,  in  consequence  of  the  incursions 
of  the  barbarians  from  beyond  the  Rhine, 
the  natives  of  Britain,  taking  up  arms  for 
themselves,  rescued  their  cities  from  these 
barbarians ;  and  the  whole  Armorican  ter- 
ritory, and  other  provinces  of  Gaul,  in  imi- 
tation of  the  Britons,  liberated  themselves 
in  the  same  manner,  expelling  the  Roman 
rulers,  and  establishing  an  internal  gov- 
ernment. Martin  considers  that  this  con- 
federation extended  as  ftir  as  Aquitaine, 
and  embraced  some  cities  of  the  central 
provinces,  as  well  as  Armorica  jjroper. 
— ("Histoire  de  France,"  vol.  i.  p.  339.) 

II.  THE   FRANKS.  j 

The  Franks  are  not  among  the  German  j 
tribes  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  nor  do  they  j 
appear  in  history  before  the  year  240. 
They  were  jirobably  a  confederation  of 
*;he  tribes  situated  between  the  Rhine,  the 
Weser,  and  the  Main  ;  as  the  Alemanni 
were  a  similar  league  to  the  south  of  the 
la;>t  river.  Their  oricrin  may  be  derived 
from  the  necessity  of  defending  their  in- 
dependence agninst  Rome  ;  but  they  had 
become  the  aggressors  in  the  period  when 
we  read  of  them  in  Roman  history ;  and, 
like  other  barbarians  in  that  age,  were  oft- 
01  the  purchased  allies  of  the  declining 
empre.  M.  LehuGron  conceives  them  to 
have  l)ecn  a  race  of  exiles  or  outlaws  from 
other  Geiman  tribes,  taking  the  name 
Franc  from  /rec/i,  fierce  or  bold,  and  set- 
tling at  first,  by  neccssit}',  near  tlie  mouth 
of  the  Elbe,  whence  they  moved  (mward 
to  seek  better  habitations  at  the  expense 
of  less  intrepid,  though  more  civilized,  na- 
tions. —  ("Institutions  Merovingiennes." 
vol.  i.  p.  91.) 


Although  the  Frankish  tribes  were  nom- 
inally independent  of  each  other,  each  pos' 
sessing  its  own  chieftain,  yet  in  process  of 
time  a  certaiu  predominance  was  acquired 
by  one  or  two  over  the  rest.  The  warlike 
Salians,  who  towards  the  close  of  the  third 
century  obtained  a  tixed  settlement  in  the 
north  of  Gaul,  became,  in  consequence  of 
this  success  and  other  advantages,  the 
dominant  tribe;  and  it  was  fnmi  one  of 
their  families,  that  of  the  Meroioings  or 
children  of  Merowig,  that  the  confedera- 
tion chose  its  military  leaders,  as  occasicm 
arose.  Such  is  the  origin  of  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  Merovingian  Hue  of 
kings. 

HI.  THE   CONSULSHIP  OF  CLOVIS. 

The  theory  of  Dubos,  who  considers  Clo- 
vis  as  a  sort  of  lieutenant  of  the  emperor's, 
and  as  governing  the  Roman  part  of  his 
subjects  by  no  other  title,  is  partly  coun- 
tenanced by  Gibbon,  and  has  been  re- 
vived, in  almost  its  fullest  extent,  by  a 
learned  and  spirited  investigator  of  early 
history,  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  in  his  "Rise 
and  Progress  of  the  English  Common- 
wealth," i.  3G0.  The  truth  seems  to  be 
that  the  investiture  of  Clovis  with  the 
consular  dignity  by  the  Eastern  empemr, 
although  it  added  nothing  to  his  real  jjow- 
er,  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  of  which 
the  conqueror  gladly  took  advantage  to 
ratify  and  consolidate  his  already  acquired 
sovereignty.  It  is  plain,  from  the  account 
given  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  that  both  Clo- 
vis himself  and  his  subjects,  barbarian 
and  Roman,  attached  considerable  im-^ 
portance  to  the  fact.  M.  Lehuerou,  in  his 
■'Institutions  Morovingiennes,"  arrives  at 
the  following  conclusions:  That  the  de- 
tinitive  establishment  of  the  Franks  in 
Roman  Gaul  resulted  at  the  same  time 
from  the  voluntary  concessi(His  of  the  em- 
perors and  from  their  violent  aggressions. 
That  the  Merovingians  reigned  partly  by 
legitimate  succession  and  partly  by  r'-'ht 


72 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 


of  conquest.  That  Clovis,  whose  reign  did 
not  commence  till  after  the  fall  of  the 
Western  Emi)ire,  nevertheless  recognized, 
like  the  Visigoths  of  Spain,  the  Ostrogoths 
of  Italy,  and  the  Burgundiaus  of  Gaul,  the 
superiority,  and  up  to  a  certain  point  the 
siizerainship,  of  the  emperors  of  the  East. 
That  the  Gallo-Roraan  provincials  coin- 
cided in  this  view,  and  that  consequently 
their  acquiescence  in  the  government  of 
Clovis  became  more  willing  and  more 
complete  from  the  moment  of  his  nomina- 
tion as  Consul  and  Patrician,  acknowl- 
edged dignities  of  the  ancient  empire. 
Lastly,  that,  long  after  Clovis  and  his  pos- 
terity had  become  independent  masters 
of  Gaul,  the  Merovingian  princes  looked 
upon  the  Eastern  emperors  as  their  su- 
periors, and  addressed  them,  when  occa- 
sion arose,  in  terms  expressive  of  this  re- 
lationship. 

IV.  THE    MAYOR   OF  THE   PALACE. 

The  Mayor  of  the  Palace  appears  as  the 
flrst  officer  of  the  crown  in  the  three  Frank 
kingdoms  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
sixth  century.  He  had  the  command,  as 
Guizot  supposes,  of  the  Antrustions,  or 
vassals  of  the  king.  Even  afterwards  the 
office  was  not,  as  this  writer  believes, 
properly  elective,  though  in  the  case  of 
a  minority  of  the  king,  or  upon  other  spe- 
cial occasions,  the  leudes,  or  nobles,  chose  a 
mayor.  The  first  instance  we  find  of  such 
an  election  was  in  575,  when,  after  the 
murder  of  Sigebert  by  Fredegonde,  his 
son  Childebert  being  an  infant,  the  Aus- 
trasian  leudes  chose  Gogon  for  their  may- 
or. There  seem,  however,  so  many  in- 
stances of  elective  mayors  in  the  seventh 
century,  that,  although  the  royal  consent 
may  probably  have  been  legally  requisite, 
U.  is  hard  to  doubt  that  the  office  had  fall- 
en into  the  hands  of  the  nobles. 

V.  AQUITAINE. 

Aiibert,  or  rather  Caribert,  brother  of 
Dngobert  I.,  was  declared  king  of  Aqui- 
taine  in  02S;  but  on  his  death,  in  G31,  it 
became  a  duchy  dependent  on  the  mon- 
archy under  his  two  sons,  with  its  capital 
at  Toulouse.  This  dependence,  however, 
appears  to  have  soon  ceased,  in  the  decay 
of  the  Merovingian  line ;  and  for  a  centu- 
ry afterwards  Aquitaine  can  hardly  be 
considered  as  part  of  either  the  Neustrian 
or  Austrasian  kingdom.  Aquitaine,  in  its 
fu'.lei?t  extent,  extended  from  the  Loire 
beyond  the  Garonne,  with  the  exception 
;)f  Touinine  and  the  Orluannois.  The 
l)ec)ple  of  Aquitaine,  in  this  large  sense 
of  the  word,  were  chiefly  Romans,  with  a 
few  Goths.    The  Franks,  as  a  conquering 


nation,  had  scarcely  taken  up  their  abod« 
in  these  provinces.  After  the  battle  of 
Testry,  which  subverted  the  Neustrian 
monarchy,  Aquitaine,  and  even  Burgun- 
dy, ceased  for  a  time  to  be  French  ;  undei 
Charles  Martel  they  were  styled  the  Ro- 
man countries.  (Michelet,  ii.  9  )  Eudon, 
by  some  called  Eudes,  grandson  of  Cari- 
bert, a  prince  of  conspicuous  qualities, 
gained  ground  upon  the  Franks  during 
the  whole  period  of  Pepin  Heristal's  pow- 
er, and  united  to  Aquitaine  not  only  Pro- 
vence, but  a  new  conquest  from  the  inde- 
pendent natives,  Gascony.  Eudon  ob- 
tained in  721  a  far  greater  victory  over  the 
Saracens  than  that  of  Charles  Martel  at 
Poitiers.  The  slaughter  was  immense, 
and  confessed  by  the  Arabian  writers;  it 
even  appears  that  a  funeral  solemnity,  in 
commemoration  of  so  great  a  calamity, 
was  observed  in  Spain  for  four  or  five  cen- 
turies afterwards.  (Fauriel,  iii.  79.)  But 
in  its  consequences  it  was  far  less  impor- 
tant ;  for  the  Saracens,  some  years  after- 
wards, returned  to  avenge  their  country- 
men, and  Eudon  had  no  resource  but  in 
the  aid  of  Charles  Martel.  After  the  re- 
treat of  the  enemy  it  became  the  necessa- 
ry price  of  the  service  rendered  by  the 
Fr;!nk  chieftain  that  Aquitaine  acknowl- 
edged his  sovereignty.  This,  however, 
was  still  but  nominal,  till  Pepin  deter- 
mined to  assert  it  more  seriously,  and  af- 
ter a  long  war  overcame  the  last  of  the 
ducal  line  sprung  from  Clotairc  IL,  which 
had  displayed,  for  almost  a  century  and  a 
half,  an  energy  in  contrast  with  the  im- 
becility of  the  elder  branch.  Even  this, 
as  M.  Fauriel  observes,  was  little  more 
than  a  change  in  the  reigning  family;  the 
men  of  Aquitaine  never  lost  their  j)eculiai 
nationality ;  they  remained  a  separate  peo- 
ple in  Gaul,  a  people  distinguished  by  their 
character,  and  by  the  part  which  they  were 
called  to  play  in  the  political  revolutions 
of  the  age. 

Vr.  THE  SUBJECTION   OF   THE   SAXONS. 

The  true  cause,  M.  Michelet  observes 
("Hist,  de  France,"  ii.,  39)  of  the  Saxon 
wars,  which  had  begun  under  Chailes 
Martel,  and  were  in  some  degree  defensive 
on  the  part  of  the  Franks,  was  the  ancient 
antipathy  of  race,  enhanced  by  the  grow- 
ing tendency  to  civilized  habits  among  the 
latter.  This,  indeed,  seems  sufficient  to 
account  for  the  conflict,  Avithout  any  na- 
tional antipathy.  It  was  that  which  makes 
the  Red  Indian  perceive  an  enemy  in  the 
Anglo-American,  and  the  Australian  sav- 
age in  the  Englishman.  The  Saxons,  in 
their  deep  forests  and  scantily  cultivated 
plains,  could  not  bear  fixed  boundaries  of 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 


7S 


.and.  Their  gau  was  indefinite ;  the  man- 
8MS  was  certain ;  it  annihilated  the  barba- 
rian's only  method  of  combining  liberty 
with  possession  of  land— the  right  of  shift- 
ing his  occupancy.  It  is  not  probable, 
from  subsequent  events,  that  the  Saxons 
held  very  tenaciously  by  ttieir  religion ; 
but  when  Christianity  first  offered  itself, 
it  came  in  the  train  of  a  conqueror.  Nor 
could  Christianity,  according  at  least  to 
the  ecclesiastical  system,  be  made  com- 
patible with  such  a  state  of  society  as  the 
German  in  that  age.  Hence  the  Saxons 
endeavored  to  burn  the  first  churches, 
thus  drawing  retaliation  on  their  own 
idols. 

The  first  apostles  of  Germany  were  En- 
glish ;  and  of  these  the  most  remarkable 
was  St  Boniface.  But  this  had  been  in 
tlie  time  of  Charles  Martel  and  Pepin. 
The  labors  of  these  missionaries  were 
chiefly  in  Thuriugia,  Francouia,  and  Ba- 
varia, and  were  rewarded  with  great  suc- 
cess. But  we  may  here  consider  them 
only  in  their  results  on  the  Frank  mon- 
archy. Those  parts  of  Germany  had  long 
been  subject  to  Austrasia,  but,  except  so 
far  as  they  furnished  troops,  scarcely  form- 
ed an  integrant  portion  of  that  kingdom. 
The  subjection  of  a  heathen  tribe  is  total- 
ly different  from  that  of  a  Christian  prov- 
ince. With  the  Church  came  churches, 
and  for  churches  there  must  be  towns,  and 
for  towns  a  magistracy,  and  for  magistra- 
cy law  and  the  means  of  enforcing  it. 
How  different  was  the  condition  of  Ba- 
varia or  Hesse  in  the  ninth  century  from 
that  of  the  same  countries  in  the  seventh  ! 
Not  outlying  appendages  to  the  Austrasian 
monarchy,  hardly  counted  among  its  sub- 
jects, but  capable  of  standing  by  them- 
selves, as  co-ordinate  members  of  the  em- 
pire, an  equipoise  to  France  herself,  full 
of  populous  towns,  wealthy  nobles  and 
prelates,  better  organized  and  more  flour- 
ishing states  than  their  neighbors  on  the 
left  side  of  the  Khine.  Charlemagne 
founded  eight  bishoprics  in  Saxony,  and 
distributed  the  eountry  into  dioceses. 

VII.  CHARLEMAGNE,  EMPEROR. 

The  motive  of  Charlemagne  in  accept- 
ing the  title  of  emperor  has  been  much 
discussed.  It  is  contended  by  Sir  F.  Pal- 
grave  that  Charlemagne  was  ehosen  by 
the  Romans  as  lawful  successor  of  Con- 
stantine  V.,  whom  his  mother  Irene  had 
dethroned  in  795,  the  usage  of  the  empire 
having  never  admitted  a  female  sovereign. 
But  it  remains  to  be  shown  by  what  right 
Leo  HI.,  cum  omni  Christiano jiopulo — that 
is,  the  priests  and  populace  of  degenerate 
Rouie— could  dispo.sc  of  the  entire  empire, 
4 


or  affect  to  place  a  stranger  on  the  throne 
of  Constantinople ;  for  if  Charles  were  the 
successor  of  Constantine  V.,  we  must  draw 
this  conclusion.  Rome,  we  should  keep  to 
mind,  was  not  a  jot  more  invested  with 
authority  than  any  other  city ;  the  Greek 
capital  had  long  taken  her  place ;  and  in 
every  revolution  of  new  Rome,  the  decrep- 
it mother  had  without  hesitation  obeyed. 
Nor  does  it  seem  to  me  exceedingly  mate- 
rial, if  the  case  be  such,  that  Charlemagne 
was  not  styled  Emperor  of  the  West,  or 
successor  of  Augustulus.  It  is  evident 
that  his  empire,  relatively  to  that  of  the 
Greeks,  was  western  ;  and  we  do  not  find 
that  either  he  or  h:.s  family  ever  claimed 
an  exclusive  right  to  the  imperial  title. 
The  pretension  would  have  been  diamet- 
rically opposed  both  to  prescriptive  right 
and  actual  possession.  He  wrote  to  the 
Emperor  Nicephorus,  successor  of  Irene, 
as  /raternitas  vestra;  but  it  is  believed 
that  the  Greeks  never  recognized  the  ti- 
tle of  a  western  barbarian.  Mr.  Hallam 
thinks  that  the  probable  design  of  Charle- 
magne, in  accepting  the  title  of  emperor, 
was  not  only  to  extend  his  power  as  far  as 
possible  in  Italy,  but  to  invest  it  with  a 
sort  of  sacredness  and  prescriptive  digni- 
ty in  the  eyes  of  his  barbarian  subjects. 
These  had  beeia  accustomed  to  hear  of 
emperors  as  something  superior  lo  kings ; 
they  were  themselves  fond  of  pompous  ti- 
tles, and  the  chancery  of  the  new  Augus- 
tus soon  borrowed  the  splendid  ceremoni- 
al of  the  Byzantine  court.  But  the  real  mo- 
tive of  Charlemagne  in  accepting  the  title 
of  emperor  has  been  more  correctly  appre- 
ciated by  Mr.  Maine  in  his  work  on  "An- 
cient Law  "  (pp.  103-107).  The  conception 
of  "territorial  sovereignty"  was  at  that 
time  unknown,  and,  when  the  descend- 
ants of  Clovis  aspired  to  be  something 
more  than  kings  of  the  Franks,  the  only 
precedent  which  suggested  itself  was  the 
title  of  Emperors  of  Rome.  "The  world 
had  lain  for  so  many  centuries  under  the 
shadow  of  Imperial  Rome  as  to  have  for- 
gotten that  distribution  of  the  vast  spaces 
comprised  in  the  empire  which  had  once 
parcelled  them  out  into  a  number  of  inde- 
pendent commonwealths,  claiming  immu- 
nity from  extrinsic  interference,  and  pre- 
tending to  equality  of  national  rights.  Af- 
ter the  subsidence  of  the  barbarian  irrup- 
tions, the  notion  of  sovereignty  that  pre- 
vailed seems  to  have  been  twofold.  On 
the  one  hand  it  assumed  the  form  of  what 
may  be  called  'tribe  sovereignty.'  Part 
of  Transalpine  Gaul,  with  part  of  Ger- 
many, had  now  become  the  country  de 
facto  occupied  by  the  Franks— -it  was 
France ;  but  the  Merovingian  line  of  chief* 


74 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 


tains,  the  descendants  of  Clovis,  were  not 
Kings  of  France — they  were  kings  of  the 
Franks.  The  alternative  to  this  peculiar 
notion  of  sovereignty  appears  to  have 
been— and  this  is  the  important  point— 
the  idea  of  universal  dominion.  The  mo- 
ment a  monarch  departed  from  the  special 
relation  of  chief  to  clansmen,  and  became 
solicitous,  for  purposes  of  his  own,  to  in- 
vest himself  with  a  novel  form  of  sover- 
eignty the  only  precedent  which  suggest- 
ed itself  for  his  adoption  was  the  domina- 
tion of  the  emperors  of  Rome.  To  parody 
a  common  quotation,  he  became  ^aut 
Ccesar  aut  nullus.^  The  chieftain  who 
would  no  longer  call  himself  king  of  the 
tribe  must  claim  to  be  emperor  of  the 
world.  Thus,  when  the  hereditary  May- 
ors of  the  Palace  had  ceased  to  compro- 
mise with  the  monarchs  they  had  long 
since  virtually  dethroned,  they  soon  be- 
came unwilling  to  call  themselves  kings 
of  the  Franks— a  title  which  belonged  to 
the  displaced  Merovings ;  but  they  could 
not  style  themselves  kings  of  France,  for 
such  a  designation,  though  apparently  not 
unknown,  was  not  a  title  of  dignity.  Ac- 
cordingly they  came  forward  as  aspirants 
to  universal  empire.  Territorial  sover- 
eignty—the view  which  connects  sover- 
eignty with  the  possession  of  a  limited 
portion  of  the  earth's  surface— was  dis- 
tinctly an  offshoot,  thoiigh  a  tardy  one,  of 

VIII.  THE   KINGDOM   OF   BURGUNDY. 

It  is  important  for  the  student  to  bear 
in  mind  the  different  uses  of  the  name 
Burgundy  in  different  ages.  Mr.  Bryce 
has  pointed  out  the  ten  senses  in  wi.ich 
the  name  generally  occurs  : 

"I.  The  kingdom  of  the  Burgundians 
{reijnuyn  Btmjtindiomcm),  founded  a.d.  400, 
occupying  the  whole  valley  of  the  Saone 
and  lower  Rhone,  from  Dijon  to  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  including  also  the  western 
half  of  Switzerland.  It  was  destroj^ed  by 
the  sons  of  Clovis  in  a.d.  534. 

'•  II.  The  kingdom  of  Burgundy  {regnum 
Du7-gundice),  mentioned  occasionally  un- 
de.-  the  Merovingian  kings  as  a  separate 
principality,  confined  within  boundaries 
apparently  somcAvhat  narrower  than  those 
i)*"  the  older  kingdom  last  named. 

"  III.  The  kingdom  of  Provence  or  Bur- 
.^undy  (regiium  P)-ovincice  seu  Bur(fundiai) 
—also,  though  less  accurately,  called  the 
kingdom  of  Cis-Jurane  Burgundy— was 
founded  by  Boso  in  a.d.  877,  and  included 
Provence,  Dauphiiu',  the  southern  part  of 
Savoy,  and  the  country  between  the  Saone 
und  the  Jura. 

'  IV.  The  kingdom  of  Trans- Jurane  Bur- 


gundy {regnumJurense,  Jiurgnndia  Tran» 
iurensis),  founded  by  Rudolph  in  a.d.  888, 
recognized  in  the  same  year  by  the  Em- 
peror  Arnulf,  included  the  northern  part 
of  Savoy,  and  all  Switzerland  between  the 
Reuss  and  the  Jura. 

"  V.  The  kingdom  of  Burgundy  or  Aries 
{regnum  Burgttndice,  regmtm  Arelatense), 
formed  by  the  union,  under  Conrad  the 
Pacific,  in  a.d.  937,  of  the  kingdoms  de- 
scribed above  as  III.  and  IV.  On  the 
death,  in  1032,  of  the  last  independent 
king,  Rudolph  III.,  it  came  partly  by  be- 
quest, partly  by  conquest,  into  the  hands 
of  the  Emperor  Conrad  II.  (the  Salic),  and 
thenceforward  formed  a  part  of  the  Em- 
pire. In  the  thirteenth  century,  France 
began  to  absorb  it,  bit  by  bit,  and  has  now 
(since  the  annexation  of  Savoy  in  1861)  ac- 
quired all  except  the  Swiss  portion  of  it. 

"  VL  The  Lesser  Duchy  {Burgundia  MP 
nor),  (Klein  Burgund),  corresponded  very 
nearly  with  what  is  now  Switzerland  west 
of  the  Reuss,  including  the  Valais.  It  was 
Trans-Jurane  Burgundy  (IV.)  minus  the 
parts  of  Savoy  which  had  belonged  to  that 
kingdom.  It  disappears  from  history  af- 
ter the  extinction  of  the  house  of  Zahrin- 
geu  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Legally  it 
was  part  of  the  Empire  till  a.d.  1G48,  though 
practically  independent  long  before  that 
date. 

"VII.  The  Free  County  or  Palatinate 
of  Burgundy  (Franche  Comte),  (Freigraf- 
schaft),  (called  also  Upper  Burgundy),  to 
which  the  name  of  Cis-Jurane  Burgundy 
originally  and  properly  belonged,  lay  be- 
tween the  Saone  and  the  Jura.  It  formed 
a  part  of  III.  and  V.,  and  was  therefore  a 
fief  of  the  Empire.  The  French  dukes  of 
Burgundy  were  invested  with  it  in  a.d. 
7SS4,  and  in  1G7S  it  was  annexed  to  the 
Crown  of  France. 

•'VIII.  The  Landgraviate  of  Burgundy 
(Landgrafschaft)  was  in  Western  Switzer- 
land, on  both  sides  of  the  Aar,  between 
Thun  and  Solothui'n.  It  was  a  part  of  the 
Lesser  Duchy  (VI.),  and,  like  it,  is  hardly 
mentioned  after  the  thirteenth  century. 

"IX.  Tlie  Circle  of  Burgundy  (Kreia 
Burgund),  an  administrative  division  of 
the  Empire,  was  established  by  Charles  V. 
in  1548 ;  and  included  the  Free  County  of 
Burgundy  (VII.)  and  the  seventeen  prov- 
inces of  the  Netherlands,  which  Charles 
inherited  from  his  grandmother  Mary, 
daughter  of  Charles  the  Bold. 

"X.  The  duchy  of  Burgundy  (Lowe? 
Burgundy),  (Bourgogne),  the  most  norths 
erly  part  of  the  old  kingdom  of  the  Bur- 
gundians,  was  always  a  fief  of  the  crown 
of  France,  and  a  province  of  France  till 
the  Revolution.    It  was  of  this  Burgundy 


NOTES  TO  CIIArTER  I. 


75 


that  Phiiip  the  Good  and  Charles  the  Bold 
were  dukes.  They  were  also  counts  of 
the  Free  County  (VII.)."— "The  Holy  Ro- 
man Empire,"  pp.  437-439, 

IX,  AUTHORITIES   FOR   FRENCH   HISTORY. 

The  history  of  France  by  Velly,  Villaret, 
and  Gamier,  was  the  principal  authority 
originally  used  by  Mr.  Hallam  for  this 
chapter,  exclusive  of  original  writers.  The 
part  of  the  Abbe  Velly  comes  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  volume  (12mo  edi- 
tion), and  of  the  reign  of  Philip  de  Valois. 
His  continuator,  Villaret,  was  interrupted 
by  death  in  the  seventeenth  volume,  and 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XI,  Subsequently 
Mr.  Hallam  observed  that  "  this  history  is 
but  slightly  esteemed  in  France,  especially 


the  volumes  written  by  the  Abbe  Velly, 
The  writers  were  too  much  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  the  old  monarchy  (though  no 
adulators  of  kings,  and  rather  liberal  ac- 
cording to  the  standard  of  their  own  age) 
for  those  who  have  taken  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people  for  their  creed.  Nor  are 
they  critical  and  exact  enough  for  the 
present  state  of  historical  knowledge.  Sis- 
moudi  and  Michelet,  especially  the  former, 
are  doubtless  superior ;  but  the  reader  will 
not  And  in  the  latter  as  regular  a  narration 
of  facts  as  in  Velly  and  Villaret,  Sismondi 
has  as  many  prejudices  on  one  side  as  they 
have  on  the  opposite,"  But  the  histories 
of  Sismondi  and  Michelet  are  in  their  turn 
now  superseded  to  a  great  extent  by  that 
of  H.  Martin. 


f6  STATE  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANY.    Chap.  II.  PartL 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON  THE    FEUDAL   SYSTEM,  ESPECIALLY   IN   FRANCE. 

PART    I. 

i  1.  State  of  Ancient  Germany.  §  2.  Effects  of  the  Conquest  of  Ganl  by  the  Franks. 
5  3.  Tenures  of  Laud.  §  4.  Roman  Natives  of  Gaul.  §  5,  Proportion  of  Franks 
and  Romans.  §  6.  Distinction  of  Laws.  §  7.  Constitution  of  the  ancient  Frank 
Monarchy,  §  S.  Origin  of  Nobility.  §  9.  Gradual  Establishment  of  Feudal  Ten- 
ures. §  10.  Principles  of  a  Feudal  Relation.  §  11.  Ceremonies  of  Homage,  Fealty, 
and  Investiture.  §  12.  Obligations  of  a  Vassal.  Military  Service.  §  13.  Feudal  In- 
cidents of  Relief,  Fines,  Escheats,  Aids,  Wardship,  Marriage.  §  14.  Different  Spe- 
cies of  Fiefs.    §  15.  Feudal  Law-books. 

§  1.  Germany,  in  the  age  of  Tacitus,  was  divided  among  a 
number  of  independent  tribes,  differing  greatly  in  population 
and  importance.  Their  country,  overspread  with  forests  and 
morasses,  afforded  no  large  proportion  of  arable  land.  Nor 
did  they  ever  occupy  the  same  land  two  years  in  succession, 
if  what  Caesar  tells  us  may  be  believed,  that  fresh  allotments 
were  annually  made  by  the  magistrates.  But  this  could  not 
have  been  an  absolute  abandonment  of  land  once  cultivated, 
which  Horace  ascribes  to  the  migratory  Scythians.  The 
Germans  had  fixed  though  not  contiguous  dwellings,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  gem  or  township  must  have  continued 
to  till  the  same  fields,  though  it  might  be  with  varying  rights 
of  separate  property.  They  had  kings  elected  out  of  partic- 
ular families  ;  and  other  chiefs,  both  for  war  and  administra- 
tion of  justice,  whom  merit  alone  recommended  to  the  pub- 
lic choice.  But  the  power  of  each  was  greatly  limited  ;  and 
the  decision  of  all  leading  questions,  though  subject  to  the 
previous  deliberation  of  the  chieftains,  sprung  from  the  free 
voice  of  a  popular  assembly.  The  principal  men,  however, 
of  a  German  tribe  fully  partook  of  that  estimation  which  is  al- 
ways the  reward  of  valor,  and  commonly  of  birth.  They  were 
surrounded  by  a  cluster  of  youths,  the  most  gallant  and  am- 
bitious of  the  nation,  their  pride  at  home,  their  protection  in 
the  field  ;  whose  aml3ition  was  flattered,  or  gratitude  concili- 
ated, by  such  presents  as  a  leader  of  barbarians  could  confer. 
These  were  the  institutions  of  the  people  who  overthrew  the 
empire  of  Rome,  congenial  to  the  spirit  of  infant  societies, 
and  such  as  travellers  liave  found  among  nations  in  tlie  same 


Feudal  System.     PARTITION  OF  CONQUESTS.  77 

stage  of  manners  throughout  the  world.  And  although,  in 
the  lapse  of  four  centuries  between  the  ages  of  Tacitus  and 
Clovis,  some  change  was  wrought  by  long  intercourse  with 
the  Romans,  yet  the  foundations  of  their  political  system 
were  unshaken.  If  the  Salic  laws  were  in  the  main  drawn 
up  before  the  occupation  of  Gaul  by  the  Franks,  as  seems 
the  better  opinion,  it  is  manifest  that  lands  were  held  by 
them  in  determinate  several  possession  ;  and  in  other  re- 
spects it  is  impossible  that  the  manners  described  by  Tacitus 
should  not  have  undergone  some  alteration. 

§  2.  When  these  tribes  from  Germany  and  the  neighbor- 
ing countries  poured  down  upon  the  empire,  and  began  to 
form  permanent  settlements,  they  made  a  partition  of  the 
lands  in  the  conquered  provinces  between  themselves  and 
the  original  possessors.  The  Burgundians  and  Visigoths 
took  two-thirds  of  their  respective  conquests,  leaving  the 
remainder  to  the  Roman  proprietor.  Each  Burgundian  was 
quartered,  under  the  gentle  name  of  guest  {hos2:>es),  upon  one 
of  the  former  tenants,  whose  reluctant  hospitality  confined 
him  to  the  smaller  portion  of  his  estate.  The  Vandals  in 
Africa,  a  more  furious  race  of  plunderers,  seized  all  the  best 
lands.  The  Lombards  of  Italy  took  a  third  part  of  the  prod- 
uce. We  can  not  discover  any  mention  of  a  similar  ar- 
rangement in  the  laws  or  history  of  the  Franks.  It  is,  how- 
ever, clear  that  they  occupied,  by  public  allotment  or  indi- 
vidual pillage,  a  great  portion  of  the  lands  of  France. 

§  3.  The  estates  possessed  by  the  Franks  as  their  proper- 
ty were  termed  allodial/  a  word  which  is  sometimes  re- 
stricted to  such  as  had  descended  by  inheritance.'  These 
were  subject  to  no  burden  except  that  of  public  defense. 
They  passed  to  all  the  children  equally,  or,  in  their  failure, 
to  the  nearest  kindred.  But  of  these  allodial  possessions 
there  was  a  particular  species,  denominated  Salic,  from 
which  females  were  expressly  excluded.     What  these  land» 

1  Allodial  lands  are  commouly  opposed  to  beneficiary  or  feudal ;  the  former  bein^: 
strictly  proprietary,  while  the  latter  depended  upon  a  superior.  In  this  sense  the 
word  is  of  continual  recurrence  in  ancient  histories,  laws,  and  instruments.  It  some- 
times, however,  bears  the  sense  of  inheritatice.  Hence,  in  the  charters  of  the  eleventh 
century,  hereditary  fiefs  are  frequently  termed  allodia.  The  word  allod  or  alod,  in 
Latin  alodis,  in  French  alleu,  is  of  uncertain  etymology.  It  has  usually  been  thought 
to  be  compounded  of  all  and  odh,  and  would  thus  signify  full  or  entire  property;  but 
MM.  Guizot,  Lehuorou,  and  other  writers,  derive  it  from  the  Teutonic  loos,  sors.  The 
word  sors,  when  applied  to  land  means  only  an  integral  patrimony,  as  it  means  capi- 
tal opposed  to  interest  when  applied  to  money.  It  is  common  in  the  civil  law,  and  is 
no  more  than  the  Greek  »c\/"/por;  but  it  had  been  peculiarly  applied  to  the  lands  as- 
signed by  the  Romans  to  the  soldiery  after  a  conquest,  which  some  suppose  to  have 
been  by  lot.  And  hence  this  term  was  m<jst  probably  adopted  by  the  barbarians,  or 
rather  those  wlio  reiulerod  their  Inws  ^lt<^  I.jitin. 


78  ROMAN  NATIVES  OF  GAUL.    Chap.  TI.  Paut  I 

were,  and  what  was  the  cause  of  the  exclusion,  has  been 
much  disputed.  No  solution  seems  more  probable  than  that 
the  ancient  lawgivers  of  the  Salian  Franks  prohibited  females 
from  inheriting  the  lands  assigned  to  the  nation  upon  the 
conquest  of  Gaul,  both  in  compliance  with  their  ancient  us- 
ages, and  in  order  to  secure  the  military  service  of  every 
proprietor.  But  lands  subsequently  acquired  by  purchase 
or  other  means,  though  equally  bound  to  the  public  defense, 
were  relieved  from  the  severity  of  this  rule,  and  presumed 
not  to  belong  to  the  class  of  Salic.'* 

§  4.  A  controversy  has  been  maintained  in  France  as  to 
the  condition  of  the  Romans,  or  rather  the  provincial  inhab- 
itants of  Gaul,^  after  the  invasion  of  Clovis.  While  some 
bring  the  two  nations,  conquerors  and  conquered,  almost  to 
an  equality,  as  the  common  subjects  of  a  sovereign  who  had 
assumed  the  prerogatives  of  a  Roman  emperor ;  others  find 
no  closer  analogy  for  their  relative  conditions  than  that  of 
the  Greeks  and  Turks  in  the  days  that  have  lately  gone  by. 
But  it  seems  impossible  to  maintain  either  of  these  two 
theories.  On  the  one  hand,  we  find  the  Romans  not  only 
possessed  of  property,  and  governed  by  their  own  laws,  but 
admitted  to  the  royal  favor  and  the  highest  offices ;  while 
the  bishops  and  clergy,  who  were  generally  of  that  nation, 
grew  up  continually  in  popul?.r  estimation,  in  riches  and  in 
temporal  sway.  Yet  a  marked  line  was  drawn  at  the  outset 
between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered.  Though  one 
class  of  Romans  retained  estates  of  their  own,  yet  there  was 
another,  called  tributary,  who  seem  to  have  cultivated  those 
of  the  Franks,  and  were  scarcely  raised  above  the  condition 
of  predial  servitude.  But  no  distinction  can  be  more  un- 
equivocal than  that  which  was  established  between  the  two 
nations,  in  the  weregild^  or  composition  for  homicide.  Capi- 
tal punishment  for  murder  was  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Franks,  who,  like  most  barbarous  nations,  w^ould  have  thought 
the  loss  of  one  citizen  ill  repaired  by  that  of  another.  The 
weregild  was  paid  to  the  relations  of  the  slain,  according  to 
a  legal  rate.  This  was  fixed  by  the  Salic  law  at  600  solidi 
for  an  Antrustion  of  the  king ;  at  300  for  a  Roman  conviva 
regis  (a  man  who  had  been  admitted  to  the  royal  table) ;  at 
200  for  a  common  Frank ;  at  100  for  a  Roman  possessor  of 
lands ;  and  at  45  for  a  tributary,  or  cultivator  of  another's 
property.      One   essential   difference   separated   the   Frank 

2  See  Note  I.,  "On  the  Salic  and  other  Laws  of  the  Barbarians." 

3  It  must  be  recollected  that  in  the  barbarian  laws  the  word  Roman  is  uniformly 
applied  to  the  provincial  i  ihabitants  of  Gaul. 


Feudal  System.      ROMAN  NATIVES  OF  GAUL.  79 

from  the  Roman.     The  latter  was  subject  to  personal  and 
territorial  taxation. 

§  5.  It  can  not  be  too  frequently  inculcated  on  the  reader 
who  desires  to  form  a  general  but  tolerably  exact  notion  of 
the  state  of  France  under  the  first  line  of  kings,  that  he  is 
not  hastily  to  draw  inferences  from  one  of  the  three  divis- 
ions, Austrasia,  Neustria,  and  Aquitaine,  to  which,  for  a  part 
of  the  period,  we  must  add  Burgundy,  to  the  rest.  The  dif 
ference  of  language,  though  not  always  decisive,  furnishes  a 
presumption  of  different  origin.  We  may  therefore  estimate, 
w^ith  some  probability,  the  proportion  of  Franks  settled  in 
the  monarchy  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  by  the  extent 
of  country  wherein  the  Teutonic  language  is  spoken.  The 
French  or  Walloon  followed  in  that  early  age  the  irregular 
line  which,  running  from  Calais  and  St.  Omer  to  Lisle  and 
Tournay,  stretches  north  of  the  Meuse  as  far  as  Liege,  and, 
bending  thence  to  the  south-westward,  passes  through  Long- 
wy  to  Metz.  These  towns  speak  French,  and  spoke  it  under 
Charlemagne,  if  we  can  say  that  under  Charlemagne  French 
was  spoken  anywhere ;  at  least  they  spoke  a  dialect  of  Latin 
origin.  The  exceptions  are  few  ;  but  where  they  exist,  it  is 
from  the  progress  of  French  rather  than  the  contrary. 

The  most  remarkable  evidence  for  the  duration  of  the 
lim  it  is  the  act  of  partition  between  Lothaire  of  Lorraine  and 
Charles  the  Bald,  in  870,  whence  it  appears  that  the  names 
of  places  where  French  is  now  spoken  were  then  French. 
Nothing,  says  M.  Michelet,  can  be  more  French  than  the 
Walloon  country."  He  expatiates  almost  with  enthusiasm 
on  the  praise  of  this  people,  who  seem  to  have  retained  a 
large  share  of  his  favorite  Celtic  element.  It  appears  that 
the  result  of  an  investigation  into  the  languages  on  the 
Alsatian  frontier  would  be  much  the  same.  Here,  therefore, 
we  have  a  very  reasonable  presumption  that  the  forefathers 
of  the  Flemish  Belgians,  as  well  as  of  the  people  of  Alsace, 
were  barbarians:  some  of  the  former  may  be  sprung  from 
Saxon  colonies  planted  in  Brabant  by  Charlemagne;  but  we 
may  derive  the  majority  from  Salian  and  Ripuarian  Franks. 
These  were  the  strength  of  Austrasia,  and  among  these  the 
great  restorer,  or  rather  founder,  of  the  empire  fixed  his  cap- 
ital at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

In  Aquitaine,  on  the  other  hand,  every  thing  appears  Ro- 
man, in  contradistinction  to  Frank,  except  the  reigning  fami- 
ly. The  chief  difiiculty,  therefore,  concerns  Neustria ;  that 
Is,  from  the  Scheldt,  or,  perhaps,  the  Somme,  to  the  Loire  j 

4  "  Hist,  de  France,"  viii.,  287. 


80  DISTINCTION  OF  LAWS.        Chap.  II.  Part  1 

and  to  thfs  important  kingdom  the  advocates  of  the  two  na- 
tions, Roman  and  Frank,  lay  claim.  M.  Thierry  has  paid 
much  attention  to  the  subject,  and  come  to  the  conclusion 
that,  in  ther  seventh  century,  the  number  of  Frank  land-hold- 
ers, from  the  Rhine  to  the  Loire,  much  exceeded  that  of  the 
Roman.  And  this  excess  he  takes  to  have  been  increased 
through  the  seizure  of  church  lands  in  the  next  age  by 
Charles  Martel,  who  bestowed  them  on  his  German  troop, 
enlisted  beyond  the  Rhine.^ 

We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that  the  Franks,  even  in  the 
reign  of  Clovis,  were  rather  a  numerous  people — including, 
of  course,  the  Ripuarian  as  well  as  the  Salian  tribe.  They 
certainly  appear  in  great  strength  soon  afterwards. 

§  6.  The  barbarous  conquerors  of  Gaul  and  Italy  were 
guided  by  notions  veiy  different  from  those  of  Rome,  who 
had  imposed  her  own  laws  upon  all  the  subjects  of  her  em- 
pire. Adhering  in  general  to  their  ancient  customs,  without 
desire  of  improvement,  they  left  the  former  habitations  in 
unmolested  enjoyment  of  their  civil  institutions.  The  Frank 
was  judged  by  the  Salic  or  the  Ripuary  code  ;  the  Gaul  fol- 
lowed that  ofTheodosius.  This  grand  distinction  of  Roman 
and  barbarian,  according  to  the  law  which  each  followed, 
was  common  to  the  Frank,  Burgundian,  and  Lombard  king- 
doms. The  name  of  Gaul  or  Roman  was  not  entirely  lost 
in  that  of  Frenchman,  nor  had  the  separation  of  their  laws 
ceased,  even  in  the  provinces  north  of  the  Loire,  till  after 
the  time  of  Charlemagne.  Ultimately,  however,  the  feudal 
customs  of  succession,  which  depended  upon  principles  quite 
remote  from  those  of  the  civil  law,  and  the  rights  of  terri- 
torial justice  which  the  barons  came  to  possess,  contributed 
to  extirpate  the  Roman  jurisprudence  in  that  part  of  France. 
But  in  the  south,  from  whatever  cause,  it  survived  the  rev- 
olutions of  the  Middle  Ages ;  and  thus  arose  a  leading  divis- 
ion of  that  kingdom  into  pays  coutumiers  and  ^:)ays  du  droit 

'  The  method  Avhich  Thierry  has  pursued,  in  order  to  ascertain  this,  is  ingenious 
and  presumptively  I'ight.  lie  remarked  that  the  names  of  tlie  places  will  often  indi- 
cate whether  the  inhabitants,  or  more  often  the  chief  proprietor,  were  of  Roman  or 
Teutonic  origin.  Thus  Frauconville  and  Romainville,  near  Paris,  are  distinguished 
in  charters  of  the  ninth  century  as  Francorum  villa  and  Romanorum  villa.  This  is 
an  instance  where  the  population  seems  to  have  been  of  different  race.  But  common- 
Jy  the  owner's  Christian  name  is  followed  by  a  familiar  termination.  In  that  same 
neighborhood  proper  names  of  German  origin,  with  the  terminations  ville,  court,  mont, 
cal,  and  the  like,  are  very  frequent.  And  this  he  finds  to  be  generally  the  case  north 
of  the  Loire,  compared  with  the  left  bank  of  that  river.  It  is,  of  course,  to  be  under- 
stood that  this  proportion  of  superior  land-holders  did  not  extend  to  the  general  pop- 
ulation ;  for  that,  in  all  Neustrian  France,  was  evidently  composed  of  those  who  spoke 
the  rastic  Roman  tongue— the  corrupt  language  which,  in  the  tenth  or  eleventh  centu- 
ry, became  worthy  of  the  name  of  French ;  and  this  was  the  case,  as  we  have  just  seen. 
In  part  of  Austrasia,  as  Champagne  and  Lorraine. 


FkudalSysik.-j.  CLOVIS.  81 

hcrit  j  the  former  regulated  by  a  vast  variety  of  ancient 
usages,  the  latter  by  the  Roman  law  down  to  the  French 
revolution ;  the  laws  of  Justinian,  in  the  progress  of  learn- 
ing, having  naturally  taken  the  place  of  the  Theodosian/ 

§  7.  The  kingdom  of  Clovis  was  divided  into  a  number  of 
districts,  each  under  the  government  of  a  count,  a  name  fa- 
miliar to  Roman  subjects,  by  which  they  rendered  the  graf 
of  the  Germans/  The  authority  of  this  officer  extended 
over  all  the  inhabitants,  as  Avell  Franks  as  natives.  It  was 
his  duty  to  administer  justice,  to  preserve  tranquillity,  t 
collect  the  royal  revenues,  and  to  lead,  when  required,  thv 
free  proprietors  into  the  held.  The  title  of  a  duke  implied  a 
higher  dignity,  and  commonly  gave  authority  over  several 
counties.^  These  offices  were  originally  conferred  during 
pleasure;  but  the  claim  of  a  son  to  succeed  his  father  would 
often  be  found  too  plausible  or  too  formidable  to  be  rejected, 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that,  even  under  the  Merovingian 
kings,  these  provincial  governors  had  laid  the  foundations 
of  that  independence  which  was  destined  to  change  the  coun- 
tenance of  Europe.  The  Lombard  dukes,  those  especially 
of  Spoleto  and  Benevento,  acquired  very  early  an  hereditary 
right  of  governing  their  provinces,  and  that  kingdom  be- 
came a  sort  of  federal  aristocracy. 

The  throne  of  France  was  always  filled  by  the  royal  house 
of  Meroveus.  However  complete  we  may  imagine  the  elect- 
ive rights  of  the  Franks,  it  is  clear  that  a  fundamental  law 
restrained  them  to  this  family.  Such,  indeed,  had  been  the 
monarchy  of  their  ancestors  the  Germans ;  such  long  con- 
tinued to  be  those  of  Spain,  of  England,  and  perhaps  of  all 
European  nations.  The  reigning  family  was  immutable  ;  but 
at  every  vacancy  the  heir  awaited  the  confirmation  of  a  pop- 
ular election,  whether  that  were  a  substantial  privilege  or  a 
mere  ceremony.  Exceptions,  however,  to  the  lineal  succes- 
sion are  rare  in  the  history  of  any  country,  unless  where  an 
infant  heir  was  thought  unfit  to  rule  a  nation  of  freemen. 
But,  in  fact,  it  is  vain  to  expect  a  system  of  constitutional 
laws  rigidly  observed  in  ages  of  anarchy  and  ignorance. 
Those  antiquaries  who  have  maintained  the  most  opposite 

8  This  subject  is  fully  treated  in  Saviguy's  work,  *'  History  of  the  Roman  Law  in 
the  Middle  Ages." 

''  The  word  grra/ was  not  always  equivalent  to  comes;  it  took  iu  some  countries,  as 
in  England,  the  form  gerefa,  and  stood  for  the  vicecomes  or  sheriflF,  the  count  or  alder- 
man's deputy. 

•*  Some  have  supposed  these  titles  to  have  been  applied  indifferently.  But  the  con- 
trary is  easily  proved,  and  especially  by  a  line  of  Fortunatus : 

Qui  modo  dat  Comitis,  det  tibi  jura  Ducis. 


82  CLOVIS.— KINGLY  POWEK.      Chap.  IT.  Part  1. 

theories  upon  such  points  are  seldom  in  want  of  particular 
instances  to  support  their  respective  conclusions. 

Clovis  was  a  leader  of  barbarians,  who  respected  liis  valor 
and  the  rank  which  they  had  given  him,  but  were  incapable 
of  servile  feelings,  and  jealous  of  their  common  as  well  as 
individual  rights.  In  order  to  appreciate  the  power  which 
he  possessed,  it  has  been  customary  with  French  writers  to 
bring  forward  the  well-known  story  of  the  vase  of  Soissons. 
When  the  plunder  taken  in  Clevis's  invasion  of  Gaul  was 
set  out  in  this  place  for  distribution,  he  begged  for  himself  a 
precious  vessel  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Rheims.  The 
army  having  expressed  their  willingness  to  consent,  "  You 
shall  have  nothing  here,"  exclaimed  a  soldier,  striking  it 
with  his  battle-axe, "  but  what  falls  to  your  share  by  lot." 
Clovis  took  the  vessel  without  marking  any  resentment,  but 
found  an  opportunity,  next  year,  of  revenging  himself  by 
the  death  of  the  soldier.  The  whole  behavior  of  Clovis  ap- 
pears to  be  that  of  a  barbarian  chief,  not  daring  to  withdraw 
any  thing  from  the  rapacity,  or  to  chastise  the  rudeness,  of 
his  followers. 

But  if  such  was  the  liberty  of  the  Franks  when  they  first 
became  conquerors  of  Gaul,  we  have  good  reason  to  believe 
that  they  did  not  long  preserve  it.  A  people  not  very  nu- 
merous spread  over  the  spacious  provinces  of  Gaul,  wherever 
lands  were  assigned  to  or  seized  by  them.  It  became  a  bur- 
den to  attend  those  general  assemblies  of  the  nation  which 
were  annually  convened  in  the  month  of  March,  to  deliber- 
ate upon  public  business,  as  well  as  to  exhibit  a  muster  of 
military  strength.  After  some  time  it  appears  that  these 
meetings  drew  together  only  the  bishops,  and  those  invested 
with  civil  offices.  The  ancient  inhabitants  of  Gaul,  having 
little  notion  of  political  liberty,  were  unlikely  to  resist  the 
most  tyrannical  conduct.  Many  of  them  became  officers  of 
state,  and  advisers  of  the  sovereign,  whose  ingenuity  might 
teach  maxims  of  despotism  unknown  in  the  forests  of  Ger- 
many. We  shall  scarcely  wrong  the  bishops  by  suspecting 
them  of  more  pliable  courtliness  than  was  natural  to  the 
long-haired  warriors  of  Clovis.  Yet  it  is  probable  that  some 
of  the  Franks  were  themselves  instrumental  in  this  change 
of  their  government.  The  court  of  the  Merovingian  kings 
was  crowded  with  followers,  who  have  been  plausibly  de- 
rived from  those  of  the  German  chiefs  described  by  Tacitus ; 
men  forming  a  distinct  and  elevated  class  in  the  state,  and 
known  by  the  titles  of  Fideles,  Leudes,  and  Antrustiones. 
They  took  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  king  upon  their  admis- 


Feudal  System.  THE  NOBILITY.  83 

sion  into  that  rank,  and  were  commonly  remunerated  with 
gifts  of  land.  Under  different  appellations  we  find,  as  some 
antiquaries  think,  this  class  of  courtiers  in  the  early  records 
of  Lombardy  and  England.  The  general  name  of  Vassals 
(from  GicaSy  a  Celtic  word  for  a  servant)  is  applied  to  them 
in  every  country.  By  the  assistance  of  these  faithful  sup- 
porters it  has  been  thought  that  the  regal  authority  of 
Clovis's  successors  was  insured.  However  this  may  be,  the 
annals  of  his  more  immediate  descendants  exhibit  a  course 
of  oppression,  not  merely  displayed,  as  will  often  happen 
among  uncivilized  people,  though  free,  in  acts  of  private  in- 
justice, but  in  such  general  tyranny  as  is  incompatible  with 
the  existence  of  any  real  checks  upon  the  sovereign. 

But  before  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  the  kings  of 
this  line  had  fallen  into  that  contemptible  state  which  has 
been  described  in  the  last  chapter.  The  mayors  of  the  pal- 
ace, who  from  mere  officers  of  the  court  had  now  become 
masters  of  the  kingdom,  were  elected  by  the  Franks,  not  in- 
deed the  whole  body  of  that  nation,  but  the  provincial  gov- 
ernors and  considerable  proprietors  of  land.  Some  inequali- 
ty there  probably  existed  from  the  beginning  in  the  parti- 
tion of  estates,  and  this  had  been  greatly  increased  by  the 
common  changes  of  property,  by  the  rapine  of  those  savage 
times,  and  by  royal  munificence.  Thus  arose  that  landed 
aristocracy  which  became  the  most  striking  feature  in  the 
political  system  of  Europe  during  many  centuries,  and  is,  in 
fact,  its  great  distinction  both  from  the  despotism  of  Asia 
and  the  equality  of  republican  governments. 

§  8.  There  has  been  some  dispute  about  the  origin  of  no- 
bility in  France,  which  might  perhaps  be  settled,  or  at  least 
better  understood,  by  fixing  our  conception  of  the  term.  In 
our  modern  acceptation  it  is  usually  taken  to  imply  certain 
distinctive  privileges  in  the  political  order,  inherent  in  the 
blood  of  the  possessor,  and  consequently  not  transferable 
like  those  which  poverty  confers.  Limited  to  this  sense,  no- 
bility, I  conceive,  was  unknown  to  the  conquerors  of  Gaul 
till  long  after  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  They 
felt,  no  doubt,  the  common  prejudice  of  mankind  in  favor  of 
those  whose  ancestry  is  conspicuous,  when  compared  with 
persons  of  obscure  birth.  This  is  the  primary  meaning  of 
nobility,  and  perfectly  distinguishable  from  the  possession 
of  exclusive  civil  rights.  Those  who  are  acquainted  with 
the  constitution  of  the  Roman  republic  will  recollect  an  in- 
stance of  the  difference  between  these  two  species  of  heredi' 
tarj  distinction,  in  the  patricii  and  the  nohiles.     Though  I 


84  FISCAL  LANDS.— BENEFICES.    Chap.  II.  Vaiu  1 

do  not  think  that  the  tribes  of  German  origin  paid  so  much 
regard  to  genealogy  as  some  Scandinavian  and  Celtic  na- 
tions (else  the  beginnings  of  the  greatest  houses  would  not 
have  been  so  enveloped  in  doubt  as  we  find  them),  there  are 
abundant  traces  of  the  respect  in  which  families  of  known 
antiquity  were  held  among  them. 

But  the  essential  distinction  of  ranks  in  France,  perhaps  also 
in  Spain  and  Lombardy,  was  founded  upon  the  possession  of 
land,  or  upon  civil  employment.  The  aristocracy  of  wealth 
preceded  that  of  birth,  which  indeed  is  still  chiefly  depend- 
ent upon  the  other  for  its  importance.  A  Frank  of  large 
estate  was  styled  a  noble ;  if  he  wasted  or  Avas  despoiled  of 
his  wealth,  his  descendants  fell  into  the  mass  of  the  people, 
and  the  new  possessor  became  noble  in  his  stead.  Families 
were  noble  by  descent,  because  they  were  rich  by  the  same 
means.  Wealth  gave  them  power,  and  power  gave  them 
pre-eminence.  But  no  distinction  was  made  by  the  Salic  or 
Lombard  codes  in  the  composition  for  homicide,  the  great 
test  of  political  station,  except  in  favor  of  the  king's  vassals. 
It  seems,  however,  by  some  of  the  barbaric  codes,  those 
namely  of  the  Burgundians,  Visigoths,  Saxons,  and  the  En- 
glish colony  of  the  latter  nation,  that  the  free  men  were 
ranged  by  them  into  two  or  three  classes,  and  a  difference 
made  in  the  price  at  which  their  lives  were  valued :  so  that 
there  certainly  existed  the  elements  of  aristocratic  privi- 
leges, if  we  can  not  in  strictness  admit  their  completion  at  so 
early  a  period.  The  Antrustiones  of  the  kings  of  the  Franks 
were  also  noble,  and  a  composition  was  paid  for  their  mur- 
der treble  of  that  for  an  ordinary  (dtizen ;  but  this  was  a 
personal,  not  an  hereditary,  distinction.  A  link  was  want- 
ing to  connect  their  eminent  privileges  with  their  posterity ; 
and  this  link  was  to  be  supplied  by  hereditary  benefices. 

§  9.  Besides  the  lands  distributed  among  the  nation,  others 
were  reserved  to  the  crown,  partly  for  the  support  of  its  dig- 
nity, and  partly  for  the  exercise  of  its  munificence.  These 
are  called  Fiscal  Lands;  they  were  dispersed  over  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  formed  the  most  regular  source 
of  revenue.  But  the  greater  portion  of  them  were  granted 
out  to  favored  subjects,  under  the  name  of  benefices,  subse- 
quently called  FIEFS,'  the  nature  of  which  is  one  of  the  most 

»  The  term  fief  {feodum,  feudum)  began  to  be  applied  to  benefices  when  they  be- 
came hereditary,  and  first  occurs  in  a  capitulary  of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charles 
the  Fat,  a.d.  884.  Different  etymologies  are  given  of  this  word ;  that  which  seems 
most  probable  derives  it  from  feh,  salary  or  pay,  and  odh,  property— implying  that  it 
was  land  conferred  as  a  reward  or  recompense  of  services.  Others  refer  it  to  the 
Latin  fides;  others  again,  among  whom  is  Lehuorou,  prefer  the  Teutonic  root  fodeii 


Feudal  System.  SUB-INFEUDATION.  85 

important  points  in  the  policy  of  these  ages.  Benefices 
were,  it  is  probable,  most  frequently  bestowed  upon  the  pro- 
fessed courtiers,  the  Antrustiones  or  Leudes,  and  upon  the 
provincial  governors.  It  by  no  means  appears  that  any  con- 
ditions of  military  service  were  expressly  annexed  to  these 
grants:  but  it  may  justly  be  presumed  that  such  favors 
were  not  conferred  without  an  expectation  of  some  return ; 
and  we  read  both  in  law  and  history  that  beneficiary  tenants 
were  more  closely  connected  with  the  crown  than  mere  allo- 
dial proprietors.  Whoever  possessed  a  benefice  was  expect- 
ed to  serve  his  sovereign  in  the  field.  But  of  allodial  propri- 
etors only  the  owner  of  three  mansi"  was  called  upon  for 
personal  service.  Where  there  were  three  possessors  of  sin- 
gle mansi,  one  went  to  the  army,  and  the  others  contributed 
to  his  equipment. 

Most  of  those  who  have  written  upon  the  feudal  system 
lay  it  down  that  benefices  were  originally  precarious,  and 
revoked  at  pleasure  by  the  sovereign  ;  that  they  were  after- 
wards granted  for  life ;  and  at  a  subsequent  period  became 
hereditary.  No  satisfactory  proof,  however,  appears  to  have 
been  brought  of  th«  first  stage  in  this  progress.  The  ordina- 
ry duration  of  benefices  was  at  least  the  life  of  the  possessor, 
after  which  they  reverted  to  the  fisc ;  but  they  soon  became 
hereditary.  Children  would  naturally  put  in  a  very  strong 
claim  to  what  their  father  had  enjoyed ;  and  the  weakness 
of  the  crown  in  the  seventh  century  must  have  rendered  it 
difficult  to  reclaim  its  property.  A  natural  consequence  of 
hereditary  benefices  was  that  those  who  possessed  them 
carved  out  portions  to  be  held  of  themselves  by  a  similar 
tenure.  Abundant  proofs  of  this  custom,  best  known  by  the 
name  of  8ub-Infeudation^  occur  even  in  the  capitularies  of 
Pepin  and  Charlemagne.  At  a  later  period  it  became  uni- 
versal ;  and  what  had  begun  perhaps  through  ambition  or 
pride  was  at  last  dictated  by  necessity.  In  that  dissolution 
of  all  law  which  ensued  after  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  the 
powerful  leaders,  constantly  engaged  in  domestic  warfare, 
placed  their  chief  dependency  upon  men  whom  they  attached 
by  gratitude,  and  bound  by  strong  conditions.  The  oath  of 
fidelity  which  they  had  taken,  the  homage  which  they  had 
paid  to  the  sovereign,  they  exacted  from  their  own  vassals. 

nutrire.  Sir  F.  Palgrave  deduces  it  ingeniously,  but  with  slight  probability,  from  the 
Roraau  law-term  emphyteusis. 

!•  The  precise  area  of  a  maiisus  is  uncertain.  It  consisted,  according  to  Du  Gauge, 
of  twelve  jugera;  but  what  he  meant  by  a  juger  is  not  stated.  The  ancient  Roman 
juger  was  about  five-eighths  of  an  acre ;  the  Parisian  arpeut  was  a  fourth  more  than 
one.    This  would  make  a  difference  as  two  to  one. 


86  MILITARY  SERVICE.  Chap.  II.  Part  1. 

To  render  military  service  became  the  essential  obligation 
which  the  tenant  of  a  benefice  undertook ;  and  out  of  those 
ancient  grants,  now  become  for  the  most  part  hereditary, 
there  grew  up  in  the  tenth  century,  both  in  name  and  reali- 
ty, the  system  of  feudal  tenures. 

This  revolution  was  accompanied  by  another  still  more 
important.  The  provincial  governors,  the  dukes  and  counts, 
to  whom  we  may  add  the  marquises  or  margraves  intrusted 
with  the  custody  of  the  frontiers,  had  taken  the  lead  in  all 
public  measures  after  the  decline  of  the  Merovingian  kings. 
Charlemagne,  duly  jealous  of  their  ascendency,  checked  it  by 
suffering  the  duchies  to  expire  without  renewal,  by  granting 
very  few  counties  hereditarily,  by  removing  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  from  the  hands  of  the  counts  into  those  of  his 
own  itinerant  judges,  and,  if  we  are  not  deceived  in  his  poli- 
cy, by  elevating  the  ecclesiastical  order  as  a  counterpoise  to 
that  of  the  nobility.  But  in  the  tenth  century  there  followed 
an  entire  prostration  of  the  royal  authority,  and  the  counts 
usurped  their  governments  as  little  sovereignties,  with  the 
domains  and  all  regalian  rights,  subject  only  to  the  feudal 
superiority  of  the  king.  They  now  added  the  name  of  the 
county  to  their  own,  and  their  wives  took  the  appellation  of 
countess.  In  Italy  the  independence  of  the  dukes  was  still 
more  complete;  and  although  Otho  the  Great  and  his  de- 
scendants kept  a  stricter  rein  over  those  of  Germany,  yet  we 
find  the  great  fiefs  of  their  empire,  throughout  the  tenth 
century,  granted  almost  invariably  to  the  male  and  even  fe- 
male heirs  of  the  last  possessor. 

Meanwhile,  the  allodial  proprietors  were  exposed  to  the  ra- 
pacity of  the  counts,  who,  whether  as  magistrates  and  gov- 
ernors, or  as  overbearing  lords,  had  it  always  in  their  power 
to  harass  them.  Every  district  was  exposed  to  continual 
hostilities ;  sometimes  from  a  foreign  enemy,  more  often  from 
the  owners  of  castles  and  fastnesses,  which  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, under  pretense  of  resisting  the  Normans  and  Hunga- 
rians, served  the  purposes  of  private  war.  Against  such  a 
system  of  rapine  the  military  compact  of  lord  and  vassal  was 
the  only  effectual  shield ;  its  essence  was  the  reciprocity  of 
service  and  protection.  But  an  insulated  allodialist  had  no 
support.  Without  law  to  redress  his  injuries,  without  the 
royal  power  to  support  his  right,  he  had  no  course  left  but 
to  compromise  with  oppression,  and  subject  himself,  in  return 
for  protection,  to  a  feudal  lord.  This  was  usually  called 
commendation,  which  created  a  personal  relation  between 
lord  and  vassal,  closely  resembling  that  of  patron  and  client 


Feudal  System.  CHANGE  OF  TENURES.  87 

in  the  Roman  republic.  Though  originally  this  commendor 
tion  had  no  relation  to  land,  but  created  a  merely  personal 
tie — fidelity  in  return  for  protection — it  is  easy  to  conceive 
that  the  allodialist  who  obtained  this  privilege,  as  it  might 
justly  appear  in  an  age  of  rapine,  must  often  do  so  by  sub- 
jecting himself  to  the  law  of  tenure.  In  this  way,  during 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  allodial  lands  in  France  had 
chiefly  become  feudal. 

There  is  a  famous  edict  of  the  emperor  Conrad  II.,  sur- 
named  the  Salic,  at  Milan,  in  the  year  1037,  which,  though 
immediately  relating  only  to  Lombardy,  marks  the  full  ma- 
turity of  the  feudal  system,  and  the  last  stage  of  its  progress. 
Four  regulations  of  great  importance  are  established  there- 
in :  that  no  man  should  be  deprived  of  his  fief,  whether  held 
of  the  emperor  or  a  mesne  lord,  but  by  the  laws  of  the 
empire  and  the  judgment  of  his  peers ;  and  that  from  such 
judgment  an  immediate  vassal  might  appeal  to  his  sover- 
eign ;  that  fiefs  should  be  inherited  by  sons  and  their  chil- 
dren, 01',  in  their  failure,  by  brothers,  provided  they  were 
feuda  paterna^  such  as  had  descended  from  the  father ;  and 
that  the  lord  should  not  alienate  the  fief  of  his  vassal  with- 
out his  consent. 

Such  was  the  progress  of  these  feudal  tenures,  which  de- 
termined the  political  character  of  every  European  mon- 
archy where  they  prevailed,  as  well  as  formed  the  founda- 
tions of  its  jurisprudence.  It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind 
that  the  feudal  system  was  the  general  establishment  of  a 
peculiar  relation  between  the  sovereign  (not  as  king,  but  as 
lord)  and  his  immediate  vassals ;  between  these  again  and 
others  standing  to  them  in  the  same  relation  of  vassalage, 
and  thus  frequently  through  several  links  in  the  chain  of 
tenancy.  If  this  relation,  and  especially  if  the  latter  and  es- 
sential element,  sub-infeudation,  is  not  to  be  found,  there  is 
no  feudal  system,  though  there  are  many  analogies  to  it, 
more  or  less  remarkable  or  strict.  If  the  reader  asks  what 
were  the  immediate  causes  of  establishing  this  polity  we 
must  refer  him  to  three  alone — to  the  grants  of  beneficiary 
lands  to  the  vassal  and  his  heirs,  without  which  there  could 
hardly  be  sub-infeudation ;  to  the  analogous  grants  of  ofii- 
cial  honors,  particularly  that  of  count  or  governor  of  a  dis- 
trict ;  and,  lastly,  to  the  voluntary  conversion  of  allodial  into 
feudal  tenure,  through  free  land-holders  submitting  their  per- 
sons and  estates,  by  way  of  commendation,  to  a  neighboring 
lord  or  to  the  count  of  a  district.  All  these — though  several 
instances,  especially  of  the  first,  occurred  much  earlier — be- 


88  PRINCIPLES  OF  FEUDAL  RELATION.    Chap.  II.  Part  I. 

long  generally  to  the  ninth  century,  and  may  be  supposed 
to  have  been  fully  accomplished  about  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  ;  to  which  period,  therefore,  and  not  to  an  earlier  one, 
we  refer  the  feudal  system  in  France.  It  is  now  time  to 
describe  the  legal  qualities  and  effects  of  this  relation,  so  far 
only  as  may  be  requisite  to  understand  its  influence  upon 
the  political  system. 

§  10.  The  essential  principle  of  a  fief  was  a  mutual  contract 
of  support  and  fidelity.  Whatever  obligations  it  laid  upon 
the  vassal  of  service  to  his  lord,  corresponding  duties  of  pro- 
tection were  imposed  by  it  on  the  lord  towards  his  vassal. 
If  these  were  transgressed  on  either  side,  the  one  forfeited 
his  land,  the  other  his  seigniory  or  rights  over  it.  Nor  were 
motives  of  interest  left  alone  to  operate  in  securing  the  feud- 
al connection.  The  associations  founded  upon  ancient  cus- 
tom and  friendly  attachment,  the  impulses  of  gratitude  and 
honor,  the  dread  of  infamy,  the  sanctions  of  religion,  were 
all  employed  to  strengthen  these  ties,  and  to  render  them 
equally  powerful  with  the  relations  of  nature,  and  far  more 
so  than  those  of  political  society.  It  was  a  question  agitated 
among  the  feudal  lawyers,  whether  a  vassal  was  bound  to 
follow  the  standard  of  his  lord  against  the  king.  In  the 
works  of  those  who  wrote  when  the  feudal  system  was  de- 
clining, or  who  were  anxious  to  maintain  the  royal  authori- 
ty, this  is  commonly  decided  in  the  negative.  But  it  was 
not  so  during  the  height  of  the  feudal  system  in  France. 
The  vassals  of  Henry  II.  and  Richard  I.  never  hesitated  to 
adhere  to  them  against  the  sovereign,  nor  do  they  appear  to 
have  incurred  any  blame  on  that  account. 

§  11.  The  ceremonies  used  in  conferring  a  fief  were  princi- 
pally three — Homage,  Fealty,  and  Investiture.  1.  The  first 
was  designed  as  a  significant  expression  of  the  submission 
and  devotedness  of  the  vassal  towards  his  lord.  In  perform- 
ing Homage^^  his  head  was  uncovered,  his  belt  ungirt,  his 
Bword  and  spurs  removed ;  he  placed  his  hands,  kneeling,  be- 
tween those  of  the  lord,  and  promised  to  become  his  man 
from  thenceforward ;  to  serve  him  with  life  and  limb  and 
worldly  honor,  faithfully  and  loyally,  in  consideration  of  the 
lands  which  he  held  under  him.  None  but  the  lord  in  per- 
Bon  could  accept  homage,  which  was  commonly  concluded 
by  a  kiss.  2.  An  oath  of  Fealty^^  was  indispensable  in  every 
fief;  but  the  ceremony  was  less  peculiar  than  that  of  hom- 
age, and  it  might  be  received  by  proxy.  It  was  taken  by 
ecclesiastics,  but  not  by  minors;  and  in  language  differed  lit* 

»>  Homacjium,  hominium.  ^^  Fidelita*. 


Feudal  System.    TERM  OF  MILITARY  SERVICE.  89 

tie  from  the  form  of  Iiomage.  3.  Investiture,^^  or  the  actual 
conveyance  of  feudal  lands,  was  of  two  kinds ;  proper  and 
improper.  The  first  was  an  actual  putting  in  possession 
upon  the  ground,  either  by  the  lord  or  his  deputy;  which  is 
called,  in  our  law,  livery  of  seisin.  The  second  was  symbol- 
ical, and  consisted  in  the  delivery  of  a  turf,  a  stone,  a  wand, 
a  branch,  or  whatever  else  might  have  been  made  usual  by 
the  caprice  of  local  custom. 

§  12.  Upon  investiture,  the  duties  of  the  vassal  com? 
menced.  These  it  is  impossible  to  define  or  enumerate ; 
because  the  services  of  military  tenure,  which  is  chiefly  to 
be  considered,  were  in  their  nature  uncertain,  and  distin- 
guished as  such  from  those  incident  to  feuds  of  an  inferior 
description.  It  was  a  breach  of  faith  to  divulge  the  lord's 
counsel,  to  conceal  from  him  the  machinations  of  others,  to 
injure  his  person  or  fortune,  or  to  violate  the  sanctity  of  his 
roof  an  A  the  honor  of  his  family.  In  battle  he  was  bound  to 
lend  his  i?orse  to  his  lord  when  dismounted ;  to  adhere  to  his 
side,  while  fighting ;  and  to  go  into  captivity  as  a  hostage 
for  liim,  when  taken.  His  attendance  was  due  to  the  lord's 
courts,  sometimes  to  witness,  and  sometimes  to  bear  a  part 
in,  the  adminstration  of  justice. 

The  measure,  however,  of  military  service  was  generally 
settled  by  some  usage.  Forty  days  was  the  usual  term  dur- 
ing which  the  tenant  of  a  knight's  fee  was  bound  to  be  in 
the  field  at  his  own  expense.  This  was  extended  by  St. 
Louis  to  sixty  days,  except  when  the  charter  of  infeudation 
expressed  a  shorter  period.  But  the  length  of  service  di- 
minished with  the  quantity  of  land.  For  half  a  knight's  fee 
but  twenty  days  were  due ;  for  an  eighth  part  but  five  ;  and 
when  this  was  commuted  for  an  escuage  or  pecuniary  assess- 
ment, the  same  proportion  was  observed."^*  Men  turned  of 
sixty,  public  magistrates,  and,  of  course,  women,  were  free 
from  personal  service,  but  obliged  to  send  their  substitutes. 
A  failure  in  this  primary  duty  incurred  perhaps  strictly  a 
forfeiture  of  the  fief.  But  it  was  usual  for  the  lord  to  inflict 
an  amercement,  known  in  England  by  the  name  of  escuage. 
The  regulations  as  to  the  place  of  service  were  less  uniform 
than  those  which  regarded  time.  In  some  places  the  vassal 
was  not  bound  to  go  beyond  the  lord's  territory,  or  only  so 
far  as  that  he  might  return  the  same  day.     Other  customs 

*3  Investitura. 

1*  The  knight's  fee  was  flxed  in  England  at  the  annual  value  of  i;20.  Every  estate 
supposed  to  be  of  this  value,  and  entered  as  such  in  the  rolls  of  the  exchequer,  was 
bound  to  contribute  the  service  of  a  soldier,  or  to  pay  an  escuage  to  the  amount  as- 
sessed upon  knights'  f«e. 


90  FEUDAL  INCIDENTS.  Chap.  II.  Part  I 

compelled  him  to  follow  his  chief  upon  all  his  expeditions. 
These  inconvenient  and  varying  usages  betrayed  the  origin 
of  the  feudal  obligations,  not  founded  upon  any  national 
policy,  but  springing  from  the  chaos  of  anarchy  and  intes- 
tine war,  which  they  were  well  calculated  to  perpetuate. 
For  the  public  defense  their  machinery  was  totally  unserv- 
iceable, until  such  changes  were  wrought  as  destroyed  the 
character  of  the  fabric. 

§  13.  Independently  of  the  obligations  of  fealty  and  serv- 
ice, which  the  nature  of  the  contract  created,  other  advan- 
tages were  derived  from  it  by  the  lord,  which  have  been 
called  feudal  incidents:  these  were,  1.  Reliefs.  2.  Fines 
upon  alienation.  3.  Escheats.  4.  Aids ;  to  Avhich  may  be 
added,  though  not  generally  established,  5.  Wardship,  and 
6.  Marriage. 

(1.)  A  liellefwas  a  sum  of  money  (unless  where  charter  or 
custom  introduced  a  different  tribute)  due  from  every  one  of 
full  age,  taking  a  fief  by  descent.  This  was  in  some  countries 
arbitrary,  and  the  exactions  practised  under  this  pretense 
both  upon  superior  and  inferior  vassals,  ranked  among  the 
greatest  abuses  of  the  feudal  policy.  Henry  I.  of  England 
promises  in  his  charter  that  they  shall  in  future  be  just  and 
reasonable;  but  the  rate  does  not  appear  to  have  been  final- 
ly settled  till  it  was  laid  down  in  Magna  Charta  at  about  a 
fourth  of  the  annual  value  of  the  fief  By  a  law  of  St.  Louis, 
in  1245,  the  lord  was  entitled  to  enter  upon  the  lands,  if  the 
heir  could  not  pay  the  relief,  and  possess  them  for  a  year. 
This  riglit  existed  unconditionally  in  England  under  the 
name  of  primer  seisin,  but  was  confined  to  the  king. 

(2.)  Closely  connected  with  reliefs  Avere  the  Fines  upon 
alienation — that  is,  the  fines  paid  to  the  lord  upon  the  aliena- 
tion of  his  vassal's  feud ;  and  indeed  we  frequently  find  thera 
called  by  the  same  name.  The  spirit  of  feudal  tenure  estab- 
lished so  intimate  a  connection  between  the  two  parties  that 
it  could  be  dissolved  by  neither  without  requiring  the  oth- 
er's consent.  If  the  lord  transferred  his  seigniory,  the  tenant 
was  to  testify  his  concurrence ;  and  this  ceremony  was  long 
kept  up  in  England  under  the  name  of  attornment.  The  as- 
sent of  the  lord  to  his  vassal's  alienation  was  still  more  es- 
sential,  and  more  diflicult  to  be  attained.  He  had  received 
his  fief,  it  was  supposed,  for  reasons  peculiar  to  himself  or  to 
his  family  ;  at  least  his  heart  and  arm  were  bound  to  his  su^ 
perior;  and  his  service  was  not  to  be  exchanged  for  that  of 
a  stranger,  who  might  be  unable  or  unwilling  to  render  it. 
By  the  law  of  France  the  lord  was  entitled,  upon  every  alien* 


Feudal  System.    RELIEFS,  FINES,  ESCHEATS,  AIDS.  01 

ation  made  by  his  tenant,  either  to  redeem  the  fief  by  pay- 
ing the  purchase-money,  or  to  claim  a  certain  part  of  the 
value,  by  way  of  fine,  upon  the  change  of  tenancy/* 

(3.)  Escheats. — As  fiefs  descended  but  to  the  posterity  of 
the  first  taker,  or  at  the  utmost  to  his  kindred,  they  neces- 
sarily became  sometimes  vacant  for  want  of  heirs ;  especial- 
ly where,  as  in  England,  there  was  no  power  of  devising 
them  by  will.  In  this  case  it  was  obvious  that  they  ought 
to  revert  to  the  lord,  from  whose  property  they  had  been 
derived.  These  reversions  became  more  frequent  through 
the  forfeitures  occasioned  by  the  vassal's  delinquency,  either 
towards  his  superior  lord  or  the  estate.  Various  cases  are 
laid  down  in  the  "Assises  de  Jerusalem,"  where  the  vassal 
forfeits  his  land  for  a  year,  for  his  life,  or  forever.  But  under 
rapacious  kings,  such  as  the  Norman  line  in  England,  abso- 
lute forfeitures  came  to  prevail,  and  a  new  doctrine  was  in- 
troduced— the  corruption  of  blood,  by  which  the  heir  was  ef- 
fectually excluded  from  deducing  his  title  at  any  distant 
time  though  an  attainted  ancestor. 

(4.)  Reliefs,  fines  upon  alienation,  and  escheats,  seem  to  be 
natural  reservations  in  the  lord's  bounty  to  his  vassal.  He 
had  rights  of  another  class  which  principally  arose  out  of 
fealty  and  intimate  attachment.  Such  were  the  aids  which 
he  was  entitled  to  call  for  in  certain  prescribed  circum- 
stances. These  depended  a  great  deal  upon  local  custom, 
and  were  often  extorted  unreasonably.  Hence  by  Magna 
Charta  three  only  were  retained  in  England — to  make  the 
lord's  eldest  son  a  knight,  to  marry  his  eldest  daughter,  and 
to  redeem  his  person  from  prison.  They  were  restricted  to 
nearly  the  same  description  by  a  law  of  William  I.  of  Sicily, 
and  by  the  customs  of  France.  These  feudal  aids  are  de- 
serving of  our  attention,  as  the  beginnings  of  taxation,  of 
which  for  a  long  time  they  in  a  great  measure  answered  the 
purpose,  till  the  craving  necessities  and  covetous  policy  of 
kings  substituted  for  them  more  durable  and  onerous  bur- 
dens. 

I  might  here,  perhaps,  close  the  enumeration  of  feudal  in- 
cidents, but  that  the  two  remaining,  wardship  and  marriage, 
though  only  partial  customs,  were  those  of  our  own  country. 

*s  In  England  even  the  practice  of  snb-iiifeudation,  whicli  was  more  conformable  to 
the  law  of  fiefs  and  the  military  genius  of  the  system,  but  injurious  to  the  suzerains, 
who  lost  thereby  their  escheats  and  other  advantages  of  seigniory,  was  checked  by 
Magna  Charta,  and  forbidden  by  the  statute  18  Edward  I.,  called  Quia  Emptores, 
which  at  the  same  time  gave  the  liberty  of  alienating  lands  to  be  holden  of  the 
grantor's  immediate  lord.  The  tenants  of  the  crown  were  not  included  in  this  act ; 
but  that  of  1  Edward  III.,  c.  12,  enabled  them  to  alienate,  upon  the  payment  of  a  com- 
position into  chancery,  which  was  fixed  at  one-third  of  the  annual  value  of  the  lands. 


*J2  WARDSHIP,  MARRIAGE.        Chap.  II.  Part  I. 

and  tend  to  illustrate  the  rapacious  character  of  a  feudal  ar- 
istocracy. 

(5.)  In  England,  and  in  Normandy,  which  either  led  the 
way  to,  or  adopted,  all  these  English  institutions,  the  lord 
had  the  wardship  of  his  tenant  during  minority.  By  virtue 
of  this  right  he  had  both  the  care  of  his  person  and  received 
to  his  own  use  the  profits  of  the  estate.  There  is  something 
in  this  custom  very  conformable  to  the  feudal  spirit,  since 
none  was  so  fit  as  the  lord  to  train  np  his  vassal  to  arms,  and 
none  could  put  in  so  good  a  claim  to  enjoy  the  fief,  while  the 
military  service  for  which  it  had  been  granted  was  suspend- 
ed. This  privilege  of  guardianship  seems  to  have  been  en- 
joyed by  the  lord  in  some  parts  of  Germany ;  but  in  the  law 
of  France  the  custody  of  the  land  was  intrusted  to  the  next 
heir,  and  that  of  the  person,  as  in  socage  tenures  among  us, 
to  the  nearest  kindred  of  that  blood  which  could  not  inherit. 
By  a  gross  abuse  of  this  custom  in  England,  the  right  of 
guardianshij)  in  chivalry,  or  temporary  possession  of  the 
lands,  was  assigned  over  to  strangers.  This  was  one  of  the 
most  vexatious  parts  of  our  feudal  tenures,  and  was  never, 
perhaps,  more  sorely  felt  than  in  their  last  stage  under  the 
Tudor  and  Stuart  families. 

(6.)  Another  right  given  to  the  lord  by  the  Norman  and 
English  laws  was  that  oi  Marriage^  or  of  tendering  a  husband 
to  his  female  wards  while  under  age,  whom  they  could  not 
reject  without  forfeiting  the  value  of  the  marriage — that  is, 
as  much  as  any  one  would  give  to  the  guardian  for  such  an 
alliance.  This  was  afterwards  extended  to  male  wards,  and 
became  a  very  lucrative  source  of  extortion  to  the  crown,  as 
well  as  to  mesne  lords.  This  custom  seems  to  have  had  the 
same  extent  as  that  of  wardships.  It  is  found  in  the  ancient 
books  of  Germany,  but  not  of  France.  The  kings,  however, 
and  even  inferior  lords,  of  that  countrj'-,  required  their  con- 
sent to  be  solicited  for  the  marriage  of  their  vassals'  daugh- 
ters. Several  proofs  of  this  occur  in  the  history  as  well  as 
in  the  laws  of  France ;  and  the  same  prerogative  existed  in 
Germany,  Sicily,  and  England. 

These  feudal  servitudes  distinguish  the  maturity  of  the 
system.  No  trace  of  them  appears  in  the  capitularies  of 
Charlemagne  and  his  family,  nor  in  the  instruments  by  which 
benefices  were  granted.  I  believe  that  they  did  not  make 
part  of  the  regular  feudal  law  before  the  eleventh,  or,  per- 
haps, the  twelfth  century,  though  doubtless  partial  usages  of 
this  kind  had  grown  up  antecedently  to  either  of  those  peri- 
ods.   Indeed,  that  very  general  commutation  of  allodial  prop* 


Feudal  System.    PJiOrER  AND  IMPKOrEK  FEUDS.  93 

erty  into  tenure  which  took  place  between  the  middle  of  the 
ninth  and  eleventh  centuries  would  hardly  have  been  effected 
if  fiefs  had  then  been  liable  to  such  burdens  and  bo  much 
extortion.  In  half-barbarous  ages  the  strong  are  constantly 
encroaching  upon  the  weak;  a  truth  which,  if  it  needed  illus- 
tration, might  find  it  in  the  progress  of  the  feudal  system. 

§  14.  We  have  thus  far  confined  our  inquiry  to  fiefs  holden 
on  terms  of  military  service ;  since  those  are  the  most  an- 
cient and  regular,  as  well  as  the  most  consonant  to  the  spirit 
of  the  system.  They  alone  were  csiWed  proper  fends,  and  all 
were  presumed  to  be  of  this  description  until  the  contrary 
w-as  proved  by  the  charter  of  investiture.  A  proper  feud 
was  bestowed  without  price,  without  fixed  stipulation,  upon 
a  vassal  capable  of  serving  personally  in  the  field.  13ut 
gradually,  with  the  help  of  a  little  legal  ingenuity,  improper 
fiefs  of  the  most  various  kinds  were  introduced,  retaining  lit- 
tle of  the  characteristics,  and  less  of  the  spirit,  which  distin- 
guished the  original  tenures.  Women,  if  indeed  that  were 
an  innovation,  were  admitted  to  inherit  them ;  they  were 
granted  for  a  price,  and  without  reference  to  military  serv- 
ice. The  language  of  the  feudal  law^  was  applied  by  a  kind 
of  metaphor  to  almost  every  transfer  of  property.  Hence 
pensions  of  money  and  allowance  of  provisions,  however  re- 
mote from  right  notions  of  a  fief,  were  sometimes  granted 
under  that  name ;  and  even  where  land  w^as  the  subject  of 
the  donation,  its  conditions  were  often  lucrative,  often  honor- 
ary,  and  sometimes  ludicrous. 

There  is  one  extensive  species  of  feudal  tenure  which  may 
be  distinctly  noticed.  The  pride  of  wealth  in  the  Middle 
Ages  was  principally  exhibited  in  a  multitude  of  dependents. 
The  court  of  Charlemagne  was  crowded  with  officers  of  every 
rank,  some  of  the  most  eminent  of  w^hom  exercised  functions 
about  the  royal  person  which  would  have  been  thought  tit 
only  for  slaves  in  the  palace  of  Augustus  or  Antonine.  The 
free-born  Franks  saw  nothing  menial  in  the  titles  of  cup- 
bearer, steward,  marshal,  and  master  of  the  horse,  which  are 
still  borne  by  the  noblest  families  in  many  parts  of  Europe, 
and,  till  lately,  by  sovereign  princes  in  the  empire.  From 
the  court  of  the  king  this  favorite  piece  of  magnificence  de- 
scended to  those  of  the  prelates  and  barons,  w^ho  surrounded 
themselves  with  household  oflficers  called  ministerials ;  a 
name  equally  applied  to  those  of  a  servile  and  of  a  liberal 
description.  The  latter  of  these  were  rewarded  with  grants 
of  lands,  which  they  held  under  a  feudal  tenure  by  the  con- 
dition   of  peiforming    some   domestic  service   to   the    lord. 


94  FEUDAL  INCIDENTS.  Chap.  II.  Part  I. 

Wliat  was  called  in  our  law  grand  sergeanty  affords  an  in- 
stance of  this  species  of  fief. '^ 

These  imperfect  feuds,  however,  belong  more  properly  to 
the  history  of  law,  and  are  chiefly  noticed  in  the  present 
sketch  because  they  attest  the  partiality  manifested  during 
the  Middle  Ages  to  the  name  and  form  of  a  feudal  tenure. 
In  the  regular  military  fief  we  see  the  real  principle  of  the 
system,  which  might  originally  have  been  defined  an  alliance 
of  free  land-holders  arranged  in  degrees  of  subordination 
according  to  their  respective  caj^acities  of  afibrding  mutual 
support. 

§  15.  The  peculiar  and  varied  attributes  of  feudal  tenures 
naturally  gave  rise  to  a  new  jurisprudence,  regulating  terri- 
torial rights  in  those  parts  of  Europe  which  had  adopted  the 
system.  For  a  length  of  time  this  rested  in  traditionary 
customs  observed  in  the  domains  of  each  prince  or  lord, 
without  much  regard  to  those  of  his  neighbors.  Laws  were 
made  occasionally  by  the  emperor  in  Germany  and  Italy, 
which  tended  to  fix  the  usages  of  those  countries.  About 
the  year  1170,  Girard  and  Obertus,  two  Milanese  lawyers, 
published  two  books  of  the  law  of  fiefs,  which  obtained  a 
great  authority,  and  have  been  regarded  as  the  groundwork 
of  that  jurisprudence.  A  number  of  subsequent  commenta- 
tors swelled  this  code  with  cheir  glosses  and  opinions,  to  en^ 
lighten  or  obscure  the  judgment  of  the  imperial  tribunals. 
These  were  chiefly  civilians  or  canonists,  who  brought  to  the 
interpretation  of  old  barbaric  customs  the  principles  of  a 
very  diflerent  school.  Hence  a  manifest  change  was  wrought 
in  the  law  of  feudal  tenure,  which  they  assimilated  to  the 
usufruct  or  the  emphyteusis  of  the  Roman  code ;  modes  of 
property  somewhat  analogous  in  appearance,  but  totally  dis- 
tinct in  principle,  from  the  legitimate  fief  These  Lombard 
lawyers  propagated  a  doctrine  Avhich  has  been  too  readily 
received,  that  the  feudal  system  originated  in  their  country. 
But  whatever  weight  it  may  have  possessed  within  the  limits 
of  the  empire,  a  dififerent  guide  must  be  followed  in  the  an- 
cient customs  of  France  and  England.  These  were  fresh 
from  the  fountain  of  that  curious  polity  with  which  the 
stream  of  Roman  law  had  never  mingled  its  waters.  In 
England  we  know  that  the  Norman  system  established  be- 

'*  "This  tenure,"  says  Littleton,  "is  where  a  man  holds  his  lands  or  tenements  of 
onr  sovereign  lord  the  king  by  snch  services  as  he  ought  to  do  in  his  proper  person  t« 
the  king,  as  to  carry  the  banner  of  the  king,  or  his  lance,  or  to  lead  his  array,  or  to  be 
his  marshal,  or  to  carry  his  sword  before  him  at  his  coronation,  or  to  be  his  sewer  at 
his  coronation,  or  his  carver,  or  his  butler,  or  to  be  one  of  his  chamberlains  at  the 
receipt  of  his  exchequer,  or  to  do  other  like  services."— Sect.  153. 


Feudal  System.  COMMON  LAW.  95 

tween  the  Conquest  and  the  reign  of  Henry  IT.  was  re- 
strained by  regular  legislation,  by  paramount  courts  of  jus- 
tice, and  by  learned  writings,  from  breaking  into  discordant 
local  usages,  except  in  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
places,  and  has  become  the  j^rincipal  source  of  our  common 
law.  But  the  independence  of  the  French  nobles  produced 
a  much  greater  variety  of  customs.  The  whole  number  col- 
lected and  reduced  to  certainty  in  the  sixteenth  century 
amounted  to  two  hundred  and  eighty-five,  or,  omitting  those 
inconsiderable  for  extent  or  peculiarity,  to  sixty.  The  ear- 
liest written  customary  in  France  is  that  of  Beam,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  confirmed  by  Viscount  Gaston  IV.  in  1088. 
Many  others  were  written  in  the  two  subsequent  ages,  of 
which  the  customs  of  Beauvoisis,  compiled  by  Beaumanoir 
under  Philip  III.,  are  the  most  celebrated,  and  contain  a 
mass  of  information  on  the  feudal  constitution  and  manners. 
Under  Charles  VII.  an  ordinance  was  made  for  the  formation 
of  a  general  code  of  customary  law,  by  ascertaining  forever 
in  a  written  collection  those  of  each  district ;  but  the  work 
was  not  completed  till  the  reign  of  Charles  IX.  This  was 
what  may  be  called  the  common  law  of  the  pays  coiitumierSj 
or  northern  division  of  France,  and  the  rule  oi  ^1}  their  tribu-* 
rials,  unless  where  controlled  by  royal  edicts. 


96  ANALYSIS  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.    Chap.  H.  Part  IL 


PART    II. 

S  1.  Analysis  of  the  Feudal  System.  §  2.  Its  Local  Extent.  §  3.  View  of  the  different 
Orders  of  Society  during  the  Feudal  Ages.  Nobility.  Their  Ranks  and  Privileges. 
§  4.  Clergy.  §  5.  Freemen.  §  C.  Serfs  or  Villeins.  §  T.  Comparative  State  of  France 
and  Germany.  §  8.  Privileges  enjoyed  by  the  French  Vassals.  Eight  of  coining 
Money.  §  9.  Right  of  Private  War.  §  10.  Immunity  from  Taxation.  Historical 
View  of  the  Royal  Revenue  in  France.  Methods  adopted  to  augment  it  by  Depre- 
ciation of  the  Coin,  etc.  §  11.  Legislative  Power.  Its  State  under  the  Merovingian 
Kings,  and  Charlemagne.  His  Councils.  §12.  Suspension  of  any  general  legisla- 
tive Authority  during  the  Prevalence  of  Feudal  Principles.  The  King's  Council. 
§  13.  Means  adopted  to  supply  the  Want  of  a  National  Assembly.  §  14.  Gradual 
Progress  of  the  King's  Legislative  Power.  §  15.  Philip  IV.  assembles  the  States- 
General.  Their  Powers  limited  to  Taxation.  §  16.  States  under  the  Sons  of  Phil- 
ip IV.  §  IT.  States  of  1356  and  1356.  They  nearly  effect  an  entire  Revolution. 
§  18.  The  Crown  recovers  its  Vigor.  §  19.  States  of  1380,  under  Charles  VI.  Sub- 
sequent Assemblies  under  Charles  VI.  and  Charles  VII.  §  20.  The  Crown  becomes 
more  and  more  absolute.  Louis  XI.  §  21.  States  of  Tours  in  1484.  §  22.  Histor- 
ical View  of  Jurisdiction  in  France.  Its  earliest  Stage  uuder  the  first  Race  of 
Kings,  and  Charlemagne.  §23.  TerritorialJurisdiction.  Feudal  Courts  of  Justice. 
§  24.  Trial  by  Combat.  §  25.  Code  of  St.  Louis.  §  26.  The  territorial  Jurisdictions 
give  way.  Progress  of  the  Judicial  Power  of  the  Crown.  §  27.  Parliament  of 
Paris.  §  28.  Peers  of  France.  §  29.  Increased  Authority  of  the  Parliament.  Reg- 
istration of  Edicts.  §  30.  Causes  of  the  Decline  of  the  Feudal  System.  Acquisi- 
tions of  Domain  by  the  Crown,  i  31.  Charters  of  Incorporation  granted  to  Towns. 
First  Charters  in  the  Twelfth  Century.  §  32.  Privileges  contained  in  them.  §  33. 
Military  Service  of  Feudal  Tenants  commuted  for  Money.  Hired  Troops.  Change 
in  the  Military  System  of  Europe.  §34.  Decay  of  Feudal  Principles.  §35.  General 
View  of  the  Advantages  and  Disadvantages  attending  the  Feudal  System. 

§  1.  The  advocates  of  a  Roman  origin  for  most  of  the  in- 
stitutions which  we  find  in  the  kingdoms  erected  on  the 
ruins  of  the  empire  are  naturally  prone  to  magnify  the  anal- 
ogies to  feudal  tenure  which  Rome  presents  to  us,  and  even 
to  deduce  it  either  from  the  ancient  relation  of  patron  and 
client,  and  that  of  personal  commendation,  which  was  its 
representative  in  a  later  age,  or  from  the  frontier  lands 
granted  in  the  third  century  to  the  La3ti,  or  barbarian  sol- 
diers, who  held  them,  doubtless,  subject  to  a  condition  of 
military  service.  The  usage  of  commendation  especially,  so 
frequent  in  the  fifth  century,  before  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  as 
well  as  afterwards,  does  certainly  bear  a  strong  analogy  to 
vassalage,  and  I  have  already  pointed  it  out  as  one  of  its 
sources.  It  wanted,  hoAvever,  that  definite  relation  to  the 
tenure  of  land  which  distinguished  the  latter.  The  royal 
Antrustio  (whether  the  word  commeoidatus  were  applied  to 
him  or  not)  stood  bound  by  gratitude  and  loyalty  to  his 
sovereign,  and  in   a  very  different   degree  from  a  common 


Feudal  Svsr„:...    EXTENT  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  97 

subject ;  but  he  was  not  perhaps  strictly  a  vassal  till  he  had 
received  a  territorial  benefice/  The  complexity  of  sub-in- 
feudation  could  have  no  analogy  in  commendation.  The 
grants  to  veterans  and  to  the  Lseti  are  so  far  only  analogous 
to  fiefs,  that  they  established  the  principle  of  holding  lands 
on  a  condition  of  military  service.  But  this  service  was  no 
more  than  what,  both  under  Charlemagne  and  in  England, 
if  not  in  other  times  and  places,  the  allodial  freeholder  was 
bound  to  render  for  the  defense  of  the  realm ;  it  was  more 
commonly  required,  because  the  lands  were  on  a  barbarian 
frontier ;  but  the  duty  was  not  even  very  analogous  to  that 
of  a  feudal  tenant.  The  essence  of  a  fief  seems  to  be,  that 
its  tenant  owed  fealty  to  a  lord,  and  not  to  the  state  or  the 
sovereign  ;  the  lord  might  be  the  latter,  but  it  was  not, 
feudally  speaking,  as  a  sovereign  that  he  was  obeyed.  This 
is,  therefore,  sufiicient  to  warrant  us  in  tracing  the  real  the- 
ory of  feuds  no  higher  than  the  Merovingian  history  in 
France  ;  their  full  establishment,  as  has  been  seen,  is  consid- 
erably later.  But  the  preparatory  steps  in  the  constitutions 
of  the  declining  empire  are  of  considerable  importance,  not 
merely  as  analogies,  but  as  predisposing  circumstances,  and 
even  germs  to  be  subsequently  developed.  The  beneficiary 
tenure  of  lands  could  not  well  be  brought  by  the  conquerors 
from  Germany  ;  but  the  donatives  of  arms  or  precious  met- 
als bestowed  by  the  chiefs  on  their  followers  were  also  anal- 
ogous to  fiefs ;  and,  as  the  Roman  institutions  were  one  source 
of  the  law  of  tenure,  so  these  were  another. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  be  on  our  guard  against  seem- 
ing analogies  which  vanish  away  when  they  are  closely  ob- 
served. We  should  speak  inaccurately  if  we  were  to  use  the 
word  feudal  for  the  service  of  the  Irish  or  Highland  clans 
to  their  chieftain;  their  tie  was  that  of  imagined  kindred 
and  respect  for  birth,  not  the  spontaneous  compact  of  vas- 
salage. Much  less  can  we  extend  the  name  of  feud,  though 
it  is  sometimes  strangely  misapplied,  to  the  polity  of  Poland 
and  Russia.  All  the  Polish  nobles  were  equal  in  rights,  and 
independent^  of  each  other ;  all  who  were  less  than  noble 
were  in  servitude.  No  government  can  be  more  opposite  to 
the  long  gradations  and  mutual  duties  of  the  feudal  system. 

§  2.  The  regular  machinery  and  systematic  establishment 
of  feuds,  in  fact,  may  be  considered  as  almost  confined  to 
the  dominions  of  Charlemagne,  and  to  those  countries  which 

*  This  word  "  vassal "  is  used  very  indefinitely ;  it  means,  in  its  original  sense,  only 
a  servant  or  dependent,  Bnt  in  the  Continental  records  of  histories  we  commonly 
find  it  applied  to  feudal  tenants. 

5 


98  ORDERS  OF  SOCIETY.         Chap  II.  Part  II 


afterwards  derived  it  from  thence.  In  England  it  can  hard- 
ly be  thought  to  have  existed  in  a  complete  state  before  the 
Conquest.  Scotland,  it  is  supposed,  borrowed  it  soon  after 
from  her  neighbor.  The  Lombards  of  Benevento  had  intro- 
duced feudal  customs  into  the  Neapolitan  provinces,  which 
the  IsTorman  conquerors  afterwards  perfected.  Feudal  ten- 
ures were  so  general  in  the  kingdom  of  Aragon,that  I  reckon 
it  among  the  monarchies  which  were  founded  upon  that  ba- 
sis. Charlemagne's  empire,  it  must  be  remembered,  extend- 
ed as  far  as  the  Ebro.  But  in  Castile  and  Portugal  they 
were  very  rare,  and  certainly  could  produce  no  political  ef- 
fect. Benefices  for  life  were  sometimes  granted  in  the  king- 
doms of  Denmark  and  Bohemia.  Neither  of  these,  however, 
nor  Sweden  nor  Hungary,  come  under  the  description  of 
countries  influenced  by  the  feudal  system.  That  system, 
however,  after  all  these  limitations,  was  so  extensively  dif- 
fused, that  it  might  produce  confusion  as  well  as  prolixity 
to  pursue  collateral  branches  of  its  history  in  all  the  coun- 
tries where  it  prevailed.  But  this  embarrassment  may  be 
avoided  without  any  loss,  I  trust,  of  important  information. 
The  English  constitution  will  find  its  place  in  another  por- 
tion of  this  volume ;  and  the  political  condition  of  Italy,  after 
the  eleventh  century,  was  not  much  affected,  except  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  by  the  laws  of  feudal  tenure.  I  shall 
confine  myself,  therefore,  chiefly  to  France  and  Germany; 
and  far  more  to  the  former  than  the  latter  country.  But  it 
may  be  expedient  first  to  contemplate  the  state  of  society 
in  its  various  classes  during  the  prevalence  of  feudal  princi- 
ples, before  we  trace  their  influence  upon  the  national  gov- 
ernment. 

§  3.  It  has  been  laid  down  already  as  most  probable  that 
no  proper  aristocracy,  except  that  of  wealth,  was  known  un- 
der the  early  kings  of  France  ;  and  it  was  hinted  that  hered- 
itary benefices,  or,  in  other  words,  fiefs,  might  supply  the 
link  that  was  wanting  between  personal  privileges  and  those 
of  descent.  The  possessors  of  beneficiary  estates  were  usu- 
ally the  richest  and  most  conspicuous  individuals  in  the  es- 
tate. They  were  immediately  connected  with  the  crown, 
and  partakers  in  the  exercise  of  justice  and  royal  counsels. 
Their  sons  now  came  to  inherit  this  eminence ;  and,  as  fiefs 
were  either  inalienable,  or  at  least  not  very  frequently  al- 
ienated, rich  families  were  kept  long  in  sight ;  and,  whether 
engaged  in  public  affairs,  or  living  with  magnificence  and 
hospitality  at  home,  naturally  drew  to  themselves  popular 
estimation.     The  dukes  and  counts,  who  had  changed  their 


Fkudal  System.  THE  NOBILITY.  99 

quality  of  governors  into  that  of  lords  over  the  provinces,  in- 
trusted to  them,  were  at  the  head  of  this  noble  class.  And 
in  imitation  of  them,  their  own  vassals,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  crown,  and  even  rich  allodialists,  assumed  titles  from  their 
towns  or  castles,  and  thus  arose  a  number  of  petty  counts, 
barons,  and  viscounts.  This  distinct  class  of  nobility  be- 
came co-extensive  with  the  feudal  tenures.  For  the  military 
tenant,  however  poor,  was  subject  to  no  tribute  ;  no  presta- 
tion, but  service  in  the  field:  he  was  the  companion  of  his 
lord  in  the  sports  and  feasting  of  his  castle,  the  peer  of  his 
court ;  he  fought  on  horseback,  he  was  clad  in  the  coat  of 
mail,  while  the  commonalty,  if  summoned  at  all  to  war,  came 
on  foot,  and  with  no  armor  of  defense.  As  every  thing  in 
the  habits  of  society  conspired  wdth  that  prejudice  which,  in 
spite  of  moral  philosophers,  will  constantly  raise  the  profes- 
sion of  arms  above  all  others,  it  Avas  a  natural  consequence 
that  a  new  species  of  aristocracy,  founded  upon  the  mixed 
considerations  of  birth,  tenure,  and  occupation,  sprung  out 
of  the  feudal  system.  Every  possessor  of  a  fief  was  a  gen- 
tleman, though  he  owned  but  a  few  acres  of  land,  and  fur- 
nished his  slender  contribution  tovvards  the  equipment  of  a 
knight. 

There  still,  however,  wanted  something  to  ascertain  gen- 
tility of  blood  where  it  was  not  marked  by  the  actual  tenure 
of  land.  This  was  supplied  by  two  innovations  devised 
in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries — the  adoption  of  sur- 
names and  of  armorial  bearings.  The  first  are  commonly  re- 
ferred to  the  former  age,  when  the  nobility  began  to  add  the 
names  of  their  estates  to  their  own,  or,  having  any  way 
acquired  a  distinctive  appellation,  transmitted  it  to  their 
posterity.  As  to  armorial  bearings,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
emblems  somewhat  similar  have  been  immemorially  used 
both  in  war  and  peace.  The  shields  of  ancient  warriors,  and 
devices  upon  coins  or  seals,  bear  no  distant  resemblance  to 
modern  blazonry.  But  the  general  introduction  of  such 
bearings,  as  hereditary  distinctions,  has  been  sometimes  at- 
tributed to  tournaments,  wherein  the  champions  were  dis- 
tinguished by  fanciful  devices ;  sometimes  to  the  Crusades, 
where  a  multitude  of  jiU  nations  and  languages  stood  in  need 
of  some  visible  token  to  denote  the  banners  of  their  respect- 
ive chiefs.  In  fact,  the  peculiar  symbols  of  heraldry  point 
to  both  these  sources,  and  have  been  borrowed  in  part  fi-om 
each.  Hereditary  arms  were  perhaps  scarcely  used  by  pri- 
vate families  before  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
From  that  time,  however,  they  became  very  general,  and 


100  THE  NOBILITY.  Chap.  II.  Part  II 

have  contributed  to  elucidate  that  branch  of  history  which 
regards  the  descent  of  illustrious  families. 

When  the  privileges  of  birth  had  thus  been  rendered  ca- 
pable of  legitimate  proof,  they  were  enhanced  in  a  great  de- 
gree, and  a  line  drawn  between  the  high-born  and  ignoble 
classes  almost  as  broad  as  that  which  separated  liberty  from 
servitude.  All  offices  of  trust  and  power  were  conferred  on 
the  former;  those  excepted  which  appertain  to  the  legal 
profession.  A  plebeian  could  not  possess  a  iief '  Such  at 
least  was  the  original  strictness ;  but  as  the  aristocratic  prin- 
ciple grew  weaker,  an  indulgence  was  extended  to  heirs, 
and  afterwards  to  purchasers.  They  were  even  permitted 
to  become  noble  by  the  acquisition,  or  at  least  by  its  posses- 
sion for  three  generations.  But  notwithstanding  this  enno- 
bling quality  of  the  land,  which  seems  rather  of  an  equivocal 
description,  it  became  an  established  right  of  the  crown  to 
take,  every  twenty  years,  and  on  every  change  of  the  vassal, 
a  fine,  known  by  the  name  of  franc-fief,  from  plebeians  in 
possession  of  land  held  by  a  noble  tenure.'  A  gentleman  in 
France  or  Germany  could  not  exercise  any  trade  without 
derogating,  that  is,  losing  the  advantages  of  his  rank.  A 
few  exceptions  were  made,  at  least  in  the  former  country, 
in  favor  of  some  liberal  arts  and  of  foreign  commerce.  But 
in  nothing  does  the  feudal  haughtiness  of  birth  more  show 
itself  than  in  the  disgrace  which  attended  unequal  marriages. 
No  children  could  inherit  a  territory  held  immediately  of 
the  empire  unless  both  their  parents  belonged  to  the  higher 
class  of  nobility.  In  France  the  off*spring  of  a  gentleman 
by  a  plebeian  mother  were  reputed  noble  for  the  purposes 
of  inheritance,  and  of  exemption  from  tribute."  But  they 
could  not  be  received  into  any  order  of  chivalry,  though 
capable  of  simple  knighthood ;  nor  were  they  considered  as 
any  better  than  a  bastard  class  deeply  tainted  with  the  al- 
loy of  their  maternal  extraction.  Many  instances  occur 
where  letters  of  nobility  have  been  granted  to  reinstate 
them  in  their  rank.  For  several  purposes  it  was  necessary 
to  prove  four,  eight,  sixteen,  or  a  greater  number  of  quarters 

2  We  have  uo  English  word  that  conveys  the  full  sense  of  roturier.  How  glorious 
is  this  deficiency  in  our  political  language,  and  how  different  are  the  ideas  suggested 
by  commoner^  Roturier,  according  to  Du  Gauge,  is  derived  from  rapturarius,  a  peas- 
ant, ab  agrum  rnmpendo. 

'  The  right,  originally  perhaps  usurpation,  called  franc-fief,  began  under  Philip  the 
Pair.     •'  Ordonuances  des  Rois,"  t.  i.,  p.  324 ;  Denisart,  art.  "  Franc-fief." 

*  Nobility,  to  a  certain  degree,  was  communicated  through  the  mother  alone,  not 
only  by  the  custom  of  Champagne,  but  in  all  parts  of  France  ;  that  is,  the  issue  were 
"gentilhommes  dii  fait  de  leur  corps,"  and  could  possess  fiefrf ;  but,  says  Beaumanoir, 
•  la  gentilesse  par  laquelle  on  devient  chevalier  doit  venir  de  par  le  pere,"  c.  45. 


Feudal  Systkm.    PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  NOBIlA'^t-    I  '^  i[}  \^^^S 

■ — that  is,  of  coats  borne  by  paternal  and  maternal  ancestors ; 
and  the  same  practice  still  subsists  in  Germany. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  original  nobility  of  the  Con- 
tinent were  what  we  may  call  self-created,  and  did  not  de- 
rive their  rank  from  any  such  concessions  of  their  respective 
sovereigns  as  have  been  necessary  in  subsequent  ages.  In 
England  the  baronies  by  tenure  might  belong  to  the  same 
class,  if  the  lands  upon  which  they  depended  had  not  been 
granted  by  the  crown.  But  the  kings  of  France,  before  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  began  to  assume  a  privilege 
of  creating  nobles  by  their  own  authority,  and  without  re- 
gard to  the  tenure  of  land.  Philip  the  Hardy,  in  1271,  was 
the  first  French  king  who  granted  letters  of  nobility  ;  under 
the  reigns  of  Philip  the  Fair  and  his  children  they  gradually 
became  frequent.  This  effected  a  change  in  the  character 
of  nobility,  arid  had  as  obvious  a  moral,  as  other  events  of 
the  same  age  had  a  political,  influence  in  diminishing  the 
power  and  independence  of  the  territorial  aristocracy.  The 
privileges  originally  connected  with  ancient  lineage  and  ex- 
tensive domains  became  common  to  the  low-born  creatures 
of  a  court,  and  lost  consequently  part  of  their  title  to  respect. 
The  lawyers,  as  I  have  observed  above,  pretended  that  no- 
bility could  not  exist  without  a  royal  concession.  They  ac- 
quired themselves,  in  return  for  their  exaltation  of  preroga- 
tive, an  oflicial  nobility  by  the  exercise  of  magistracy.  The 
institutions  of  chivalry  again  gave  rise  to  a  vast  increase  of 
gentlemen,  knighthood,  on  whomsoever  conferred  by  the 
sovereign,  being  a  sufticient  passport  to  noble  privileges.  It 
was  usual,  perhaps,  to  grant  previous  letters  of  nobility  to  a 
plebeian  for  whom  the  honor  of  knighthood  was  designed. 

In  this  noble  or  gentle  class  there  were  several  gradations. 
All  those  in  France  who  held  lands  immediately  depending 
upon  the  crown,  whatever  titles  they  might  bear,  were  com- 
prised in  the  order  of  Barons.  These  were  originally  the 
peers  of  the  king's  court ;  they  possessed  the  higher  territo- 
rial jurisdiction,  and  had  the  right  of  carrying  their  own 
banner  into  the  field.  To  these  corresponded  the  Valvas- 
sores  majores  and  Capitanei  of  the  Empire.  In  a  subordi- 
nate class  were  the  vassals  of  this  high  nobility,  who,  upon 
the  Continent,  were  usually  termed  Vavassors — an  appella- 
tion not  unknown,  though  rare,  in  England."*     The  Chatelains 

6  Chaucer  concludes  his  picturesque  description  of  the  Franklin,  in  the  prologue  to 
the  "  Canterbury  Tales,"  thus ; 

"  Was  never  such  a  worthy  Vavas^or." 
This  has  perplexed  some  of  our  commentators,  who,  not  knowing  well  what  was 


'1^,^  STATUS  OF  THE  CLERGY.    Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

(Castellani)  belonged  to  the  order  of  Vavassors,  as  they 
held  only  arriere  iiefs ;  but,  having  fortified  houses,  from 
which  they  derived  their  name  (a  distinction  very  important 
in  those  times),  and  possessing  ampler  rights  of  territorial  jus- 
tice, they  rose  above  the  level  of  their  fellows  in  the  scale  of 
tenure.^  But  after  the  personal  nobility  of  chivalry  became 
the  object  of  pride,  the  Vavassors  who  obtained  knighthood 
were  commonly  styled  bachelors ;  those  who  had  not  received 
that  honor  fell  into  the  class  of  squires,'  or  Damoiseaux. 

§  4.  It  will  be  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  condition  of  the 
inferior  clergy,  whether  secular  or  professed,  as  it  bears  lit- 
tle upon  the  general  scheme  of  polity.  The  prelates  and  ab- 
bots, however,  it  must  be  understood,  were  completely  feudal 
nobles.  They  swore  fealty  for  their  lands  to  the  king  or 
other  superior,  received  the  homage  of  their  vassals,  enjoyed 
the  same  immunities,  exercised  the  same  jurisdiction,  main- 
tained the  same  authority,  as  the  lay  lords  among  Avhom 
they  dwelt.  Military  service  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
reserved  in  the  beneficiary  grants  made  to  cathedrals  and 
monasteries.  But  when  other  vassals  of  the  crown  were 
called  upon  to  repay  the  bounty  of  their  sovereign  by  per- 
sonal attendance  in  war,  the  ecclesiastical  tenants  were  sup- 
posed to  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  feudal  duty,  which  men 
little  less  uneducated  and  violent  than  their  compatriots 
were  not  reluctant  to  fulfill.  Charlemagne  exempted  or 
rather  prohibited  them  from  personal  service  by  several 
capitularies.  The  practice,  however,  as  every  one  who  has 
some  knowledge  of  history  will  be  aware,  prevailed  in  suc- 
ceeding ages.     Both  in  national  and  private  warfare  we  find 

meant  by  a  franklin  or  by  a  vavassov,  fancied  tlie  latter  to  be  of  much  higher  quality 
than  the  former.  The  poet,  however,  was  strictly  correct :  his  acquaintance  with 
French  manners  showed  him  that  the  country  squire,  for  his  franklin  is  no  other,  pre- 
cisely corresponded  to  the  vavassor  in  France. 

6  Whoever  had  a  right  to  a  castle  had  la  haute  justice ;  this  being  so  incident  to  the 
castle  that  it  was  transferred  along  with  it.  There  might,  however,  be  a  seigneur 
haut-justicier  below  the  chatelain  ;  and  a  ridiculous  distinction  was  made  as  to  the 
number  of  posts  by  which  their  gallows  might  be  supported.  A  baron's  instrument 
of  execution  stood  on  four  posts ;  a  chiitelain's  on  three :  while  the  inferior  lord  who 
happened  to  possess  la  haute  justice  was  forced  to  hang  his  subjects  on  a  two-legged 
machine.     "  Coutnmes  de  Poitou  ;  Du  Cange,  v.  Purca." 

Laurie-re  quotes  from  an  old  manuscript  the  following  short  scale  of  ranks :  Due  est 
la  premiere  dignite,  puis  comtes,  puis  viscomtes,  et  puis  baron,  et  puis  chatelain,  et 
puis  vavasseur,  et  puis  citaen,  et  puis  villain.—"  Ordonnances  des  Kois,"  t.  i.,  p.  277. 

'  The  sons  of  knights,  and  gentlemen  not  yet  knighted,  took  the  appellation  of 
squires  in  the  twelfth  century.  That  of  Damoiseau  came  into  use  in  the  thirteenth. 
The  latter  was  more  usual  in  France.  Squire  was  not  used  as  a  title  of  distinction  in 
England  till  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  and  then  but  sparingly.  Though  by  Henry 
VI.'s  time  it  was  grown  more  common,  yet  none  assumed  it  but  the  sons  and  heirs  (A 
knights  and  some  military  men  ;  except  officers  in  courts  of  justice,  who,  by  patent  oi 
prescription,  had  obtained  that  addition. 


Fkddal  System.  FREEMEN.  103 

very  frequent  mention  of  martial  prelates.  But,  contrary  as 
this  actual  service  might  be  to  the  civil  as  well  as  ecclesias- 
tical laws,  the  clergy  who  held  military  fiefs  were  of  course 
bound  to  fulfill  the  chief  obligation  of  that  tenure  and  send 
their  vassals  into  the  field.  We  have  many  instances  of 
their  accompanying  the  army,  though  not  mixing  in  the  con- 
flict ;  and  even  the  parish  priests  headed  the  militia  of  their 
villages.  The  prelates,  however,  sometimes  contrived  to 
avoid  this  military  service,  and  the  payments  introduced  in 
commutation  for  it,  by  holding  lands  in  frapk-almoigne,  a 
tenure  which  exempted  them  from  every  species  of  obliga- 
tion except  that  of  saying  masses  for  the  benefit  of  the  grant- 
or's family.  But,  notwithstanding  the  warlike  disposition 
of  some  ecclesiastics,  their  more  usual  inability  to  protect 
the  estates  of  their  churches  against  rapacious  neighbors 
suggested  a  new  species  of  feudal  relation  and  tenure.  The 
rich  abbeys  elected  an  advocate,  whose  business  it  was  to 
defend  their  interests  both  in  secular  courts,  and,  if  necessa- 
ry, in  the  field.  Pepin  and  Charlemagne  are  styled  Advo- 
cates of  the  Roman  Church.  This,  indeed,  was  on  a  magnifi- 
cent scale ;  but  in  ordinary  practice  the  advocate  of  a  mon- 
astery w^as  some  neighboring  lord,  who,  in  return  for  his  pro- 
tection, possessed  many  lucrative  privileges,  and  very  fre- 
quently considerable  estates,  by  way  of  fief  from  his  eccle- 
siastical clients.  Some  of  those  advocates  are  reproached 
with  violating  their  obligation,  and  becoming  the  plunder- 
ers of  those  whom  they  had  been  retained  to  defend. 

§  5.  The  classes  below  the  gentry  may  be  divided  into  free- 
men and  villeins.  Of  the  first  were  the  inhabitants  of  char- 
tered towns,  the  citizens  and  burghers,  of  whom  more  will  be 
said  presently.  As  to  those  who  dwelt  in  the  country,  we 
can  have  no  difficulty  in  recognizing,  so  far  as  England  is 
concerned,  the  socagers,  whose  tenure  was  free,  though  not 
so  noble  as  knight's  service,  and  a  numerous  body  of  tenants 
for  term  of  life,  who  formed  that  ancient  basis  of  our  strength 
the  English  yeomanry.  But  the  mere  freemen  are  not  at 
first  sight  so  distinguishable  in  other  countries.  In  French 
records  and  law-books  of  feudal  times,  all  besides  the  gentry 
are  usually  confounded  under  the  names  of  villeins  or  hom- 
mes  de  pooste  (gens  potestatis).®  This  proves  the  slight  esti 
mation  in  which  all  persons  of  ignoble  birth  were  considered. 
For  undoubtedly  there  existed  a  great  many  proprietors  of 
land  and  others,  as  free,  though  not  as  privileged,  as  the  no* 

8  Homo  potestatis,  non  nobilis— Ita  iiuncupantur,  quod  iu  potentate  domini  sunt-j 
Opponuntur  viris  nobi'.ibus.— Du  Cange,  v.  "Potestas." 


104  SERFS,  OR  VILLEINS.         Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

bility.  In  the  south  of  France,  and  especially  Provence,  the 
number  of  freemen  is  remarked  to  have  been  greater  than 
in  the  parts  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Loire,  whel-e  the  feudal 
tenures  were  almost  universal.  I  shall  quote  part  of  a  pas- 
sage in  Beaumanoir,  which  points  out  this  distinction  of  T-anks 
pretty  fully.  "  It  should  be  known,"  he  says,'* "  that  thore  are 
three  conditions  of  men  in  this  world ;  the  first  is  that  of 
gentlemen ;  and  the  second  is  that  of  such  as  anf  naturally 
free,  being  born  of  a  free  mother.  All  who  havo  a  right  to 
be  called  gentlemen  are  free,  but  all  who  are  free  are  not 
gentlemen.  Gentility  comes  by  the  father,  and  not  by  the 
mother;  but  freedom  is  derived  from  the  mother  only;  and 
whoever  is  born  of  a  free  mother  is  himself  free,  and  has  free 
power  to  do  any  thing  that  is  lawful.'"" 

§  6.  In  every  age  and  country,  until  times  comparatively 
recent,  personal  servitude  appears  to  have  been  the  lot  of  a 
large,  pei'haps  the  greater,  portion  of  mankind.  We  lose  a 
good  deal  of  our  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  freedom  in 
Greece  and  Rome,  when  the  importunate  recollection  occurs 
to  us  of  the  tasks  which  might  be  enjoined,  and  the  punish- 
ments w^hich  might  be  inflicted,  without  control  either  of  law 
or  opinion,  by  the  keenest  patriot  of  the  Comitia,  or  the  Coun- 
cil of  Five  Thousand.  A  similar,  though  less  pow^erful,  feel- 
ing will  often  force  itself  on  the  mind  when  we  read  the  his- 
tory of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  Germans,  in  their  primitive 
settlements,  were  accustomed  to  the  notion  of  slavery,  in- 
curred not  only  by  captivity,  but  by  crimes,  by  debt,  and  es- 
pecially by  loss  in  gaming.  When  they  invaded  the  Roman 
Empire  they  found  the  same  condition  established  in  all  its 
provinces^  Hence,  from  the  beginning  of  the  era  now  un- 
der review,  servitude,  under  somewhat  different  modes,  was 
extremely  common.  There  is  some  difficulty  in  ascertaining 
its  varieties  and  stages.  In  the  Salic  laws,  and  in  the  Capit- 
ularies, we  read  not  only  of  Servi,  but  of  Tributarii,  Lidi,  and 
Coloni,  who  were  cultivators  of  the  earth,  and  subject  to  resi- 
dence upon  their  lord's  estate,  though  not  destitute  of  prop- 
erty or  civil  rights.  Those  who  appertained  to  the  demesne 
lands  of  the  crown  were  called  Fiscalini.  The  composition 
for  the  murder  of  one  of  these  was  much  less  than  that  for  a 
freeman.  The  number  of  these  servile  cultivators  was  un- 
doubtedly great,  yet  in  those  early  times,  I  should  conceive, 
much  less  than  it  afterwards  became.  Property  was  for  the 
most  part  in  small  divisions,  and  a  Frank  who  could  hardly 

»  "  Coutumes  de  Beanvoisis,"  c.  45,  p.  256, 
"  See  Note  IL,  "The  Tributarii,  Lidi,  and  Coloni." 


Feudal  System.  SERFS,  OR  VILLEINS.  105 

support  his  family  upon  a  petty  allodial  patrimony  was  not 
likely  to  encumber  himself  with  many  servants.  But  the  ac^ 
cumulation  of  overgrown  private  wealth  had  a  natural  tend- 
ency  to  make  slavery  more  frequent.  Where  the  small  pro- 
prietoi*s  lost  their  lands  by  mere  rapine,  we  may  believe  that 
their  liberty  was  hardly  less  endangered.  Even  where  this 
was  not  the  case,  yet,  as  the  labor  either  of  artisans  or  of  free 
husbandmen  was  but  sparingly  in  demand,  they  were  often 
compelled  to  exchange  their  liberty  for  bread.  In  seasons 
also  of  famine,  and  they  were  not  infrequent,  many  freemen 
sold  themselves  to  slavery.'^  A  capitulary  of  Charles  the 
Bald  in  864  permits  their  redemption  at  an  equitable  price. 
Others  became  slaves,  as  more  fortunate  men  became  vassals, 
to  a  powerful  lord,  for  the  sake  of  his  protection.  Many 
were  reduced  to  this  state  through  inability  to  pay  those 
pecuniary  compositions  for  offenses  which  were  numerous  and 
sometimes  heavy  in  the  barbarian  codes  of  law ;  and  many 
more  by  neglect  of  attendance  on  military  expeditions  of  the 
king,  the  penalty  of  which  was  a  fine  called  Heribann,  with 
the  alternative  of  perpetual  servitude.  A  source  of  loss  of 
liberty,  which  may  strike  us  as  more  extraordinary,  was  su- 
perstition; men  were  infatuated  enough  to  surrender  them- 
selves, as  well  as  their  properties,  to  churches  and  monaster- 
ies, in  return  for  such  benefits  as  they  might  reap  by  the 
prayers  of  their  new  masters. 

The  characteristic  distinction  of  a  villein  was  his  obliga- 
tion to  remain  upon  his  lord's  estate.  He  was  not  only  pre- 
cluded from  selling  the  lands  upon  which  he  dwelt,  but  his 
person  was  bound,  and  the  lord  might  reclaim  him  at  any 
time,  by  suit  in  a  court  of  justice,  if  he  ventured  to  stray. 
But,  equally  liable  to  this  confinement,  there  were  two  classes 

»i  The  poor  early  felt  the  necessity  of  selling  themselves  for  subsistence  in  times  of 
famine.  "Subdiderunt  se  pauperes  servitio,"  says  Gregory  of  Tours,  a.d.  585,  "ut 
quantulumcunque  de  alimeuto  porrigerent."  (Lib.  vii.,  c.  45.)  This  long  continued 
to  be  the  practice;  and  probably  the  remarkable  number  of  famines  which  are  re- 
corded, especially  in  the  ninth  and  eleventh  centuries,  swelled  the  sad  list  of  those 
unhappy  poor  who  Avere  reduced  to  barter  liberty  for  bread.  Mr.  Wright,  in  the 
"  Archgeologia,"  vol.  xxx.,  p.  223,  has  extracted  an  entry  from  an  Anglo-Saxon  manu- 
script, where  a  lady,  about  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  manumits  some  slaves,  "whose 
heads,"  as  it  is  simply  and  forcibly  expressed,  "she  had  taken  for  their  meat  iu  the 
evil  days."  Evil,  indeed,  were  those  days  in  France,  when  out  of  seventy-three  years, 
the  reigns  of  Hugh  Capet  and  his  two  successors,  forty-eight  were  years  of  famine. 
Evil  were  the  days  for  five  years  from  1015,  in  the  whole  Western  World,  when  not  a 
country  could  l)e  named  that  was  not  destitute  of  bread.  These  were  famines,  as 
Radulfns  Glaber  and  other  contemporary  writers  tell  us,  in  which  mothers  ate  their 
children,  and  children  their  parents;  and  human  flesh  was  sold,  with  some  pretense 
of  concealment,  in  the  markets.  It  is  probable  that  England  suffered  less  than 
France ;  but  so  long  and  frequent  a  scarcity  of  necessary  food  must  have  affected,  in 
the  latter  countrv,  the  whole  oriranic  frame  of  societv. 

5* 


106         CHARACTERISTICS  OF  VILLENAGE.     Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

of  villeins,  whose  condition  was  exceedingly  different.  In 
England,  at  least  from  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  one  only,  and 
that  the  inferior  species,  existed ;  incapable  of  property,  and 
destitute  of  redress,  except  against  the  most  outrageous  in- 
juries. The  lord  could  seize  whatever  they  acquired  or  in- 
herited, or  convey  them,  apart  from  the  land,  to  a  stranger. 
Their  tenure  bound  them  to  what  were  called  villein  services, 
ignoble  in  their  nature  and  indeterminate  in  their  degree; 
the  felling  of  timber,  the  carrying  of  manure,  the  repairing  of 
roads  for  their  lord,  who  seems  to  have  possessed  an  equally 
unbounded  right  over  their  labor  and  its  fruits.  But  by  the 
customs  of  France  and  Germany,  persons  in  this  abject  state 
seem  to  have  been  called  serfs,  and  distinguished  from  vil- 
leins, who  were  only  bound  to  fixed  payments  and  duties  in 
respect  of  their  lord,  though,  as  it  seems,  without  any  legal 
redress  if  injured  by  him.  "The  third  estate  of  men,"  says 
Beaumanoir,  in  the  passage  above  quoted,  "is  that  of  such  as 
are  not  free  ;  and  these  are  not  all  of  one  condition,  for  some 
are  so  subject  to  their  lord  that  he  may  take  all  they  have, 
alive  or  dead,  and  imprison  them  whenever  he  pleases,  be- 
ing accountable  to  none  but  God ;  while  others  are  treated 
more  gently,  from  whom  the  lord  can  take  nothing  but  cus- 
tomary payments,  though  at  their  death  all  they  have  es- 
cheats to  him." 

Under  every  denomination  of  servitude,  the  children  fol- 
lowed their  mother's  condition  ;  except  in  England,  where 
the  father's  state  determined  that  of  the  children  ;  on  which 
account  bastards  of  female  villeins  were  born  free,  the  law 
presuming  the  liberty  of  their  father.  The  proportion  of 
freemen,  therefore,  would  have  been  miserably  diminished  if 
there  had  been  no  reflux  of  the  tide  which  ran  so  strongly 
towards  slavery.  But  the  usage  of  manumission  made  a  sort 
of  circulation  between  these  two  states  of  mankind.  This, 
as  is  well  known,  was  an  exceedingly  common  practice  with 
the  Romans  ;  and  is  mentioned,  with  certain  ceremonies  pre- 
scribed, in  the  Frankish  and  other  early  laws.  The  clergy, 
and  especially  several  popes,  enforced  it  as  a  duty  upon  lay- 
men ;  and  inveighed  against  the  scandal  of  keeping  Chris- 
tians in  bondage.  As  society  advanced  in  Europe,  the  manu- 
mission of  slaves  grew  more  frequent.  By  the  indulgence  of 
custom  in  some  places,  or  perhaps  by  original  convention, 
villeins  might  possess  property,  and  thus  purchase  their  own 
redemption.  Even  where  they  had  no  legal  title  to  proper- 
ty, it  was  accounted  inhuman  to  divest  them  of  their  little 
possession  (the  pecuHum  of  Roman  law) ;  nor  was  their  pov 


Feudal  System.       ABOLITION  OF  VILLENAGE.  107 

erty,  perhaps,  less  tolerable,  upon  the  whole,  than  that  of  the 
modern  peasantry  in  most  countries  of  Europe.  It  was  only 
in  respect  of  his  lord,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  the  vil- 
lein, at  least  in  England,  was  without  rights  ;  he  might  in- 
herit, purchase,  sue  in  the  courts  of  law  ;  though,  as  defend- 
ant in  a  real  action  or  suit  wherein  land  was  claimed,  he 
might  shelter  himself  under  the  plea  of  villenage.  The  peas- 
ants of  this  condition  were  sometimes  made  use  of  in  war, 
and  rewarded  with  enfranchisement ;  especially  in  Italy, 
where  the  cities  and  the  petty  states  had  often  occasion  to 
defend  themselves  with  their  own  population  ;  and  in  peace 
the  industry  of  free  laborers  must  have  been  found  more 
productive  and  better  directed.  Hence  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries  saw  the  number  of  slaves  in  Italy  begin  to 
decrease ;  early  in  the  fifteenth  a  writer  quoted  by  Muratori 
speaks  of  them  as  no  longer  existing.  The  greater  part  of 
the  peasants  in  some  countries  of  Germany  had  acquired 
their  liberty  before  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century ;  in 
other  parts,  as  well  as  in  all  the  northern  and  eastern  regions 
of  Europe,  they  remained  in  a  sort  of  villenage  till  the  pres- 
ent age.  Some  very  few  instances  of  predial  servitude  have 
been  discovered  in  England  so  late  as  the  time  of  Elizabeth, 
and  perhaps  they  might  be  traced  still  lower.  Louis  Hutin, 
in  France,  after  innumerable  particular  instances  of  manu- 
mission had  taken  place,  by  a  general  edict  in  1315,  reciting 
that  his  kingdom  is  denominated  the  kingdom  of  the  Franks, 
that  he  would  have  the  fact  to  correspond  with  the  name, 
emancipates  all  persons  in  the  royal  domains  upon  paying 
a  just  composition,  as  an  example  for  other  lords  possessing 
villeins  to  follow.  Philip  the  Long  renewed  the  same  edict 
three  years  afterwards — a  proof  that  it  had  not  been  carried 
into  execution.^' 

§  7.  At  the  final  separation  of  the  French  from  the  Ger- 
man side  of  Charlemagne's  empire  by  the  treaty  of  Verdun 
in  843,  there  was  perhaps  hardly  any  diiference  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  two  kingdoms.  If  any  might  have  been  con- 
jectured to  have  existed,  it  would  be  a  greater  independence 
and  fuller  rights  of  election  in  the  nobility  and  people  of 
Germany.     But  in  the  lapse  of  another  century  France  had 

"  Predial  servitude  was  not,  however,  abolished  in  all  parts  of  France  till  the  Revo- 
Intion.  Throughont  almost  the  whole  jurisdiction  of  the  Parliament  of  Besanpon  the 
peasants  were  attached  to  the  soil,  not  being  capable  of  leaving  it  without  the  lord's 
consent ;  and  that  in  some  places  he  even  inherited  their  goods  in  exclusion  of  the 
kindred.  I  recollect  to  have  read  in  some  part  of  Voltaire's  correspondence  an  anec- 
dote of  his  interference,  with  that  zeal  against  oppression  which  is  the  shining  side 
of  his  moral  character,  5n  behalf  of  some  cf  these  wretched  slaves  of  Franche-comte, 


108         STA  TE  OF  FRANCE  AND  GtJRMANY.     Chap.  II.  Fart  II. 

lost  all  her  political  unity,  and  her  kings  all  their  authority ; 
while  the  Germanic  empire  was  entirely  unbroken  under  an 
effectual,  though  not  absolute,  control  of  its  sovereign.  'No 
comparison  can  be  made  between  the  power  of  Charles  the 
Simple  and  Conrad  the  First,  though  the  former  had  the 
shadow  of  an  hereditary  right,  and  the  latter  was  chosen 
from  among  his  equals.  A  long  succession  of  feeble  princes 
or  usurpers,  and  destructive  incursions  of  the  Normans,  re- 
duced France  almost  to  a  dissolution  of  society ;  while  Ger- 
many, under  Conrad,  Henry,  and  the  Othos,  found  their  arms 
not  less  prompt  and  successful  against  revolted  vassals  than 
external  enemies.  The  high  dignitaries  were  less  complete- 
ly hereditary  than  they  had  become  in  France ;  they  were 
granted,  indeed,  pretty  regularly,  but  they  were  solicited  as 
well  as  granted  ;  while  the  chief  vassals  of  the  French  crown 
assumed  them  as  patrimonial  sovereignties,  to  which  a  royal 
investiture  gave  more  of  ornament  than  sanction.  In  the 
eleventh  century  these  imperial  prerogatives  began  to  lose 
part  of  their  lustre.  The  long  struggles  of  the  princes  and 
clergy  against  Henry  IV.  and  his  son,  the  revival  of  more 
effective  rights  of  election  on  the  extinction  of  the  house  of 
Franconia,  the  exhausting  contests  of  the  Swabian  emperors 
in  Italy,  the  intrinsic  weakness  produced  by  a  law  of  the  em- 
pire, according  to  which  the  reigning  sovereign  could  not 
retain  an  imperial  fief  more  than  a  year  in  his  hands,  gradu- 
ally prepared  that  independence  of  the  German  aristocracy 
which  reached  its  height  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  During  this  period  the  French  crown  had  been  in- 
sensibly gaining  strength ;  and  as  one  monarch  degenerated 
into  the  mere  head  of  a  confederacy,  the  other  acquired  un- 
limited power  over  a  solid  kingdom. 

It  would  be  tedious,  and  not  very  instructive,  to  follow 
the  details  of  German  public  law  during  the  Middle  Ages ; 
nor  are  the  more  important  parts  of  it  easily  separable  from 
civil  history.  In  this  relation  they  will  find  a  place  in  a 
subsequent  chapter  of  the  present  work.  France  demands 
a  more  minute  attention ;  and  in  tracing  the  character  of 
the  feudal  system  in  that  country,  we  shall  find  ourselves  de- 
veloping the  progress  of  a  very  different  polity. 

§  8.  To  understand  in  what  degree  the  peers  and  barons 
of  France,  during  the  prevalence  of  feudal  principles,  were 
independent  of  the  crown,  we  must  look  at  their  leading 
privileges.  These  may  be  reckoned :  I.  The  right  of  coin- 
ing money;  II.  That  of  waging  private  war;  HI.  The  ex- 
em])tion  from  all  public  tributes,  except  the  feudal  aids;  lY 


Feudal  System.     PlilVlLEGES  OF  FRENCH  VASSALS.  100 

The  freedom  from  legislative  control;  and  V.  The  exclusive 
exercise  of  original  judicature  in  their  dominions.  Privileges 
so  enormous,  and  so  contrary  to  all  principles  of  sovereignty, 
might  lead  us,  in  strictness,  to  account  France  rather  a  col- 
lection of  states,  partially  allied  to  each  other,  than  a  single 
monarchy. 

I.  Silver  and  gold  were  not  very  scarce  in  the  first  ages 
of  the  French  monarchy ;  but  they  passed  more  by  weight 
than  by  tale.  A  lax  and  ignorant  government,  which  had 
not  learned  the  lucrative  mysteries  of  a  royal  mint,  was  not 
particularly  solicitous  to  give  its  subjects  the  security  of  a 
known  stamp  in  their  exchanges.  In  some  cities  of  France 
money  appears  to  have  been  coined  by  private  authority  be- 
fore the  time  of  Charlemagne ;  at  least  one  of  his  capitularies 
forbids  the  circulation  of  any  that  had  not  been  stamped  in 
the  royal  mint.  His  successors  indulged  some  of  their  vas- 
sals with  the  privilege  of  coining  money  for  the  use  of  their 
own  territories,  but  not  without  the  royal  stamp.  About 
the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century,  however,  the  lords,  among 
their  other  assumptions  of  independence,  issued  money  with 
no  marks  but  their  own.  At  the  accession  of  Hugh  Capet 
as  many  as  a  hundred  and  fifty  are  said  to  have  exercised 
this  power.  Even  under  St.  Louis  it  was  possessed  by  about 
eighty,  who,  excluding  as  far  as  possible  the  royal  coin  from 
circulation,  enriched  themselves  at  their  subjects'  expense 
by  high  duties  (seigniorages),  which  they  imposed  upon  ev- 
ery new  coinage,  as  well  as  by  debasing  its  standard. 

Philip  the  Fair  established  royal  officers  of  inspection  in 
every  private  mint.  It  was  asserted  in  his  reign,  as  a  gen- 
eral truth,  that  no  subject  might  coin  silver  money.  In  fact, 
the  adulteration  practised  in  those  baronial  mints  had  re- 
duced their  pretended  silver  to  a  sort  of  black  metal,  as  it 
was  called  {moneta  nigra)^  into  which  little  entered  but  cop- 
per. Silver,  however,  and  even  gold,  were  coined  by  the 
dukes  of  Brittany  so  long  as  that  fief  continued  to  exist. 
No  subjects  ever  enjoyed  the  right  of  coining  silver  in  En- 
gland without  the  royal  stamp  and  superintendence'^ — a  re- 
markable proof  of  the  restraint  in  which  the  feudal  aristocra- 
cy was  always  held  in  this  country. 

§  9. — II.  The  passion  of  revenge,  always  among  the  most 
ungovernable  in  human  nature,  acts  with  such  violence  upon 
barbarians,  that  it  is  utterly  beyond  the  control  of  their  im- 
perfect arrangements  of  polity.     It  seems  to  them  no  part 

_"  I  do  not  extend  this  to  the  fact;  for  in  the  anarchy  of  Stephen's  reign  both 
bishops  and  barons  coined  money  for  themselves. — Hoveden,  p.  490. 


110  WAR.— TAXATION.  Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

of  the  social  compact  to  sacrifice  the  privilege  which  nature 
has  placed  in  the  arm  of  valor.  Gradually,  however,  these 
fiercer  feelings  are  blunted,  and  another  passion,  hardly  less 
powerful  than  resentment,  is  brought  to  play  in  a  contrary 
direction.  The  earlier  object,  accordingly,  of  jurisprudence 
is  to  establish  a  fixed  atonement  for  injuries,  as  much  for 
the  preservation  of  tranquillity  as  the  prevention  of  crime. 
Such  were  the  weregilds  of  the  barbaric  codes,  which,  for  a 
different  purpose,  I  have  already  mentioned.  But  whether 
it  were  that  the  kindred  did  not  alw^ays  accept,  or  the  crim- 
inal offer,  the  legal  composition,  or  that  other  causes  of  quar- 
rel occurred,  private  feuds  (faida)  were  perpetually  breaking 
out,  and  many  of  Charlemagne's  capitularies  are  directed 
against  them.  After  his  time  all  hope  of  restraining  so  in- 
veterate a  practice  was  at  an  end ;  and  every  man  who  own- 
ed a  castle  to  shelter  him  in  case  of  defeat,  and  a  sufficient 
number  of  dependents  to  take  the  field,  was  at  liberty  to  re- 
taliate upon  his  neighbors  whenever  he  thought  himself  in- 
jured. It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  there  was  frequently 
either  no  jurisdiction  to  which  he  could  appeal,  or  no  power 
to  enforce  its  awards ;  so  that  we  may  consider  the  higher 
nobility  of  France  as  in  a  state  of  nature  with  respect  to 
each  other,  and  entitled  to  avail  themselves  of  all  legitimate 
grounds  of  hostility.  The  right  of  waging  private  \<ar  was 
moderated  by  Louis  IX,,  checked  by  Philip  IV.,  suppressed 
by  Charles  VI. ;  but  a  few  vestiges  of  its  practice  may  be 
found  still  later. 

§  10. — III.  In  the  modern  condition  of  governments  tax- 
ation is  a  chief  engine  of  the  well  -  compacted  machinery 
which  regulates  the  system.  But  the  early  European  king- 
doms knew  neither  the  necessities  nor  the  ingenuity  of  mod- 
ern finance.  From  their  demesne  lands  the  kings  of  France 
and  Lombard y  supplied  the  common  expenses  of  a  barba- 
rous court.  Even  Charlemagne  regulated  the  economy  of  his 
farms  with  the  minuteness  of  a  steward,  and  a  large  portion 
of  his  capitularies  are  directed  to  this  object.  Their  actual 
revenue  was  chiefly  derived  from  free  gifts,  made,  according 
to  an  ancient  German  custom,  at  the  annual  assemblies  of 
the  nation,  from  amercements  by  allodial  proprietors  for  de- 
fault of  military  service,  find  from  the  freda,  or  fines,  accru- 
ing to  the  judge  out  of  compositions  for  murder.  These 
amounted  to  one-third  of  the  w^hole  weregild ;  one-third  of 
this  was  paid  over  by  the  count  to  the  royal  Exchequer. 
After  the  feudal  government  prevailed  in  France,  and  nei- 
ther the   heribannum    nor   the  weregild   continued  in   use. 


Feudal  System.     ROYAL  REVENUE  IN  FRANCE.  Ill 

there  seems  to  have  been  hardly  any  source  of  regular  reve- 
nue besides  the  domanial  estates  of  the  crown ;  unless  we 
may  reckon  as  such,  that  during  a  journey  the  king  had  a 
prescriptive  right  to  be  supplied  with  necessaries  by  tie 
towns  and  abbeys  through  which  he  passed;  commuted 
sometimes  into  petty  regular  payments,  called  droits  de  gist 
et  de  chevauche.  Hugh  Capet  was  nearly  indigent  as  king 
of  France,  though,  as  count  of  Paris  and  Orleans,  he  might 
take  the  feudal  aids  and  reliefs  of  his  vassals.  Several  other 
small  emoluments  of  himself  and  his  successors,  whatever 
they  may  since  have  been  considered,  were  in  that  age  rath- 
er seigniorial  than  royal.  The  rights  of  toll,  of  customs,  of 
alienage  (aubaine),  generally  even  the  regale  or  enjoyment 
of  the  temporalities  of  vacant  episcopal  sees  and  other  ec- 
clesiastical benefices,  were  possessed  within  their  own  do- 
mains by  the  great  feudatories  of  the  crown.  They  con- 
tributed nothing  to  their  sovereign,  not  even  those  aids 
which  the  feudal  customs  enjoined. 

The  history  of  the  royal  revenue  in  France  is,  however, 
too  important  to  be  slightly  passed  over.  As  the  necessities 
of  government  increased,  several  devices  were  tried  in  order 
to  replenish  the  Exchequer.  One  of  these  was  by  extorting 
money  from  the  Jews.  It  is  almost  incredible  to  what  a 
length  this  was  carried.  Usury,  forbidden  by  law  and  su- 
perstition to  Christians,  was  confined  to  this  industrious 
and  covetous  people.  It  is  now  no  secret  that  all  regula- 
tions interfering  with  the  interest  of  money  render  its  terms 
more  rigorous  and  burdensome.  The  children  of  Israel  grew 
rich  in  despite  of  insult  and  oppression,  and  retaliated  upon 
their  Christian  debtors.  If  an  historian  of  Philip  Augustus 
may  be  believed,  they  possessed  almost  one-half  of  Paris. 
Unquestionably  they  must  have  had  support  both  at  the 
court  and  in  the  halls  of  justice.  The  policy  of  the  kings  of 
France  was  to  employ  them  as  a  sponge  to  suck  their  sub- 
jects' money,  which  they  might  afterwards  express  with  less 
odium  than  direct  taxation  would  incur.  Philip  Augustus 
released  all  Christians  in  his  dominions  from  their  debts  to 
the  Jews,  reserving  a  fifth  part  to  himself.  He  afterwards 
expelled  the  whole  nation  from  France.  But  they  appear 
to  have  returned  again — whether  by  stealth,  or,  as  is  more 
probable,  by  purchasing  permission.  St.  Louis  twice  ban- 
ished and  twice  recalled  the  Jews.  A  series  of  alternate 
persecution  and  tolerance  was  borne  by  this  extraordinary 
people  with  an  invincible  perseverance,  and  a  talent  of  ac- 
cumulating riches  which  kept  pace  with  their  plunderers; 


112  TAXATION.  Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

till,  new  schemes  of  finance  supplying  the  turn,  they  were 
finally  expelled  under  Charles  VI.,  and  never  afterwards  ob- 
tained any  legal  establishment  in  France. 

A  much  more  extensive  plan  of  rapine  was  carried  on  by 
lowering  the  standard  of  coin.  Originally  the  pound)  a 
money  of  account,  was  equivalent  to  twelve  ounces  of  sil- 
ver; and  divided  into  twenty  pieces  of  coin  (sous),  each 
equal,  consequently,  ta  nearly  three  shillings  and  four  pence 
of  our  new  English  money.  At  the  Revolution  the  money 
of  France  had  been  depreciated  in  the  proportion  of  seventy- 
three  to  one,  and  the  sol  was  about  equal  to  an  English  half- 
penny. This  was  the  effect  of  a  long  continuance  of  fraud- 
ulent and  arbitrary  government.  The  abuse  began  under 
Philip  I.  in  1103,  who  alloyed  his  silver  coin  with  a  third  of 
copper.  So  good  an  example  was  not  lost  upon  subsequent 
princes  ;  till,  under  St.  Louis,  the  mark-weight  of  silver,  or 
eight  ounces,  was  equivalent  to  fifty  sous  of  the  debased 
coin.  Nevertheless  these  changes  seem  hitherto  to  have 
produced  no  discontent ;  whether  it  were  that  a  people  nei- 
ther commercial  nor  enlightened  did  not  readily  perceive 
their  tendency;  or,  as  has  been  ingeniously  conjectured, 
that  these  successive  diminutions  of  the  standard  were  near- 
ly counterbalanced  by  an  augmentation  in  the  value  of  silver, 
occasioned  by  the  drain  of  money  during  the  Crusades,  with 
which  they  were  about  contemporaneous.  But  the  rapacity 
of  Philip  the  Fair  kept  no  measures  with  the  public ;  and 
the  mark  in  his  reign  had  become  equal  to  eight  livres,  or  a 
hundred  and  sixty  sous  of  money.  Dissatisfaction,  and  even 
tumults,  arose  in  consequence,  and  he  was  compelled  to  re- 
store the  coin  to  its  standard  under  St.  Louis.  His  success- 
ors practised  the  same  arts  of  enriching  their  treasury ;  un- 
der Philip  of  Valois  the  mark  was  again  worth  eight  livres. 
But  the  film  had  now  dropped  from  the  eyes  of  the  people  ; 
and  these  adulterations  of  money,  rendered  more  vexatious 
by  continued  recoinages  of  the  current  pieces,  upon  which  a 
fee  was  extorted  by  the  moneyers,  showed  in  their  true  light 
as  mingled  fraud  and  robbery. 

These  resources  of  government,  however,  by  no  means  su- 
perseded the  necessity  of  more  direct  taxation.  The  kings 
of  France  exacted  money  from  the  roturiers,  and  particu- 
larly the  inhabitants  of  towns,  within  their  domains.  In  this 
they  only  acted  as  proprietors,  or  suzerains ;  and  the  barons 
took  the  same  course  in  their  own  lands.  Philip  Augustus 
first  ventured  upon  a  stretch  of  prerogative,  which,  in  the 
words  of  his  biographer,  disturbed  all  France,     He  deprived 


Feudal  System.     NO  SUPREME  LEGISLATION.  113 

by  force  both  his  own  vassals,  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
boast  of  their  immunities,  and  their  feudal  tenants,  of  a  third 
part  of  their  goods.  Such  arbitrary  taxation  of  the  nobility, 
who  deemed  that  their  military  service  discharged  them 
from  all  pecuniary  burdens,  France  was  far  too  aristocratical 
a  country  to  bear.  It  seems  not  to  have  been  repeated ;  and 
his  successors  generally  pursued  more  legitimate  courses. 
Upon  obtaining  any  contribution,  it  was  usual  to  grant  let- 
ters patent,  declaring  that  it  had  been  freely  given,  and 
should  not  be  turned  into  precedent  in  time  to  come.  But 
in  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Fair  a  great  innovation  took  place 
in  the  French  constitution,  which,  though  it  principally  af- 
fected the  method  of  levying  money,  may  seem  to  fall  more 
naturally  under  the  next  head  of  consideration. 

§  11. — IV.  There  is  no  part  of  the  French  feudal  policy 
so  remarkable  as  the  entire  absence  of  all  supreme  legisla- 
tion. We  find  it  difiicult  to  conceive  the  existence  of  a  po- 
litical society,  nominally  one  kingdom  and  under  one  head, 
in  which,  for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  there  was  want- 
ing the  most  essential  attributes  of  government.  It  will  be 
requisite,  however,  to  take  this  up  a  little  higher,  and  inquire 
what  was  the  original  legislature  of  the  French  monarchy. 

Arbitrary  rule,  at  least  in  theory,  was  uncongenial  to  the 
character  of  the  Northern  nations.  Neither  the  power  of 
making  laws,  nor  that  of  applying  them  to  the  circumstances 
of  particular  cases,  was  left  at  the  discretion  of  the  sover- 
eign. The  Lombard  kings  held  assemblies  every  year  at 
Pavia,  where  the  chief  officers  of  the  crown  and  proprietors 
of  lands  deliberated  upon  all  legislative  measures,  in  the 
presence,  and,  nominally  at  least,  with  the  consent,  of  the 
multitude.  Frequent  mention  is  made  of  similar  public 
meetings  in  France  by  the  historians  of  the  Merovingian 
kings,  and  still  more  unequivocally  by  their  statutes.  These 
assemblies  have  been  called  Parliaments  of  the  Champ  de 
Mars,  having  originally  been  held  in  the  month  of  March. 
But  they  are  supposed  by  many  to  have  gone  much  into  dis- 
use under  the  later  Merovingian  kings.  That  of  615,  the 
most  important  of  which  any  traces  remain,  was  at  the  close 
of  the  great  revolution  which  punished  Brunehaut  for  aspir- 
ing to  despotic  power.  Whether  these  assemblies  were  com- 
posed of  any  except  prelates,  great  land-holders,  or  what  we 
may  call  nobles,  and  the  Antrustions  of  the  king,  is  still  an 
unsettled  point.  It  is  probable,  however,  not  only  that  the 
bishops  took  part  in  them,  but  also  that  the  presence  of  the 
nation  was  traditionally  required  in  conformity  to  the  an- 


114  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLIES.     Chap.  II.  Part  XL 

cient  German  usage,  which  had  not  been  formally  abolished ; 
while  the  difficulty  of  prevailing  on  a  dispersed  people  to 
meet  every  year,  as  well  as  the  enhanced  influence  of  the 
king  through  his  armed  Antrustions,  soon  reduced  the  free- 
men to  little  more  than  spectators  from  the  neighboring  dis- 
tricts. 

Although  no  legislative  proceedings  of  the  Merovingian 
line  are  extant  after  615,  it  is  intimated  by  early  writers 
that  Pepin  Heristal  and  his  son  Charles  Martel  restored  the 
national  council  after  some  interruption  ;  and  if  the  language 
of  certain  historians  be  correct,  they  rendered  it  consider- 
ably popular. 

Pepin  the  younger,  after  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
changed  the  month  of  this  annual  assembly  from  March  to 
May ;  and  we  have  some  traces  of  what  took  place  at  eight 
sessions  during  his  reign.  Of  his  capitularies,  however,  one 
only  is  said  to  be  made  in  generali  populi  conventu;  the  rest 
are  enacted  in  synods  of  bishops,  and  all  without  exception  re- 
late merely  to  ecclesiastical  affairs.  And  it  must  be  owned 
that,  as  in  those  of  the  first  dynasty,  we  find  generally  men- 
tion of  the  optimates  who  met  in  these  conventions,  but  rare- 
ly any  word  that  can  be  construed  of  ordinary  freemen. 

Such,  indeed,  is  the  impression  conveyed  by  a  remarkable 
passage  of  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims  during  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Bald,  who  has  preserved,  on  the  authority  of 
a  writer  contemporary  with  Charlemagne,  a  sketch  of  the 
Prankish  government  under  that  great  prince.  Two  assem- 
blies (placita)  were  annually  held.  In  the  first,  all  regula- 
tions of  importance  to  the  public  weal  for  the  ensuing  year 
were  enacted  ;  and  to  this,  he  says,  the  whole  body  of  clergy 
and  laity  repaired ;  the  greater,  to  deliberate  upon  what  was 
fitting  to  be  done  ;  and  the  lesser,  to  confirm  by  their  volun- 
tary assent,  not  through  deference  to  power,  or  sometimes 
even  to  discuss,  the  resolutions  of  their  superiors.  In  the 
second  annual  assembly,  the  chief  men  and  officers  of  state 
were  alone  admitted,  to  consult  upon  the  most  urgent  affairs 
of  government.  They  debated,  in  each  of  these,  upon  certain 
capitularies,  or  short  proposals,  laid  before  them  by  the  king. 
The  clergy  and  nobles  met  in  separate  chambers,  thougli 
sometimes  united  for  the  purposes  of  deliberation.  \\\  these 
assemblies,  principally,  I  presume,  in  the  more  numerous  of 
the  two  annually  summoned,  that  extensive  body  of  laws, 
the  capitularies  of  Charlemagne,  were  enacted.  And  though 
it  would  contradict  the  testimony  just  adduced  from  Hinc- 
mar to  suppose  that  the  lesser  freeholders  took  a  very  ef- 


Feudal  System.  POPULAR  RIGHTS.  115 

fective  share  in  public  counsels,  yet  their  presence,  and  the 
usage  of  requiring  their  assent,  indicate  the  liberal  principles 
upon  which  the  system  of  Charlemagne  was  founded.  It  is 
continually  expressed  in  his  capitularies  and  those  of  his 
family  that  they  were  enacted  by  general  consent.  In  one 
of  Louis  the  Debonair  we  even  trace  the  first  germ  of  repre- 
sentative legislation.  Every  count  is  directed  to  bring  with 
him  to  the  general  assembly  twelve  Scabini,  if  there  should 
be  so  many  in  his  county  ;  or,  if  not,  should  fill  up  the  num- 
ber out  of  the  most  respectable  persons  resident.  These 
Scabini  were  judicial  assessors  of  the  count,  chosen  by  the 
allodial  proprietors,  in  the  county  court,  or  raallus,  though 
generally  on  his  nomination.^* 

The  circumstances,  however,  of  the  French  Empire  for  sev- 
eral subsequent  ages  were  exceedingly  adverse  to  such  en- 
larged schemes  of  polity.  The  nobles  contemned  the  imbe- 
cile descendants  of  Charlemagne ;  and  the  people,  or  lesser 
freeholders,  if  they  escaped  absolute  villenage,  lost  their  im- 
mediate relation  to  the  supreme  government  in  the  subordi- 
nation to  their  lord  established  by  the  feudal  law.  Yet  we 
may  trace  the  shadow  of  ancient  popular  rights  in  one  con- 
stitutional function  of  high  importance,  the  choice  of  a  sov- 
ereign. Historians  who  relate  the  election  of  an  emperor  or 
king  of  France  seldom  omit  to  specify  the  consent  of  the 
multitude,  as  well  as  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  aristoc- 
I'acy ;  and  even  in  solemn  instruments  that  record  such 
transactions  we  find  a  sort  of  importance  attached  to  the 
popular  suffrage.  It  is  surely  less  probable  that  a  recogni- 
tion of  this  elective  right  should  have  been  introduced  as  a 
mere  ceremony,  than  that  the  form  should  have  survived  al- 
ter length  of  time  and  revolutions  of  government  had  almost 
obliterated  the  recollection  of  its  meaning. 

It  must,  however,  be  impossible  to  ascertain  even  the  the- 
oretical privileges  of  the  subjects  of  Charlemagne,  much 
more  to  decide  how  far  they  were  substantial  or  illusory. 
We  can  only  assert,  in  general,  that  there  continued  to  be 
Bome  mixture  of  democracy  in  the  French  constitution  dur- 
ing the  reigns  of  Charlemagne  and  his  first  successors.  The 
primeval  German  institutions  were  not  eradicated.  In  the 
capitularies  thti  consent  of  the  people  is  frequently  expressed. 

^*  The  Scabini  are  not  to  be  confounded,  as  sometimes  has  been  the  case,  with  the 
Rachimburgii,  who  were  not  chosen  by  the  allodial  ])roprietors,  bnt  were  themselves 
such,  or  sometimes,  perhaps,  beneficiaries,  summoned  by  the  court  as  jurors  were  in 
England.  They  answered  to  the  prud^hcmmef^  boni  homvies,  of  later  times;  they 
formed  the  county  or  the  hundred  court,  for  the  determination  of  civil  and  criminal 
causes. 


IIG  ASSEMBLIES  OF  BARONS.     Chap.  11.  Part  II. 

Fifty  years  after  Charlemagne,  his  grandson  Charles  the  Bald 
succinctly  expresses  the  theory  of  legislative  power.  A  law, 
he  says,  is  made  by  the  people's  consent  and  the  king's  en- 
actment. It  would  hardly  be  warranted  by  analogy  or  prec- 
edent to  interpret  the  word  people  so  very  narrowly  as  to 
exclude  any  allodial  proprietors,  among  whom,  however  un- 
equal in  opulence,  no  legal  inequality  of  rank  is  supposed  to 
have  yet  arisen. 

§  12.  But  by  whatever  authority  laws  were  enacted,  who- 
ever were  the  constituent  members  of  national  assemblies, 
they  ceased  to  be  held  in  about  seventy  years  from  the 
death  of  Charlemagne.  The  latest  capitularies  are  of  Carlo- 
man  in  882.  From  this  time  there  ensues  a  long  blank  in  the 
history  of  French  legislation.  The  kingdom  was  as  a  great 
fief,  or  rather  as  a  bundle  of  fiefs,  and  the  king  little  more 
than  one  of  a  number  of  feudal  nobles,  differing  rather  in  dig- 
nity than  in  power  from  some  of  the  rest.  The  royal  coun- 
cil was  composed  only  of  barons,  or  tenants  in  chief,  prelates, 
and  household  officers.  These  now  probably  deliberated  in 
private,  as  we  hear  no  more  of  the  consenting  multitude. 
Political  functions  were  not  in  that  age  so  clearly  separated 
as  we  are  taught  to  fancy  they  should  be  ;  this  council  ad- 
vised the  king  in  matters  of  government,  confirmed  and  con- 
sented to  his  grants,  and  judged  in  all  civil  and  criminal 
cases  w^here  any  peers  of  their  court  were  concerned. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  want  of  any  permanent  legisla- 
tion during  so  long  a  period,  instances  occur  in  w^hich  the 
kings  of  France  appear  to  have  acted  with  the  concurrence 
of  an  assembly  more  numerous  and  more  particularly  sum- 
moned than  the  royal  council.  At  such  a  congress  held  in 
1146  the  crusade  of  Louis  VII.  was  undertaken.  We  find 
also  an  ordinance  of  the  same  prince  in  some  collections,  re- 
citing that  he  had  convoked  a  general  assembly  at  Soissons, 
where  many  prelates  and  barons  then  present  had  consented 
and  requested  that  private  wars  might  cease  for  the  term  of 
ten  years.  The  famous  Saladine  tithe  was  imposed  upon  lay 
as  well  as  ecclesiastical  revenues  by  a  similar  convention  in 
1188.  And  when  Innocent  IV.,  during  his  contest  with  the 
Emperor  Frederick,  requested  an  asylum  in  France,  St.  Louis, 
though  much  inclined  t'o  favor  him,  ventured  only  to  give  a 
conditional  permission,  provided  it  were  agreeable  to  his 
barons,  whom,  he  said,  a  king  of  France  was  bound  to  con- 
sult in  such  circumstances.  Accordingly  he  assembled  the 
French  barons,  who  unanimously  refused  their  consent. 

It  was  the  ancient  custom  of  the  kinsrs  of  France  as  well 


Fkudal  System.     LEGISLATIVE  SUBSTITUTES.  117 

as  of  England,  and  indeed  of  all  those  vassals  who  affected  a 
kind  of  sovereignty,  to  hold  general  meetings  of  their  barons, 
called  (Jours  Plmihres^  or  Parliaments^  at  the  great  festivals 
of  the  year.  These  assemblies  were  principally  intended  to 
make  a  display  of  magnificence,  and  to  keep  the  feudal  tenants 
in  good-humor;  nor  is  it  easy  to  discover  that  they  passed 
in  any  thing  but  pageantry.  Some  respectable  antiquaries 
have,  however,  been  of  opinion  that  aifairs  of  state  were  oc- 
casionally discussed  in  them  ;  and  this  is  certainly  by  no 
means  inconsistent  with  probability,  though  not  sufficiently 
established  by  evidence. 

Excepting  a  few  instances,  most  of  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, it  does  not  appear  that  the  kings  of  the  house  of  Ca- 
pet acted  according  to  the  advice  and  deliberation  of  any 
national  assembly,  such  as  assisted  the  Norman  sovereigns 
of  England  ;  nor  was  any  consent  required  for  the  validity 
of  their  edicts,  except  that  of  the  ordinary  council,  chiefly 
formed  of  their  household  officers  and  less  powerful  vassals. 
This  is  at  first  sight  very  remarkable.  For  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  government  of  Henry  I.  or  Henry  II.  was 
incomparably  stronger  than  that  of  Louis  VI.  or  Louis  VII. 
But  this  apparent  absoluteness  of  the  latter  w^as  the  result 
of  their  real  weakness  and  the  disorganization  of  the  mon- 
archy. The  peers  of  France  were  infrequent  in  their  attend- 
ance upon  the  king's  council,  because  they  denied  its  coercive 
authority.  It  was  a  fundamental  principle  that  every  feudal 
tenant  was  so  far  sovereign  within  the  limits  of  his  fief,  that 
he  could  not  be  bound  by  any  law  without  his  consent. 
The  king,  says  St.  Louis  in  his  Establishments,  can  not  make 
proclamation,  that  is,  declare  any  new  law,  in  the  territory 
of  a  baron,  without  his  consent,  nor  can  the  baron  do  so  in 
that  of  a  vavassor.  Thus,  if  legislative  power  be  essential 
to  sovereignty,  we  can  not  in  strictness  assert  the  King  of 
France  to  have  been  sovereign  beyond  the  extent  of  his 
domanial  territory.  Nothing  can  more  strikingly  illustrate 
the  dissimilitude  of  the  French  and  English  constitutions  of 
government  than  the  sentence  above  cited  from  the  code  of 
St.  Louis. 

§  13.  Upon  occasions  when  the  necessity  of  common  de- 
liberation, or  of  giving  to  new  provisions  more  extensile 
scope  than  the  limits  of  a  single  fief,  was  too  glaring  to  be 
overlooked,  congresses  of  neighboring  lords  met  in  order  to 
agree  upon  resolutions  which  each  of  them  undertook  to  ex- 
ecute within  his  own  domains.  The  king  was  sometimes  a 
contracting  party,  but  without  any  coercive  authority  over 


118  INCREASE  OF  REGAL  POWER.     Chap.  II.  Part  IL 

the  rest.  Thus  we  have  what  is  called  an  ordinance,  but,  in 
reality,  an  agreement,  between  the  king  (Philip  Augustus), 
the  Countess  of  Troyes  or  Champagne,  and  the  Lord  of  Dam- 
pierre,  relating  to  the  Jews  in  their  domains ;  which  agree- 
ment or  ordinance,  it  is  said,  should  endure  "  until  ourselves, 
and  the  Countess  of  Troyes,  and  Guy  de  Dampierre,  who 
make  this  contract,  shall  dissolve  it  with  the  consent  of  such 
of  our  barons  as  we  shall  summon  for  that  purpose." 

Ecclesiastical  councils  were  another  substitute  for  a  regu- 
lar legislature;  and  this  defect  in  the  political  constitution 
rendered  their  encroachments  less  obnoxious,  and  almost  un- 
avoidable. That  of  Troyes  in  8V8,  composed  perhaps  in  part 
of  laymen,  imposed  a  fine  upon  the  invaders  of  church  prop- 
erty. And  the  Council  of  Toulouse,  in  1229,  prohibited  the 
erection  of  any  new  fortresses,  or  the  entering  into  any 
leagues,  except  against  the  enemies  of  religion ;  and  ordained 
that  judges  should  administer  justice  gratuitously,  and  pub- 
lish the  decrees  of  the  council  four  times  in  the  year. 

§  1 4.  The  original  exemption  of  the  vassals  of  the  crown 
from  legislative  control  remained  unimpaired  at  the  date  of 
the  Establishments  of  St.  Louis,  about  1269;  and  their  ill- 
judged  confidence  in  this  feudal  privilege  still  led  them  to 
absent  themselves  from  the  royal  council.  It  seems  impos- 
sible to  doubt  that  the  barons  of  France  might  have  asserted 
the  same  right  which  those  of  England  had  obtained,  that 
of  being  duly  summoned  by  special  writ,  and  thus  have  ren- 
dered their  consent  necessary  to  every  measure  of  legisla- 
tion. But  the  nobility  did  not  long  continue  safe  in  their 
immunity  from  the  king's  legislative  power. 

The  ultimate  source  of  this  increased  authority  will  be  found 
in  the  commanding  attitude  assumed  by  the  kings  of  France 
from  the  reign  of  Philip  Augustus,  and  particularly  in  the 
annexation  of  the  two  great  fiefs  of  Normandy  and  Toulouse. 
St.  Louis,  in  his  scrupulous  moderation,  forbore  to  avail  him- 
self of  all  the  advantages  presented  by  the  circumstances  of 
his  reign  ;  and  his  Establishments  bear  testimony  to  a  state 
of  political  society  which,  even  at  the  moment  of  their  pro- 
mulgation, was  passing  away.  The  next  thirty  years  after 
his  death,  with  no  marked  crisis,  and  with  little  disturbance, 
sifently  demolished  the  feudal  system,  such  as  had  been  es- 
tablished in  France  during  the  dark  confusion  of  the  tenth 
century.  Philip  the  Fair,  by  help  of  his  lawyers  and  his 
financiers,  found  himself,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  real  master  of  his  subjects. 

§  15.  There  was,  however,  one  essential  privilege  which  he 


Feudal  System.    RIGHTS  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  119 

could  not  hope  to  overturn  by  force — the  immunity  from  tax- 
ation enjoyed  by  his  barons.  This,  it  will  be  remembered, 
embraced  the  whole  extent  of  their  fiefs,  and  their  tenantry 
of  every  description — the  king  having  no  more  right  to  im- 
pose a  tallage  upon  the  demesne  towns  of  his  vassals  than 
upon  themselves.  Thus  his  resources,  in  point  of  taxation, 
were  limited  to  his  own  domains ;  including  certainly,  under 
Philip  the  Fair,  many  of  the  noblest  cities  in  France,  but  by 
no  means  sufficient  to  meet  his  increasing  necessities.  We 
have  seen  already  the  expedients  employed  by  this  rapa- 
cious monarch — a  shameless  depreciation  of  the  coin,  and, 
what  was  much  more  justifiable,  the  levying  taxes  within 
the  territories  of  his  vassals  by  their  consent.  Of  these 
measures,  the  first  was  odious,  the  second  slow  and  imperfect. 
Confiding  in  his  sovereign  authority — though  recently,  yet 
almost  completely,  established — and  little  apprehensive  of 
the  feudal  principles,  already  grown  obsolete  and  discounte- 
nanced, he  was  bold  enough  to  make  an  extraordinary  inno- 
vation in  the  French  constitution.  This  was  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  States-General,  a  representative  body,  composed 
of  the  three  orders  of  the  nation.  They  were  first  con- 
vened in  1302,  in  order  to  give  more  weight  to  the  king's 
cause  in  his  great  quarrel  with  Boniface  VIII. ;  but  their 
earliest  grant  of  a  subsidy  is  in  1314.  Thus  the  nobility 
surrendered  to  the  crown  their  last  privilege  of  territorial 
independence ;  and,  having  first  submitted  to  its  appellant 
jurisdiction  over  their  tribunals,  next  to  its  legislative  su- 
premacy, now  suffered  their  own  dependents  to  become,  as 
it  were,  immediate,  and  a  third  estate  to  rise  up  almost  co- 
ordinate with  themselves,  endowed  with  new  franchises,  and 
bearing  a  new  relation  to  the  monarchy. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  perceive  the  motives  of  Philip  in 
embodying  the  deputies  of  towns  as  a  separate  estate  in  the 
national  representation.  He  might,  no  question,  have  con- 
voked a  parliament  of  his  barons,  and  obtained  a  pecuniary 
contribution,  which  they  would  have  levied  upon  their  bur- 
gesses and  other  tenants.  But,  besides  the  ulterior  policy 
of  diminishing  the  control  of  the  barons  over  their  depencl- 
ents,  he  had  good  reason  to  expect  more  liberal  aid  from  the 
immediate  representatives  of  the  people  than  through  the 
concession  of  a  dissatisfied  aristocracy. 

§  16.  It  is  very  difficult  to  ascertain  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  States-General,  claimed  or  admitted,  during 
forty  years  after  their  first  convocation ;  but  if,  indeed,  we 
could  implicitly  confide  in  an  Iiistorian  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 


120         EIGHTS  OF  THE  STATES -GENERAL.     Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

tury,  who  asserts  that  Louis  Hutin  bound  himself  and  his  suc- 
cessors not  to  levy  any  tax  without  the  consent  of  the  three 
estates,  the  problem  would  find  its  solution.  This  ample 
charter  does  not  appear  in  the  French  archives ;  and,  though 
by  no  means  to  be  rejected  on  that  account,  when  we  con- 
sider the  strong  motives  for  its  destruction,  can  not  fairly  be 
adduced  as  an  authentic  fact.  Nor  can  we  altogether  infer, 
perhaps,  from  the  collection  of  ordinances,  that  the  crown 
had  ever  intentionally  divested  itself  of  the  right  to  impose 
tallages  on  its  domanial  tenants.  All  others,  however,  were 
certainly  exempted  from  that  prerogative ;  and  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  general  sentiment  that  no  tax  whatever  could 
be  levied  without  free  consent  of  the  estates.  Louis  Hutin, 
in  a  charter  granted  to  the  nobles  and  burgesses  of  Picardy, 
promises  to  abolish  the  unjust  taxes  (maltotes)  imposed  by 
his  father;  and  in  another  instrument,  called  the  charter  of 
Normandy,  declares  that  he  renounces  for  himself  and  his 
successors  all  undue  tallages  and  exactions, except  in  case  of 
evident  utility.  This  exception  is  doubtless  of  perilous  am- 
biguity; yet,  as  the  charter  was  literally  wrested  from  the 
king  by  an  insurrectionary  league,  it  might  be  expected  that 
the  same  spirit  would  rebel  against  his  royal  interpretation 
of  state  necessity.  His  successor,  Philip  the  Long,  tried  the 
experiment  of  a  gabelle,  or  excise  upon  salt.  But  it  pro- 
duced so  much  discontent  that  he  was  compelled  to  assem- 
ble the  States-General,  and  to  publish  an  ordinance  declar- 
ing that  the  impost  was  not  designed  to  be  perpetual,  and 
that,  if  a  sufficient  supply  for  the  existing  war  could  be 
found  elsewhere,  it  should  instantly  determine.  Whether 
this  was  done  I  do  not  discover;  nor  do  I  conceive  that  any 
of  the  sons  of  Philip  the  Fair,  inheriting  much  of  his  rapaci- 
ty and  ambition,  abstained  from  extorting  money  without 
consent.  Philip  of  Valois  renewed  and  augmented  the  du- 
ties on  salt  by  his  own  prerogative,  nor  had  the  abuse  of  de- 
basing the  current  coin  been  ever  carried  to  such  a  height  as 
during  his  reign  and  the  first  years  of  his  successor.  These 
exactions,  aggravated  by  the  smart  of  a  hostile  invasion, 
produced  a  very  remarkable  concussion  in  the  government 
of  France. 

§  17.  I  have  been  obliged  to  advert,  in  another  place,  to 
the  memorable  resistance  made  by  the  States-General  of 
1355  and  1356  to  the  royal  authority,  on  account  of  its  in- 
separable connection  with  the  civil  history  of  France.'^  In 
the  present  chapter  the  assumption  of  political  influence  by 

15  Chap,  i.,  p.  47. 


Feudal  System.  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  121 

those  assemblies  deserves  particular  notice.  Not  that  they 
pretended  to  restore  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  Northern 
nations,  still  flourishing  in  Spain  and  England,  the  partici- 
pation of  legislative  power  with  the  crown.  Five  hundred 
years  of  anarchy  and  ignorance  had  swept  away  all  remem- 
brance of  those  general  diets  in  which  the  capitularies  of  the 
Carlovingian  dynasty  had  been  established  by  common  con- 
sent. Charlemagne  himself  was  hardly  known  to  the  French 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  except  as  the  hero  of  some  silly 
romance  or  ballad.  The  States-General  remonstrated,  in- 
deed, against  abuses,  and  especially  the  most  flagrant  of  all, 
the  adulteration  of  money ;  but  the  ordinance  granting  re- 
dress emanated  altogether  from  the  king,  and  without  the 
least  reference  to  their  consent,  which  sometimes  appears  to 
be  studiously  omitted.  But  the  privilege  upon  which  the 
States  under  John  solely  relied  for  securing  the  redress  of 
grievances  was  that  of  granting  money,  and  of  regulating 
its  collection.  The  latter,  indeed,  though  for  convenience  it 
may  be  devolved  upon  the  executive  government,  appears 
to  be  incident  to  every  assembly  in  which  the  right  of  taxa- 
tion resides.  That,  accordingly,  which  met  in  1355  nomi- 
nated a  committee  chosen  out  of  the  three  orders,  which  was 
to  sit  after  their  separation,  and  which  the  king  bound  him- 
self to  consult,  not  only  as  to  the  internal  arrangements 
of  his  administration,  but  upon  every  proposition  of  peace 
or  armistice  with  England.  Deputies  were  dispatched  into 
each  district  to  superintend  the  collection  and  receive  the 
produce  of  the  subsidy  granted  by  the  States.  These  as- 
sumptions of  power  would  not  long,  we  may  be  certain,  have 
left  the  sole  authority  of  legislation  in  the  king,  and  might, 
perhaps,  be  censured  as  usurpation,  if  the  peculiar  emergen- 
cy in  which  France  was  then  placed  did  not  furnish  their  de- 
fense. 

§  18.  But  whatever  opportunity  might  now  be  aflbrded 
for  establishing  a  just  and  free  constitution  in  France  was 
entirely  lost.  Charles,  inexperienced  and  surrounded  by 
evil  counsellors,  thought  the  States-General  inclined  to  en- 
croach upon  his  rights,  of  which,  in  the  best  part  of  his  life, 
he  was  always  abundantly  careful.  He  dismissed,  therefore, 
the  assembly,  and  had  recourse  to  the  easy  but  rumous  ex- 
pedient of  debasing  the  coin.  This  led  to  seditions  at  Paris, 
by  which  his  authority,  and  even  his  life,  were  endangered. 
In  February,  1357,  three  months  after  the  last  meeting  had 
been  dissolved,  he  was  obliged  to  convoke  the  States  again, 
and  to  enact  an  ordinance  conformable  to  the  petitions  ten- 

6 


122  THE  STATES-GENERAL.         Chap.  II.  Pakt  II 

dered  by  the  former  assembly.  This  contained  many  excel- 
lent provisions,  both  for  the  redress  of  abuses  and  the  vigor- 
ous prosecution  of  the  war  against  Edward ;  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  that  men  who  advised  measures  so  condu- 
cive to  the  public  weal  could  have  been  the  blind  instruments 
of  the  King  of  Navarre.  But  this  is  a  problem  in  history 
that  wc  can  not  hope  to  resolve.  It  appears,  however,  that 
in  a  few  weeks  after  the  promulgation  of  this  ordinance  the 
proceedings  of  the  reformers  fell  into  discredit,  and  their 
commission  of  thirty-six,  to  whom  the  collection  of  the  new 
subsidy,  the  redress  of  grievances,  and,  in  fact,  the  whole 
administration  of  government,  had  been  intrusted,  became 
unpopular.  The  subsidy  produced  much  less  than  they  liad 
led  the  people  to  expect :  briefly,  the  usual  consequence  of 
democratical  emotions  in  a  monarchy  took  place.  Disap- 
pointed by  the  failure  of  hopes  unreasonably  entertained 
and  improvidently  encouraged,  and  disgusted  by  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  violent  demagogues,  the  nation,  especially  its 
privileged  classes,  who  seem  to  have  concurred  in  the  origi- 
nal proceedings  of  the  States-General,  attached  themselves 
to  the  party  of  Charles,  and  enabled  him  to  quell  opposition 
by  foi'ce.  Marcel,  provost  of  the  traders,  a  municipal  mag- 
istrate of  Paris,  detected  in  the  overt  execution  of  a  traitor- 
ous conspiracy  with  the  King  of  Navarre,  was  put  to  death 
by  a  private  hand.  Whatever  there  had  been  of  real  patri- 
otism in  the  States-General,  artfully  confounded,  according 
to  the  practice  of  courts,  with  these  schemes  of  disaffected 
men,  shared  in  the  com.raon  obloquy ;  whatever  substantial 
reforms  had  been  projected  the  government  threw  aside  as 
seditious  innovations.  Charles,  who  had  assumed  the  title 
of  regent,  found  in  the  States-General,  assembled  at  Paris  in 
1359,  a  very  different  disposition  from  that  which  their  pred- 
ecessors had  displayed,  and  publicly  restored  all  counsellors 
whom  in  the  former  troubles  he  had  been  compelled  to  dis- 
card. Thus  the  monarchy  resettled  itself  on  its  ancient  ba- 
sis, or,  more  properly,  acquired  additional  stability. 

§  19.  Both  John,  after  the  peace  of  Bretigni,  and  Charles 
V.  imposed  taxes  without  consent  of  the  States-General. 
The  latter,  indeed,  hardly  ever  convoked  that  assembly. 
Upon  his  death  the  contention  between  the  crown  and  rep- 
resentative body  was  renewed  ;  and,  in  the  first  meeting 
held  after  the  accession  of  Charles  VI.,  the  government  was 
compelled  to  revoke  all  taxes  illegally  imposed  since  the 
reign  of  Philip  IV.  This  is  the  most  remedial  ordinance. 
perhaps,  in  the  history  of  French  legislation.     "  We  will,  or 


Fkudal  System.  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  123 

dain,  and  grant,"  says  the  king,  "that  the  aids,  subsidies, 
and  impositions,  of  whatever  kind,  and  however  imposed, 
that  have  had  course  in  the  realm  since  the  reign  of  our 
predecessor,  Philip  the  Fair,  shall  be  repealed  and  abolished  ; 
and  we  will  and  decree  that,  by  the  course  which  the  said 
impositions  have  had,  we  or  our  successors  shall  not  have 
acquired  any  right,  nor  shall  any  prejudice  be  wrought  to 
our  people,  nor  to  their  privileges  and  liberties,  which  shall 
be  re-established  in  as  full  a  manner  as  they  enjoyed  them 
in  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Fair,  or  at  any  time  since  ;  and  we 
will  and  decree  that,  if  any  thing  has  been  done  contrary  to 
them  since  that  time  to  the  present  hour,  neither  we  nor  our 
successors  shall  take  any  advantage  therefrom."  If  circum- 
stances had  turned  out  favorably  for  the  cause  of  liberty, 
this  ordinance  might  have  been  the  basis  of  a  free  constitu- 
tion, in  respect,  at  least,  of  immunity  from  arbitrary  taxa- 
tion. But  the  coercive  measures  of  the  court  and  tumultu- 
ous spirit  of  the  Parisians  produced  an  open  quarrel,  in  which 
the  popular  party  met  with  a  decisive  failure. 

It  seems,  indeed,  impossible  that  a  number  of  deputies, 
elected  merely  for  the  purpose  of  granting  money,  can  pos- 
sess that  weight  or  be  invested  in  the  eyes  of  their  constit- 
uents with  that  awfulness  of  station  which  is  required  to 
withstand  the  royal  authority.  The  States-General  had  no 
right  of  redressing  abuses,  except  by  petition — no  share  in 
the  exercise  of  sovereignty,  which  is  inseparable  from  the 
legislative  power.  Hence,  even  in  their  proper  department 
of  imposing  taxes,  they  were  supposed  incapable  of  binding 
their  constituents  without  their  special  assent.  Whether  it 
were  the  timidity  of  the  deputies,  or  false  notions  of  free- 
dom, which  produced  this  doctrine,  it  was  evidently  repug- 
nant to  the  stability  and  dignity  of  a  representative  assem- 
bly. Nor  was  it  less  ruinous  in  practice  than  mistaken  in 
theory.  For  as  the  necessary  subsidies,  after  being  provis- 
ionally granted  by  the  States,  were  often  rejected  by  their 
electors,  the  king  found  a  reasonable  pretense  for  dispensing 
witli  the  concurrence  of  his  subjects  when  he  levied  contri- 
butions upon  them. 

The  States  -  General  were  convoked  but  rarely  under 
Charles  VI.  and  VII.,  both  of  whom  levied  money  without 
their  concurrence.  Yet  there  are  remarkable  testimonies 
under  the  latter  of  these  princes  that  the  sanction  of  nation- 
al representatives  was  still  esteemed  strictly  requisite  to  any 
ordinance  imposing  a  general  tax,  however  the  emergency 
of  circumstances  might  excuse  a  more  arbitrary  procedure. 


124  PROVINCIAL  ESTATES.       Chap.  II.  Part  IL 

Thus  Charles  VII.,  in  14.36,  declares  that  he  has  set  up  again 
the  aids  which  had  been  previously  abolished  hy  the  consent 
of  the  three  estates.  And  in  the  important  edict  establishing 
the  companies  of  ordonnance,  which  is  recited  to  be  done  by 
the  advice  and  counsel  of  the  States-General  assembled  at 
Orleans,  the  forty-first  section  appears  to  bear  a  necessary 
construction  that  no  tallage  could  lawfully  be  imposed  with- 
out such  consent.  It  is  maintained,  indeed,  by  some  writers, 
that  the  perpetual  taille  established  about  the  same  time 
was  actually  granted  by  these  States  of  1439,  though  it  does 
not  so  appear  upon  the  face  of  any  ordinance.  And  certain- 
ly this  is  consonant  to  the  real  and  recognized  constitution 
of  that  age. 

But  the  crafty  advisers  of  courts  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
enlightened  by  experience  of  past  dangers,  were  averse  to 
encountering  these  great  political  masses,  from  which  there 
were,  even  in  peaceful  times,  some  disquieting  interferences, 
some  testimonies  of  public  spirit,  and  recollections  of  liber- 
ty to  apprehend.  The  kings  of  France,  indeed,  had  a  re- 
source, which  generally  enabled  them  to  avoid  a  convoca- 
tion of  the  States-General,  without  violating  the  national 
franchises.  From  provincial  assemblies,  composed  of  the 
three  orders,  they  usually  obtained  more  money  than  they 
could  have  extracted  from  the  common  representatives  of  the 
nation,  and  heard  less  of  remonstrance  and  demand.  Lan- 
guedoc,  in  particular,  had  her  own  assembly  of  states,  and 
was  rarely  called  upon  to  send  deputies  to  the  general  body, 
or  representatives  of  what  was  called  the  Languedoil.  But 
Auvergne,  Normandy,  and  other  provinces  belonging  to  the 
latter  division,  had  frequent  convocations  of  their  respective 
estates  during  the  intervals  of  the  States-General — intervals 
which  by  this  means  were  protracted  far  beyond  that  dura- 
tion to  which  the  exigencies  of  the  crown  would  otherwise 
have  confined  them.  This  was  one  of  the  essential  differ- 
ences between  the  constitutions  of  France  and  England,  and 
arose  out  of  the  original  disease  of  the  former  monarchy — 
the  distraction  and  want  of  unity  consequent  upon  the  de- 
cline of  Charlemagne's  family,  which  separated  the  difierent 
provinces,  in  respect  of  their  interests  and  domestic  govern- 
ment, from  each  other. 

§  20.  But  the  formality  of  consent,  whether  by  general  or 
provincial  states,  now  ceased  to  be  reckoned  indispensable. 
The  lawyers  had  rarely  seconded  any  efforts  to  restrain  arbi- 
trary power  :  in  their  hatred  of  feudal  principles,  especially 
those  of  territorial  jurisdiction,  every  generous  sentiment  of 


Feudal  System.    STATES-GENERAL  OF  TOURS.  125 

freedom  was  proscribed ;  or,  if  they  admitted  that  absolute 
prerogative  might  require  some  checks,  it  was  such  only  as 
themselves,  not  the  national  representatives,  should  impose. 
Charles  VII.  levied  money  by  his  own  authority.  Louis  XI. 
carried  this  encroachment  to  the  highest  pitch  of  exaction. 
It  was  the  boast  of  courtiers  that  he  first  released  the  kings 
of  France  from  dependence  (Jiors  cle  page)  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  that  he  effectually  demolished  those  barriers  whicli, 
however  imperfect  and  ill-placed,  had  imposed  some  impedi- 
ment to  the  establishment  of  despotism. 

§  21.  The  States-General  met  but  twice  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XL,  and  on  neither  occasion  for  the  purpose  of  grant- 
ing money.  But  an  assembly  in  the  first  year  of  Charles 
VIIL,  the  States  of  Tours  in  1484,  is  too  important  to  be 
overlooked,  as  it  marks  the  last  struggle  of  the  French  na- 
tion by  its  legal  representatives  for  immunity  from  arbitrary 
taxation. 

A  warm  contention  arose  for  the  regency  upon  the  acces- 
sion of  Charles  VIIL,  between  his  aunt,  Anne  de  Beaujeu, 
whom  the  late  king  had  appointed  by  testament,  and  the 
princes  of  the  blood,  at  the  head  of  whom  stood  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  afterwards  Louis  XII.  The  latter  combined  to  de- 
mand a  convocation  of  the  States-General,  which  according- 
ly took  place.  The  king's  minority  and  the  factions  at  court 
seemed  no  unfavorable  omens  for  liberty.  But  a  scheme 
was  artfully  contrived  which  had  the  most  direct  tendency 
to  break  the  force  of  a  popular  assembly.  The  deputies 
were  classed  in  six  nations,  who  debated  in  separate  cham- 
bers, and  consulted  each  other  only  upon  the  result  of  their 
respective  deliberations.  It  was  easy  for  the  court  to  fo- 
ment the  jealousies  natural  to  such  a  partition.  Two  na- 
tions, the  Norman  and  Burgundian,  asserted  that  the  right 
of  providing  for  the  regency  devolved,  in  the  king's  minori- 
ty, upon  the  States-General ;  a  claim  of  great  botdness,  and 
certainly  not  much  founded  upon  precedents.  In  virtue  of 
this,  they  proposed  to  form  a  council  not  only  of  the  princes, 
but  of  certain  deputies  to  be  elected  by  the  six  nations  who 
composed  the  States.  But  the  other  four,  those  of  Paris, 
Aquitaine,  Languedoc,  and  Languedoil  (which  last  comprised 
the  central  provinces),  rejected  this  plan,  from  which  the 
two  former  ultimately  desisted,  and  the  choice  of  councillors 
was  left  to  the  princes. 

A  firmev  and  more  unanimous  spirit  was  displayed  upon 
the  subject  of  public  reformation.  The  tyranny  of  Louis 
XL  had  been  so  unbounded,  that  all  ranks  agreed  in  calling 


126  SCHEME  OF  JURISDICTION.    Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

for  redress,  and  the  new  governors  were  desirous,  at  least  by 
punishing  his  favorites,  to  show  their  inclination  towards  a 
change  of  system.  They  were  very  far,  however,  from  ap- 
proving the  propositions  of  the  States-General.  These  went 
to  points  which  no  court  can  bear  to  feel  touched,  though 
there  is  seldom  any  other  mode  of  redressing  public  abuses ; 
the  profuse  expense  of  the  royal  household,  the  number  of 
pensions  and  improvident  grants,  the  excessive  establishment 
of  troops.  The  States  explicitly  demanded  that  the  taille 
and  all  other  arbitrary  imposts  should  be  abolished,  and 
that  from  thenceforward,  "  according  to  the  natural  liberty 
of  France,"  no  tax  should  be  levied  in  the  kingdom  without 
the  consent  of  the  States.  It  was  with  great  difficulty,  and 
through  the  skillful  management  of  the  court,  that  they  con- 
sented to  the  collection  of  the  taxes  payable  in  the  time  of 
Charles  YIL,  with  the  addition  of  one-fourth  as  a  gift  to  the 
king  upon  his  accession.  This  subsidy  they  declare  to  be 
granted  "by  way  of  gift  and  concession,  and  not  otherwise, 
and  so  as  no  one  should  from  thenceforward  call  it  a  tax, 
but  a  gift  and  concession."  And  this  was  only  to  be  in 
force  for  two  years,  after  which  they  stipulated  that  anoth- 
er meeting  should  be  convoked.  But  it  was  little  likely 
that  the  government  would  encounter  such  a  risk;  and  the 
princes,  whose  factious  views  the  States  had  by  no  means 
seconded,  felt  no  temptation  to  urge  again  their  convocation. 
No  assembly  in  the  annals  of  France  seems,  notwithstand- 
ing some  party  selfishness  arising  out  of  the  division  into  na- 
tions, to  have  conducted  itself  with  so  much  jjublic  spirit 
and  moderation  ;  nor  had  that  country,  perhaps,  ever  so  fair 
a  prospect  of  establishing  a  legitimate  constitution. 

§  22. — V.  The  right  of  jurisdiction  has  undergone  changes 
in  France  and  in  the  adjacent  countries  still  more  remarka- 
ble than  those  of  the  legislative  power ;  and  passed  through 
three  very  distinct  stages,  as  the  popular,  aristocratic,  or 
regal  influence  predominated  in  the  political  system.  The 
Franks,  Lombards,  and  Saxons  seem  alike  to  have  been  jeal- 
ous of  judicial  authority,  and  averse  to  surrendering  what 
concerned  every  man's  private  right  out  of  the  hands  of  his 
neighbors  and  his  equals.  Every  ten  families  are  supposed 
to  have  had  a  magistrate  of  their  own  election  ;  the  tithing- 
man  of  England,  the  Decanus  of  France  and  Lombard y. 
Next  in  order  was  the  Centenarius  or  Hundredary,  whose 
name  expresses  the  extent  of  his  jurisdiction,  and  who,  like 
the  decanus,  was  chosen  by  those  subject  to  it.  But  the 
authority  of  these  petty  magistrates  was  gradually  confined 


\ 
Feudal  System.     TERRITORIAL  JURISDTCTIOX.  127 

to  the  less  important  subjects  of  legal  inquiry.  No  man,  by 
a  capitulary  of  Charlemagne,  could  be  impleaded  for  his  life, 
or  liberty,  or  lands,  or  servants  in  the  hundred  court.  In 
such  weighty  matters,  or  by  way  of  appeal  from  the  lower 
jurisdictions,  the  count  of  the  district  was  judge.  He,  in- 
deed, was  appointed  by  the  sovereign  ;  but  his  power  was 
checked  by  assessors,  called  Scabini,  who  held  their  office  by 
the  election,  or  at  least  the  concurrence,  of  the  people.  An 
ultimate  appeal  seems  to  have  lain  to  the  Count  Palatine,  an 
officer  of  the  royal  household  ;  and  sometimes  causes  were 
decided  by  the  sovereign  himself.  Such  was  the  original 
model  of  judicature  ;  but  as  complaints  of  injustice  and  neg- 
lect were  frequently  made  against  the  counts,  Charlemagne, 
desirous  on  every  account  to  control  them,  appointed  spe- 
cial judges,  called  Missi  Regii,  who  held  assizes  from  place 
to  place",  inquired  into  abuses  and  maladministration  of  jus- 
tice, enforced  its  execution,  and  expelled  inferior  judges  from 
their  offices  for  misconduct. 

§  23.  This  judicial  system  was  gradually  superseded  by 
one  founded  upon  totally  opposite  principles,  those  of  feudal 
privilege,  which  led  to  territorial  jurisdictioti.  An  allodial 
freeholder  could  own  no  jurisdiction  but  that  of  the  king. 
It  was  the  general  prevalence  of  sub-infeudation  which  gave 
importance  to  the  territorial  jurisdictions  of  the  nobility. 
For  now  the  military  tenants,  instead  of  repairing  to  the 
county  court,  sought  justice  in  that  of  their  immediate  lord  ; 
or  rather  the  count  himself,  become  the  suzerain  instead  of 
the  governor  of  his  district,  altered  the  form  of  his  tribunal 
upon  the  feudal  model.  A  system  of  procedure  so  congenial 
to  the  spirit  of  the  age  spread  universally  over  France  and 
Germany.  The  tribunals  of  the  king  were  forgotten  like  his 
laws ;  the  one  retaining  as  little  authority  to  correct,  as  the 
other  to  regulate,  the  decisions  of  a  territorial  judge.  The 
rules  of  evidence  were  superseded  by  that  monstrous  birth 
of  ferocity  and  superstition,  the  judicial  combat,  and  the 
maxims  of  law  reduced  to  a  few  capricious  customs,  which 
varied  in  almost  every  barony. 

These  rights  of  administering  justice  were  possessed  by 
the  owners  of  fiefs  in  very  different  degrees  ;  and,  in  France, 
were  divided  into  the  high,  the  middle,  and  the  low  jurisdic- 
tion. The  first  species  alone  (la  haute  justice)  conveyed  the 
power  of  life  and  death ;  it  was  inherent  in  the  baron  and 
the  chatelain,  and  sometimes  enjoyed  by  the  simple  vavas- 
sor.  The  lower  jurisdictions  were  not  competent  to  judge 
in  capital  cases,  and  consequently  forced  to  send  such  crira- 


128  TllIAL  BY  COMBAT.  Chap.  II.   Part  II. 

inals  to  the  court  of  the  superior.  But  in  some  places  a 
thief  taken  in  the  fact  might  be  punished  with  death  by  a 
lord  who  had  only  the  low  jurisdiction.  In  England  this 
privilege  was  known  by  the  uncouth  terms  of  Infangthef 
and  Outfangthef.  The  high  jurisdiction,  however,  was  not 
very  common  in  this  country,  except  in  the  chartered  towns. 

Several  customs  rendered  these  rights  of  jurisdiction  far 
less  instrumental  to  tyranny  than  we  might  infer  from  their 
extent.  While  the  counts  were  yet  officers  of  the  crown, 
they  frequently  appointed  a  deputy,  or  viscount,  to  admin- 
ister justice.  Ecclesiastical  lords,  who  were  prohibited  by 
the  canons  from  inflicting  capital  punishment,  and  supposed 
to  be  unacquainted  with  the  law  followed  in  civil  courts,  or 
unable  to  enforce  it,  had  an  officer  by  name  of  advocate,  or 
vidame,  whose  tenure  was  often  feudal  and  hereditary.  The 
viguiers  (vicarii),  bailiffs,  provosts,  and  seneschals  of  lay 
lords  w^ere  similar  ministers,  though  not  in  general  of  so 
permanent  a  right  in  their  offices,  or  of  such  eminent  sta- 
tion, as  the  advocates  of  monasteries.  It  seems  to  have  been 
an  established  maxim,  at  least  in  later  times,  that  the  lord 
could  not  sit  personally  in  judgment,  but  must  intrust  that 
function  to  his  bailifl:'  and  vassals.  According  to  the  feudal 
rules,  the  lord's  vassals  or  peers  of  his  court  were  to  assist  at 
all  its  proceedings.  And  indeed  the  presence  of  these  as- 
sessors was  so  essential  to  all  territorial  jurisdiction,  that  no 
lord,  to  w^hatever  rights  of  justice  his  fief  might  entitle  him, 
was  qualified  to  exercise  them,  unless  he  had  at  least  two 
vassals  to  sit  as  peers  in  his  court. 

§  24.  These  courts  of  a  feudal  barony  or  manor  required 
neither  the  knowledge  of  positive  law  nor  the  dictates  of 
natural  sagacity.  In  all  doubtful  cases,  and  especially  where 
a  crime  not  capable  of  notorious  proof  was  charged,  the  com- 
bat was  awarded  ;  and  God,  as  they  deemed,  was  the  judge.^° 
The  nobleman  fought  on  horseback,  with  all  his  arms  of  at- 
tack and  defense ;  the  plebeian  on  foot,  with  his  club  and 
target.  The  same  were  the  weapons  of  the  champions  to 
whom  women  and  ecclesiastics  were  permitted  to  intrust 
their  rights.  If  the  combat  was  intended  to  ascertain  a  civil 
right,  the  vanquished  party  of  course  forfeited  his  claim  and 
paid  a  fine.  If  he  fought  by  proxy,  the  champion  was  liable 
to  have  his  hand  struck  off;  a  regulation  necessary,  per- 
haps, to  obviate  the  corruption  of  these  hired  defenders.     In 

»•  Trial  by  combat  does  not  seem  to  have  established  itself  completely  in  France 
till  ordeals  went  into  disuse,  which  Charlemagne  rather  encouraged,  and  which,  in 
his  age,  the  clergy  for  the  most  part  approved. 


Fkudal  Svstkm.  code  OF  ST.  LOUIS.  12J) 

criminal  cases  the  appellant  suffered,  in  the  event  of  defeat, 
the  same  punishment  wliich  the  law  awarded  to  the  offense 
of  which  he  accused  his  adversary.  Even  w^here  the  cause 
was  more  peaceably  tried,  and  brought  to  a  regular  adjudi- 
cation by  the  court,  an  appeal  for  false  judgment  might,  in- 
deed, be  made  to  the  suzerain,  but  it  could  only  be  tried  by 
battle.  And  in  this  the  appellant,  if  he  would  impeach  the 
concurrent  judgment  of  the  court  below,  was  compelled  to 
meet  successively  in  combat  every  one  of  its  members ;  un- 
less he  should  vanquish  them  all  within  the  day,  his  life,  if 
he  escaped  from  so  many  hazards,  was  forfeited  to  the  law. 
If  fortune  or  miracle  should  make  him  conqueror  in  every 
contest,  the  judges  were  equally  subject  to  death,  and  their 
court  forfeited  their  jurisdiction  forever.  A  less  perilous 
mode  of  appeal  was  to  call  the  first  judge  who  pronounced 
a  hostile  sentence  into  the  field.  If  the  appellant  came  off 
victorious  in  this  challenge,  the  decision  was  reversed,  but 
the  court  was  not  impeached.  But  for  denial  of  justice,  that 
is,  for  a  refusal  to  try  his  suit,  the  plaintiff  repaired  to  the 
court  of  the  next  superior  lord,  and  supported  his  appeal  by 
testimony.  Yet  even  here  the  witnesses  might  be  defied,  and 
the  pure  stream  of  justice  turned  at  once  into  the  torrent  of 
barbarous  contest. 

§  25.  Such  was  the  judicial  system  of  France  when  St. 
Louis  enacted  that  great  code  which  bears  the  name  of  his 
Establishments.  The  rules  of  civil  and  criminal  procedure, 
as  well  as  the  principles  of  legal  decisions,  are  there  laid 
down  with  much  detail.  But  that  incomparable  prince,  un- 
able to  overthrow  the  judicial  combat,  confined  himself  to 
discourage  it  by  the  example  of  a  wiser  jurisprudence.  It 
was  abolished  throughout  the  royal  domains.  The  bailiffs 
and  seneschals  who  rendered  justice  to  the  king's  immediate 
subjects  were  bound  to  follow  his  own  laws.  He  not  only 
received  appeals  from  their  sentences  in  his  own  court  of 
peers,  but  listened  to  all  complaints  with  a  kind  of  patriarch- 
al simplicity.  "Many  times,"  says  Joinville,  "  I  have  seen 
the  good  saint,  after  hearing  mass^in  the  summer  season,  lay 
himself  at  the  foot  of  an  oak  in  the  wood  of  Vincennes,  and 
make  us  all  sit  round  him ;  when  those  who  would,  came  and 
spake  to  him  without  let  of  any  ofticer,  and  he  would  ask 
aloud  if  there  were  any  present  who  had  suits ;  and  when 
they  appeared,  would  bid  two  of  his  bailiffs  determine  their 
cause  upon  the  spot." 

The  influence  of  this  new  jurisprudence  established  by  St. 
Louis,  combined  with  the  great  enhancements  of  the  royal 

6* 


130  ROYAL  COURTS.  Chap.  II.  Part  II 

prerogatives  in  every  other  respect,  produced  a  rapid  change 
in  the  legal  administration  of  France.  It  was,  in  all  civil 
suits,  at  the  discretion  of  the  litigant  parties  to  adopt  the 
law  of  the  EstabHshments,  instead  of  resorting  to  combat. 
As  gentler  manners  prevailed,  especially  among  those  who 
did  not  make  arras  their  profession,  the  wisdom  and  equity 
of  the  new  code  was  naturally  preferred.  The  superstition 
Avhich  had  originally  led  to  the  latter  lost  its  weight  through 
experience  and  the  uniform  ojDposition  of  the  clergy.  The 
same  superiority  of  just  and  settled  rules  over  fortune  and 
violence,  which  had  forwarded  the  encroachments  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical courts,  was  now  manifested  in  those  of  the  king. 
§  26.  Philip  Augustus,  by  a  famous  ordinance  in  1190,  first 
established  royal  courts  of  justice,  held  by  the  officers  called 
bailiifs  or  seneschals,  wlio  acted  as  the  king's  lieutenants  in 
his  domains.  Every  barony,  as  it  became  reunited  to  the 
crown,  was  subjected  to  the  jurisdiction  of  one  of  these  offi- 
cers, and  took  the  name  of  a  bailliage  or  seneschaussee ;  the 
former  name  prevailing  most  in  the  northern,  the  latter  in 
the  southern,  provinces.  The  vassals  whose  lands  depended 
upon,  or,  in  feudal  language,  moved,  from  the  superiority  of 
this  fief,  were  obliged  to  submit  to  the  ressort  or  supreme 
appellant  jurisdiction  of  the  royal  court  established  in  it. 
This  began  rapidly  to  encroach  upon  the  feudal  rights  of  jus- 
tice. In  a  variety  of  cases,  termed  royal,  the  territorial  court 
was  |)ronounced  incompetent;  they  were  reserved  for  the 
judges  of  the  crown ;  and  in  every  case,  unless  the  defend- 
ant excepted  to  the  jurisdiction,  the  royal  court  might  take 
cognizance  of  a  suit,  and  decide  it  in  exclusion  of  the  feudal 
judicature.  The  nature  of  cases  reserved  under  the  name 
of  royal  was  kept  in  studied  ambiguity,  under  cover  of 
which  the  judges  of  the  crown  perpetually  strove  to  multi- 
ply them.  Vassals  were  permitted  to  complain,  in  the  lirst 
instance,  to  the  king's  court,  of  injuries  committed  by  their 
lords.  These  rapid  and  violent  encroachments  left  the  nobil- 
ity no  alternative  but  armed  combinations  to  support  their 
remonstrances.  Philip  the  Fair  bequeathed  to  his  successor 
the  task  of  appeasing  the  storm  which  his  own  administra- 
tion had  excited.  Leagues  were  formed  in  most  of  the 
northern  provinces  for  the  redress  of  grievances,  in  which  the 
third  estate,  oppressed  by  taxation,  united  with  the  vassals, 
whose  feudal  privileges  had  been  infringed.  Separate  char- 
ters were  granted  to  each  of  these  confederacies  by  Louis 
Hutin,  which  contain  many  remedial  provisions  against  the 
grosser  violations  of  ancient  rights,  though  the  crown  per- 


Feudal  Systkm.         TAKLIAMENT  OF  PARIS.  131 

sisted  in  restraining  territorial  jurigdictions.  Appeals  be- 
came more  common  for  false  judgment,  as  well  as  denial  of 
right ;  and  in  neither  was  the  combat  permitted.  It  was 
still,  however,  preserved  in  accusations  of  heinous  crimes, 
unsupported  by  any  testimony  but  that  of  the  prosecutor, 
and  was  never  abolished  by  any  positive  law,  either  in  France 
or  England.  But  instances  of  its  occurrence  are  not  frequent 
even  in  the  fourteenth  century. 

§  27.  The  supreme  council,  or  court  of  peers,  to  whose  de- 
liberative functions  I  have  already  adverted,  was  also  the 
great  judicial  tribunal  of  the  French  crown  from  the  acces- 
sion of  Hugh  Capet.  By  this  alone  the  barons  of  France,  or 
tenants-in-chief  of  the  king,  could  be  judged.  To  this  court 
appeals  for  denials  of  justice  were  referred.  It  was  original- 
ly composed,  as  has  been  observed,  of  the  feudal  vassals,  co- 
equals  of  those  who  were  to  be  tried  by  it ;  and  also  of  the 
household  officers,  whose  right  of  concurrence,  however  anom- 
alous, was  extremely  ancient.  But  after  the  business  of  the 
court  came  to  increase  through  the  multiplicity  of  appeals, 
especially  from  the  bailiffs  established  by  Philip  Augustus  in 
the  royal  domains,  the  barons  found  neither  leisure  nor  ca- 
pacity for  the  ordinary  administration  of  justice,  and  reserved 
their  attendance  for  occasions  where  some  of  their  own  or- 
ders were  implicated  in  a  criminal  process.  St.  Louis,  anx- 
ious for  regularity  and  enlightened  decisions,  made  a  consid- 
erable alteration  by  introducing  some  councillors  of  inferior 
rank,  chiefly  ecclesiastics,  as  advisers  of  the  court,  though,  as 
is  supposed,  without  any  decisive  suffrage.  The  court  now 
became  known  by  the  name  of  Parliament.  Registers  of 
its  proceedings  were  kept,  of  which  the  earliest  extant  are 
of  the  year  1254.  It  was  still,  perhaps,  in  some  degree  am- 
bulatory ;  but  by  far  the  greater  part  of  its  sessions  in  the 
thirteenth  century  were  at  Paris.  The  councillors  nomina- 
ted by  the  king,  some  of  them  clerks,  others  of  noble  rank, 
but  not  peers  of  the  ancient  baronage,  acquired  insensibly  a 
right  of  suffrage. 

An  ordinance  of  Philip  the  Fair,  in  1302,  is  generally  sup- 
posed to  have  tixed  the  seat  of  Parliament  at  Paris,  as  well 
as  altered  its  constituent  parts.  Perhaps  a  series  of  pro- 
gressive changes  has  been  referred  to  a  single  epoch.  But 
whether  by  virtue  of  this  ordinance,  or  of  more  gradual 
events,  the  character  of  the  whole  feudal  court  was  nearly 
obliterated  iix  that  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  A  systematic 
tribunal  took  tue  place  of  a  loose  aristocratic  assembly.  It 
was  to  hold  two  sittings  in  the  year,  each  of  two  months'  du- 


132  PARLIAMENT  OF  PARIS.     Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

ration ;  it  was  composed  of  two  prelates,  two  counts,  thirteen 
clerks,  and  as  many  laymen.  Great  changes  were  made  af- 
terwards in  this  constitution.  The  nobility,  who  originally 
sat  there,  grew  weary  of  an  attendance  which  detained  them 
from  war,  and  from  their  favorite  pursuits  at  home.  The 
bishops  were  dismissed  to  their  necessary  residence  upon 
their  sees.  As  they  withdrew,  a  class  of  regular  lawyers, 
originally  employed,  as  it  appears,  in  the  pre^Daratory  busi- 
ness, without  any  decisive  voice,  came  forward  to  the  higher 
places,  and  established  a  complicated  and  tedious  system  of 
procedure,  which  was  always  characteristic  of  French  juriss 
prudence.  They  introduced  at  the  same  time  a  new  theo- 
ry of  absolute  power  and  unlimited  obedience.  All  feudal 
privileges  were  treated  as  encroachments  on  the  imprescrip- 
tible rights  of  monarchy.  With  the  natural  bias  of  lawyers 
in  favor  of  prerogative  conspired  that  of  the  clergy,  who  fled 
to  the  king  for  refuge  against  the  tyranny  of  the  barons.  In 
the  civil  and  canon  laws  a  system  of  political  maxims  was 
found  very  uncongenial  to  the  feudal  customs.  The  French 
lawyers  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  frequently 
give  their  king  the  title  of  emperor,  and  treat  disobedience 
to  him  as  sacrilege. 

§  28.  But  among  these  lawyers,  although  the  general  ten- 
ants of  the  crown  by  barony  ceased  to  appear,  there  still 
continued  to  sit  a  more  eminent  body,  the  lay  and  spiritual 
peers  of  France,  representatives,  as  it  were,  of  that  ancient 
baronial  aristocracy.  It  is  a  very  controverted  question  at 
what  time  this  exclusive  dignity  of  peerage,  a  word  obvious- 
ly applicable  by  the  feudal  law  to  all  persons  co-equal  in  de- 
gree of  tenure,  was  reserved  to  twelve  vassals.  At  the  coro- 
nation of  Philip  Augustus,  in  1179,  we  first  perceive  the  six 
great  feudatories,  dukes  of  Burgundy,  Normandy,  Guienne, 
counts  of  Toulouse,  Flanders,  Champagne,  distinguished  by 
the  offices  they  performed  in  that  ceremony.  It  was  natural, 
indeed,  that,  by  their  princely  splendor  and  importance,  they 
should  eclipse  such  petty  lords  as  Bourbon  and  Coucy,  how- 
ever equal  in  quality  of  tenure.  During  the  reign  of  Philip 
Augustus,  six  ecclesiastical  i3eers,the  duke-bishops  of  Rheims, 
Loan,  and  Langres,  the  count-bishops  of  Beauvais,  Chalons, 
and  Noyon,  were  added  as  a  sort  of  parallel  or  counterpoise. 
Their  precedence  does  not,  however,  appear  to  have  carried 
with  it  any  other  privilege,  at  least  in  judicature,  than  other 
barons  enjoyed.  But  their  pre-eminence  being  fully  con- 
firmed, Philip  the  Fair  set  the  precedent  of  augmenting 
their  original  number,  by  conferring  the  dignity  of  peerage 


FEUDAL  System.    JUKISDICTION  OF  PARLIAMENT.  133 

on  the  Duke  of  Brittany  and  the  Count  of  Artoid.  Other 
creations  took  place  subsequently  ;  but  these  were  confined, 
during  the  period  comprised  in  this  work,  to  princes  of  the 
royal  blood.  The  peers  were  constant  members  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, from  which  other  vassals  holding  in  chief  were  never, 
perhaps,  excluded  by  law,  but  their  attendance  was  rare  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  soon  afterwards  ceased  altogether. 

§  29.  A  judicial  body  composed  of  the  greatest  nobles  in 
France,  as  well  as  of  learned  and  eminent  lawyers,  must  nat- 
urally have  soon  become  politically  important.  Notwith- 
standing their  disposition  to  enhance  every  royal  preroga- 
tive, as  opposed  to  feudal  privileges,  the  Parliament  was  not 
disinclined  to  see  its  own  protection  invoked  by  the  subject. 
During  the  tempests  of  Charles  VI.'s  unhappy  reign  the  Par- 
liament acquired  a  more  decided  authority,  and  held,  in  some 
degree,  the  balance  between  the  contending  factions  of  Orleans 
and  Burgundy.  This  influence  was  partly  owing  to  one  re- 
markable function  attributed  to  the  Parliament,  which  raised 
it  much  above  the  level  of  a  merely  political  tribunal,  and  has 
at  various  times  wrought  striking  eifects  in  the  French  mon- 
archy. 

The  few  ordinances  enacted  by  kings  of  France  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  were  generally  by  the  ad- 
vice of  their  royal  council,  in  which  probably  they  were  sol- 
emnly declared  as  well  as  agreed  upon.  But  after  the  grad- 
ual revolution  of  government,  which  took  away  from  the 
feudal  aristocracy  all  control  over  the  king's  edicts,  and  sub- 
stituted a  new  magistracy  for  the  ancient  baronial  court, 
these  legislative  ordinances  were  commonly  drawn  up  by 
the  interior  council,  or  what  we  may  call  the  ministry. 
They  were  in  some  instances  promulgated  by  the  king  in 
Parliament.  Others  were  sent  thither  for  registration  or  en- 
try upon  their  records.  This  formality  was  by  degrees,  if 
not  from  the  beginning,  deemed  essential  to  render  them 
authentic  and  notorious,  and  therefore  indirectly  gave  them 
the  sanction  and  validity  of  a  law.  In  course  of  time  it 
claimed  to  itself  the  right  of  judging  the  expediency  of 
edicts  proceeding  from  the  king,  and  we  find  it  as  early  as 
the  fifteenth  century  manifesting  pretensions  of  this  nature  : 
first,  by  registering  ordinances  in  such  a  manner  as  to  testi- 
fy its  own  unwillingness  and  disapprobation,  and  afterwards 
by  remonstrating  against  and  delaying  the  registration  of 
laws  which  it  deemed  inimical  to  the  public  interest.  A 
conspicuous  proof  of  this  spirit  was  given  in  their  opposition 
to  Louis  XI.  when  repealing  tlie  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  his 


134  JURISDICTION  OF  PARLIAMENT.    Chap.  II.  Part  11 

father— an  ordinance  essential,  in  their  opinion,  to  the  liber- 
ties of  the  Gallican  Church.  In  this  instance  they  ultimately 
yielded;  but  at  another  time  they  persisted  in  a  refusal  to  en- 
register  letters  containing  an  alienation  of  the  royal  domain. 
The  counsellors  of  Parliament  were  originally  appointed 
by  the  king ;  and  they  were  even  changed  according  to  cir- 
cumstances. But  in  1468  Louis  XI.  published  a  most  im- 
portant ordinance,  declaring  the  presidents  and  counsellors 
of  Parliament  immovable,  except  in  case  of  legal  forfeiture. 
This  extraordinary  measure  of  conferring  independence  on  a 
body  which  had  already  displayed  a  consciousness  of  its  em- 
inent privilege  by  opposing  the  registration  of  his  edicts,  is 
perhaps  to  be  deemed  a  proof  of  that  short-sightedness  as  to 
points  of  substantial  interest  so  usually  found  in  crafty  men. 
but,  be  this  as  it  may,  there  was  formed  in  the  Parliament 
of  Paris  an  independent  power  not  emanating  from  the  royal 
will,  nor  liable,  except  through  force,  to  be  destroyed  by  it ; 
which  in  later  times  became  almost  the  sole  depository,  if 
not  of  what  we  should  call  the  love  of  freedom,  yet  of  public 
spirit  and  attachment  to  justice.  France,  so  fertile  of  great 
men  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  might  bet- 
ter spare,  perhaps,  from  her  annals  any  class  and  description 
of  them  than  her  lawyers.  Doubtless  the  Parliament  of 
Paris,  with  its  prejudices  and  narrow  views,  its  high  notions 
of  loyal  obedience  so  strangely  mixed  up  with  remonstrances 
and  resistance,  its  anomalous  privilege  of  objecting  to  edicts, 
hardly  approved  by  the  nation  who  did  not  participate  in 
it,  and  overturned  with  facility  by  the  king  whenever  he 
thought  fit  to  exert  the  sinews  of  his  prerogative,  was  but 
an  inadequate  substitute  for  that  co-ordinate  sovereignty, 
that  equal  concurrence  of  national  representatives  in  legisla- 
tion, which  has  long  been  the  exclusive  pride  of  our  govern- 
ment, and  to  which  the  States-General  of  France,  in  their 
best  days,  had  never  aspired.  No  man  of  sane  understand- 
ing would  desire  to  revive  institutions  both  uncongenial  to 
modern  opinions  and  to  the  natural  order  of  society.  Yet 
the  name  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  must  ever  be  respecta- 
ble. It  exhibited  upon  various  occasions  virtues  from  which 
human  esteem  is  as  inseparable  as  the  shadow  from  the  sub- 
stance— a  severe  adherence  to  principles,  an  unaccommoda- 
ting sincerity,  individual  disinterestedness  and  consistency.** 

"  A  work  has  appeared  within  a  few  years  which  throws  an  abundant  light  on 
the  judicial  system,  and  indeed  on  the  whole  civil  polity  of  France,  as  well  as  other 
countries,  during  the  Middle  Ages.  I  allude  to  "  L'Esprit,  Origine,  et  Progres  des 
Institutions  judiciaires  des  principaux  Pays  de  I'Europe,"  by  M.  Meyer,  of  Amster- 
dam; especially  the  first  and  third  volumes. 


Feudal  System.    DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  135 

§  30.  The  principal  causes  that  operated  in  subverting  the 
feudal  system  may  be  comprehended  under  three  distinct 
heads — the  increasing  power  of  the  crown,  the  elevation  of 
the  lower  ranks,  and  the  decay  of  the  feudal  principle. 

It  has  been  my  object  in  the  last  pages  to  point  out  the 
acquisitions  of  power  by  the  crown  of  France  in  respect  of 
legislative  and  judicial  authority.  The  principal  augmenta- 
tions of  its  domain  have  been  historically  mentioned  in  the 
last  chapter.  The  French  kings  naturally  acted  upon  a  sys- 
tem, in  order  to  recover  those  possessions  which  the  improvi- 
dence or  necessities  of  the  Carlovingian  race  had  suffered  al- 
most to  fall  away  from  the  monarchy.  This  course,  pursued 
with  tolerable  steadiness  for  two  or  three  centuries,  restored 
their  effective  power.  By  escheat  or  forfeiture,  by  bequest 
or  purchase,  by  marriage  or  succession,  a  number  of  fiefs 
were  merged  in  their  increasing  domain.  The  reunion  of  so 
many  fiefs  was  attempted  to  be  secured  by  a  legal  principle, 
that  the  domain  was  inalienable  and  imprescriptible.  This 
became  at  length  a  fundamental  maxim  in  the  law  of  France. 
But  there  was  one  species  of  infeudation  so  consonant  to  an- 
cient usage  and  prejudice  that  it  could  not  be  avoided  upon 
any  suggestions  of  policy ;  this  was  the  investiture  of  young- 
er princes  of  the  blood  with  considerable  territorial  appan- 
ages. It  is  remarkable  that  the  epoch  of  appanages  on  so 
great  a  scale  was  the  reign  of  St.  Louis,  whose  efforts  were 
constantly  directed  against  feudal  independence.  Yet  he 
invested  his  brothers  with  the  counties  of  Poitou,  Anjou,  and 
Artois,  and  his  sons  with  those  of  Clermont  and  Alen9on. 
This  practice,  in  later  times,  produced  very  mischievous  con- 
sequences. 

§  31.  Under  a  second  class  of  events  that  contributed  to 
destroy  the  spirit  of  the  feudal  system  we  may  reckon  the 
abolition  of  villenage,  the  increase  of  commerce  and  conse- 
quent opulence  of  merchants  and  artisans,  and  especially  the 
institutions  of  free  cities  and  boroughs.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  important  and  interesting  steps  in  the  progress  of  soci- 
ety during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  deserves  particular  consid- 
eration. 

The  provincial  cities  under  the  Roman  Empire  enjoyed,  as 
is  well  known,  a  municipal  magistracy  and  the  right  of  in- 
ternal regulation.  Nor  was  it  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Frank  or  Gothic  conquerors  to  leave  them  in  possession  of 
these  privileges.  The  continuance  of  municipal  institutions 
has  been  traced  in  several  cities,  especially  in  the  south  of 
France,  from  the  age  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  twelfth 


130  DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.    Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

century,  when  the  formal  charters  of  communities  first  ap- 
pear. ^^ 

The  earliest  charters  of  community  granted  to  towns  in 
France  have  been  commonly  referred  to  the  time  of  Louis  VI. 
Noyon,  St.  Quentin,  Laon,  and  Amiens  appear  to  have  been 
the  first  that  received  emancipation  at  the  hands  of  this 
prince.  The  chief  towns  in  the  royal  domains  were  succes- 
sively admitted  to  the  same  privileges  during  the  reigns  of 
Louis  VL,  Louis  VIL,  and  Philip  Augustus.  This  example 
was  gradually  followed  by  the  peers  and  other  barons ;  so 
that  by  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  custom  had 
prevailed  over  all  France.  This  enfranchisement  of  the 
towns  seems  to  have  been  due,  both  in  the  king  and  his  bar- 
ons, to  their  pecuniary  exigencies ;  for  we  could  hardly 
doubt  that  their  concessions  w^ere  sold  at  the  highest  price, 
even  if  the  existing  charters  did  not  exhibit  the  fullest  proof 
of  it.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the  coarser  methods  of 
rapine  must  have  grown  obsolete,  and  the  rights  of  the  in- 
habitants of  towns  to  property  established,  before  they  could 
enter  into  any  compact  with  their  lord  for  the  purchase  of 
liberty. 

In  some  cases  they  were  indebted  for  success  to  their  own 
courage  and  love  of  liberty.  Oppressed  by  the  exactions  of 
their  superiors,  they  had  recourse  to  arms,  and  united  them- 
selves in  a  common  league,  confirmed  by  oath,  for  the  sake 
of  redress.  Several  charters  bear  witness  that  this  spirit  of 
resistance  was  justified  by  oppression.  Louis  YII.  frequent- 
ly declares  the  tyranny  exercised  over  the  towns  to  be  his 
motive  for  enfranchising  them. 

§  32.  The  privileges  which  these  towns  of  France  derived 
from  their  charters  were  surprisingly  extensive ;  especially 
if  we  do  not  suspect  some  of  them  to  be  merely  in  confirma- 
tion of  previous  usages.  They  were  made  capable  of  pos- 
sessing common  property,  and  authorized  to  use  a  common 
seal  as  the  symbol  of  their  incorporation.  The  more  o}> 
pressive  and  ignominious  tokens  of  subjection,  such  as  the 
fine  paid  to  the  lord  for  permission  to  marry  their  children, 
were  abolished.  Their  payments  of  rent  or  tribute  were 
limited  both  in  amount  and  as  to  the  occasions  when  they 
might  be  demanded  :  and  these  were  levied  by  assessors  of 
their  own  electing.  Some  obtained  an  exemption  from  as- 
sisting their  lord  in  war;  others  were  only  bound  to  follow 
him  when  he  personally  commanded ;  and  almost  all  limited 
their  service  to  one,  or,  at  the  utmost,  very  few  days.     If 

*8  See  "Note  III.,  "Muuicipal  Government." 


Feudal  System.    DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  13? 

they  were  persuaded  to  extend  its  duration,  it  was,  like  that 
of  feudal  tenants,  at  the  cost  of  their  superior.  Their  cus- 
toms, as  to  succession  and  other  matters  of  private  right, 
were  reduced  to  certainty,  and,  for  the  most  part,  laid  down 
in  the  charter  of  incorporation.  And  the  observation  of 
these  was  secured  by  the  most  valuable  privilege  which  the 
chartered  towns  obtained — that  of  exemption  from  the  juris- 
diction, as  well  of  the  royal  as  the  territorial  judges.  They 
were  subject  only  to  that  of  magistrates  either  wholly  elect- 
ed by  themselves,  or,  in  some  places,  with  a  greater  or  less 
participation  of  choice  in  the  lord.  They  were  empowered 
to  make  special  rules,  or,  as  we  call  them,  by-laws,  so  as  not 
to  contravene  the  provisions  of  their  charter  or  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  king. 

It  was  undoubtedly  fjir  from  the  intention  of  those  barons 
who  conferred  such  immunities  upon  their  subjects  to  relin- 
quish-their  own  superiority  and  rights  not  expressly  con- 
ceded. But  a  remarkable  change  took  place  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century,  which  affected,  in  a  high  de- 
gree, the  feudal  constitution  of  France.  Towns,  distrustful 
to  their  lord's  fidelity,  sometimes  called  in  the  king  as  guar- 
antee of  his  engagements.  The  first  stage  of  royal  interfer- 
ence led  to  a  more  extensive  measure.  Philip  Augustus 
granted  letters  of  safeguard  to  communities  dependent  upon 
the  barons,  assuring  to  them  his  own  protection  and  patron- 
age. And  this  was  followed  up  so  quickly  by  the  court,  if 
we  believe  some  writers,  that  in  the  next  reign  Louis  VIII. 
pretended  to  the  immediate  sovereignty  over  all  chartered 
towns,  in  exclusion  of  their  original  lords.  Nothing,  per- 
haps, had  so  decisive  an  effect  in  subverting  the  feudal  aris- 
tocracy. The  barons  perceived,  too  late,  that,  for  a  price 
long  since  lavished  in  prodigal  magnificence  or  useless  war- 
fare, they  had  suffered  the  source  of  their  wealth  to  be  di- 
verted, and  the  nerves  of  their  strength  to  be  severed.  The 
government  prudently  respected  the 'privileges  secured  by 
charter.  Philip  the  Long  established  an  officer  in  all  large 
towns  to  preserve  peace  by  an  armed  police ;  but,  though 
subject  to  the  orders  of  the  crown,  he  was  elected  by  the 
burgesses,  and  they  took  a  mutual  oath  of  fidelity  to  each 
other.  Thus  shielded  under  the  king's  mantle,  they  ventured 
to  encroach  upon  the  neighboring  lords,  and  to  retaliate  for 
the  long  oppression  of  the  commonalty.  Every  citizen  was 
bound  by  oath  to  stand  by  the  common  cause  against  all  ag- 
gressors, and  this  obligation  was  abundantly  fulfilled.  In 
order  to  swell  their  numbers,  it  became  the  practice  to  ad- 


138  DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.    Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

mit  all  who  came  to  reside  within  their  walls  to  the  rights 
of  burghership,  even  though  they  were  villeins  appurtenant 
to  the  soil  of  a  master  from  whom  they  had  escaped.  Others, 
having  obtained  the  same  privileges,  continued  to  dwell  in 
the  country ;  but,  upon  any  dispute  with  their  lords,  called 
in  the  assistance  of  their  community.  In  the  reign  of  Charles 
V.  the  feudal  independence  had  so  completely  yielded,  that 
the  court  began  to  give  in  to  a  new  policy,  which  was  ever 
after  pursued,  that  of  maintaining  the  dignity  and  privileges 
of  the  noble  class  against  tliose  attacks  which  wealth  and 
liberty  encouraged  the  plebeians  to  make  upon  them. 

The  maritime  towns  of  the  south  of  France  entered  into 
separate  alliances  with  foreign  states ;  as  Narbonne  with 
Genoa  in  1166,  and  Montpellier  in  the  next  century.  At  the 
death  of  Raymond  VII.,  Avignon,  Aries,  and  Marseilles  af- 
fected to  set  up  republican  governments;  but  they  were 
soon  brought  into  subjection.  The  independent  character 
of  maritime  towns  was  not  peculiar  to  those  of  the  southern 
provinces.  Edward  II.  and  Edward  III.  negotiated  and  en- 
tered into  alliances  with  the  towns  of  Flanders,  to  which 
neither  their  count  nor  the  king  of  France  were  parties. 
Even  so  late  as  the  reign  of  Louis  XI.  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
did  not  hesitate  to  address  the  citizens  of  Rouen,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  capture  of  some  ships,  as  if  they  had  formed 
an  independent  state.  This  evidently  arose  out  of  the  an- 
cient customs  of  private  warfare,  which,  long  after  they  were 
repressed  by  a  stricter  police  at  home,  continued  with  law- 
less violence  on  the  ocean,  and  gave  a  character  of  piracy 
to  the  commercial  enterprise  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

§  33.  Notwithstanding  the  forces  which  in  opposite  direc- 
tions assailed  the  feudal  system  from  the  enhancement  of 
royal  prerogative,  and  the  elevation  of  the  chartered  towns, 
its  resistance  would  have  bfeen  much  longer  but  for  an  in- 
trinsic decay.  No  political  institution  can  endure  which 
does  not  rivet  itself  to  the  hearts  of  men  by  ancient  prejudice 
or  acknowledged  interest.  The  feudal  compact  had  origi- 
nally much  of  this  character.  Its  principle  of  vitality  was 
warm  and  active.  In  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  mutual  as- 
sistance and  fidelity  by  military  service,  the  energies  of 
friendship  were  awakened,  and  the  ties  of  moral  sympathy 
superadded  to  those  of  positive  compact.  While  private 
wars  were  at  their  height,  the  connection  of  lord  and  vassal 
grew  close  and  cordial,  in  proportion  to  the  keenness  of  their 
enmity  towards  others. 

But  the  nature  of  feudal  obligation  was  far  better  adapted 


Fbitdal  System.    DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  139 

to  the  partial  quarrels  of  neighboring  lords  than  to  the  wars 
of  kingdoms.  Customs  founded  upon  the  poverty  of  the 
smaller  gentry  had  limited  their  martial  duties  to  a  period 
never  exceeding  forty  days,  and  diminished  according  to  the 
subdivisions  of  the  fief.  They  could  undertake  an  expedi- 
tion, but  not  a  campaign ;  they  could  burn  an  open  town,  but 
had  seldom  leisure  to"  besiege  a  fortress.  Hence,  when  the 
kings  of  France  and  England  were  engaged  in  wars  which, 
on  our  side  at  least,  might  be  termed  national,  the  inefficien- 
cy of  the  feudal  militia  became  evident.  It  was  not  easy  to 
employ  the  military  tenants  of  England  upon  the  frontiers 
of  Normandy  and  the  Isle  of  France,  within  the  limits  of 
their  term  of  service.  When,  under  Henry  II.  and  Richard 
I.,  the  scene  of  war  was  frequently  transferred  to  the  Ga- 
ronne or  the  Charente,  this  was  still  more  impracticable. 
The  first  remedy  to  which  sovereigns  had  recourse  was  to 
keep  their  vassals  in  service  after  the  expiration  of  their 
forty  days,  at  a  stipulated  rate  of  pay.  But  this  was  fre- 
quently neither  convenient  to  the  tenant,  anxious  to  return 
back  to  his  household,  nor  to  the  king,  who  could  not  readily 
defray  the  charges  of  an  army.  Something  was  to  be  de- 
vised more  adequate  to  the  exigency,  though  less  suitable  to 
the  feudal  spirit.  By  the  feudal  law  the  fief  was,  in  strict- 
ness, forfeited  by  neglect  of  attendance  upon  the  lord's  expe- 
dition. A  milder  usage  introduced  a  fine,  which,  however, 
was  generally  rather  heavy,  and  assessed  at  discretion.  The 
first  Norman  kings  of  England  made  these  amercements  very 
oppressive.  But  when  a  pecuniary  payment  became  the 
regular  course  of  redeeming  personal  service,  which,  under 
the  name  of  escuage,  may  be  referred  to  the  reign  of  Henry 
II.,  it  was  essential  to  liberty  that  the  military  tenant  should 
not  lie  at  the  mercy  of  the  crown.  Accordingly,  one  of  the 
most  important  provisions  contained  in  the  Magna  Charta 
of  John  secures  the  assessment  of  escuage  in  Parliament. 
This  is  not  renewed  in  the  charter  of  Henry  HI,  but  the 
practice  during  his  reign  was  conformable  to  its  spirit. 

The  feudal  military  tenures  had  superseded  that  earlier  sys- 
tem of  public  defense  which  called  upon  every  man,  and  es- 
pecially every  land-holder,  to  protect  his  country.  The  rela- 
tions of  a  vassal  came  in  place  of  those  of  a  subject  and  a 
citizen.  This  was  the  revolution  of  the  ninth  century.  In 
the  twelfth  and  tliirteenth  another  innovation  rather  more 
gradually  prevailed,  and  marks  the  third  period  in  the  mili- 
tary history  of  Europe.  Mercenary  troops  were  substituted 
for  the  feudal  militia.     Undoubtedly  there  could  never  have 


140  DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.    Chap.  IL  Part  II. 

been  a  time  when  valor  was  not  to  be  purchased  with  money ; 
nor  could  any  employment  of  surplus  wealth  be  more  natu- 
ral either  to  the  ambitious  or  the  weak.  But  we  can  not 
expect  to  find  numerous  testimonies  of  facts  of  this  descrip- 
tion. In  public  national  history  I  am  aware  of  no  instance 
of  what  may  be  called  a  regular  army  more  ancient  than  the 
body-guards,  or  huscarles,  of  Canute  the  Great.  These  select 
troops  amounted  to  six  thousand  men,  on  whom  he  probably 
relied  to  insure  the  subjection  of  England.  A  code  of  mar- 
tial law  compiled  for  their  regulation  is  extant  in  substance ; 
and  they  are  reported  to  have  displayed  a  military  spirit  of 
mutual  union,  of  which  their  master  stood  in  awe.  Harold 
II.  is  also  said  to  have  had  Danish  soldiers  in  pay.  The 
most  eminent  example  of  a  mercenary  army  is  that  by  whose 
assistance  William  achieved  the  conquest  of  England.  His- 
torians concur  in  representing  this  force  to  have  consisted  of 
sixty  thousand  men.  He  afterwards  hired  soldiers  from  va- 
rious regions  to  resist  an  invasion  from  Norway.  William 
Rufus  pursued  the  same  course.  Hired  troops  did  not,  how- 
ever, in  general  form  a  considerable  portion  of  armies  till  the 
wars  of  Henry  II.  and  Philip  Augustus.  Each  of  these  mon- 
archs  took  into  pay  large  bodies  of  mercenaries,  chiefly,  as  we 
may  infer  from  their  appellation  of  Braban9ons,  enlisted  from 
the  Netherlands.  These  were  always  disbanded  on  cessation 
of  hostilities ;  and,  unfit  for  any  habits  but  of  idleness  and  li- 
cense, oppressed  the  peasantry  and  ravaged  the  country  with- 
out control.  In  the  French  wars  of  Edward  III.,  the  whole,  I 
think,  of  his  army  served  for  pay,  and  was  raised  by  contract 
with  men  of  rank  and  influence,  who  received  wages  for  ev- 
ery soldier  according  to  his  station  and  the  arms  he  bore. 
The  rate  of  pay  was  so  remarkably  high,  that,  unless  we  im- 
agine a  vast  profit  to  have  been  intended  for  the  contractors, 
the  private  lancers  and  even  archers  must  have  been  chiefly 
taken  fi-om  the  middling  classes,  the  smaller  gentry,  or  rich 
yeomanry  of  England, ^^  This  part  of  Edward's  military  sys- 
tem was  probably  a  leading  cause  of  his  superiority  over 
the  French,  among  whom  the  feudal  tenantry  were  called 
into  the  field,  and  swelled  their  unwieldy  armies  at  Crecy 
and  Poitiers.  Both  parties,  however,  in  this  war  employed 
mercenary  troops.     Philip  had  15,000  Italian  crossbow-men 

»»  The  wages  allowed  by  contract  in  1346,  were  for  an  earl,  6s.  Sd.  per  clay ;  for  bar- 
ons and  baronets,  4s. ;  for  knights,  2s. ;  for  squires,  Is. ;  for  archers  and  hobelers 
(light  cavalry),  6d. ;  for  archers  on  foot,  M. ;  for  Welshmen,  2d.  These  sums,  multi- 
plied by  about  24,  to  bring  them  on  a  level  with  the  present  value  of  money,  will 
show  the  pay  to  have  been  extremely  high.  The  cavalry,  of  course,  furnished  them- 
selves  with  horses  and  equipments,  as  well  as  arms,  which  were  very  expensive. 


Feudal  Systesi.    DECLINE  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  141 

at  Crecy.  It  had  for  some  time  before  become  the  tra<le  of 
soldiers  of  fortune  to  enlist  under  leaders  of  the  same  descrip- 
tion as  themselves  in  companies  of  adventure,  passing  from 
one  service  to  another,  unconcerned  as  to  the  cause  in  which 
they  were  retained.  These  military  adventurers  played  a 
more  remarkable  part  in  Italy  than  in  France,  though  not  a 
little  troublesome  to  the  latter  country.  The  feudal  tenures 
had  at  least  furnished  a  loyal  native  militia,  whose  duties, 
though  much  limited  in  the  extent,  were  defined  by  usage 
and  enforced  by  principle.  They  gave  place — in  an  evil 
hour  for  the  people,  and  eventually  for  sovereigns — to  con- 
tracts with  mutinous  hirelings,  generally  strangers,  whose 
valor  in  the  day  of  battle  inadequately  redeemed  their  bad 
faith  and  vexatious  rapacity.  France,  in  her  calamitous  pe- 
riod under  Charles  YI.  and  Charles  VII.,  experienced  the 
full  effects  of  military  licentiousness.  At  the  expulsion  of 
the  English,  robbery  and  disorder  were  substituted  for  the 
more  specious  plundering  of  war.  Perhaps  few  measures 
have  ever  been  more  popular,  as  few  certainly  have  been 
more  politic,  than  the  establishment  of  regular  companies  of 
troops  by  an  ordinance  of  Charles  VII.  in  1444.  These  may 
justly  pass  for  the  earliest  institution  of  a  standing  army  in 
Europe,  though  some  Italian  princes  had  retained  troops 
constantly  in  their  pay,  but  prospectively  to  hostilities,  which 
were  seldom  long  intermitted.  Fifteen  companies  were 
composed  each  of  a  hundred  men-at-arms,  or  lancers  ;  and,  in 
the  language  of  that  age,  the  whole  body  was  1500  lances. 
But  each  lancer  had  three  archers,  a  coutiller,  or  soldier 
armed  with  a  knife,  and  a  page  or  valet  attached  to  him,  all 
serving  on  horseback — so  that  the  fifteen  companies  amount- 
ed to  9000  cavalry.  From  these  small  beginnings,  as  they 
must  appear  in  modern  times,  arose  the  regular  army  of 
France,  which  every  succeeding  king  was  solicitous  to  aug- 
ment. The  ban  was  sometimes  convoked,  that  is,  the  pos- 
sessors of  fiefs  were  called  upon  for  military  service  in  sub- 
sequent ages;  but  with  more  of  ostentation  than  real  effi- 
ciency. 

§  34.  The  feudal  compact,  thus  deprived  of  its  original  ef- 
ficacy, soon  lost  the  respect  and  attachment  which  had  at- 
tended it.  '  Homage  and  investiture  became  unmeaning  cere- 
monies ;  the  incidents  of  relief  and  aid  were  felt  as  burden- 
some exactions.  And  indeed  the  rapacity  with  which  these 
were  levied,  especially  by  our  Norman  sovereigns  and  their 
barons,  was  of  itself  sufficient  to  extinguish  all  the  generous 
feelings  of  vassalage.     Thus  galled,  as  it  were,  by  the  armor 


U2  EFFECTS  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.     Chap.  II.  Part  II. 

which  he  was  compelled  to  wear,  but  not  to  use,  the  military 
tenant  of  England  looked  no  longer  with  contempt  upon  the 
owner  of  lands  in  socage,  who  held  his  estate  with  almost 
the  immunities  of  an  allodial  proprietor.  But  the  profits 
which  the  crown  reaped  from  wardships,  and  perhaps  the 
prejudices  of  lawyers,  prevented  the  abolition  of  military 
tenures  till  the  restoration  of  Charles  II,  In  France  the 
fiefs  of  noblemen  were  very  unjustly  exempted  from  all  ter- 
ritorial taxation,  though  the  tallies  of  later  times  had,  strict- 
ly speaking,  only  superseded  the  aids  to  which  they  had 
been  always  liable.  The  distinction,  it  is  well  known,  was 
not  annihilated  till  that  event  which  annihilated  all  distinc- 
tions, the  French  Revolution. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  although  the  feudal  system  estab- 
lished in  England  upon  the  Conquest  broke  in  very  much 
upon  our  ancient  Saxon  liberties — though  it  was  attended 
with  harsher  servitudes  than  in  any  other  country,  particu- 
larly those  two  intolerable  burdens,  wardship  and  marriage 
— yet  it  has  in  general  been  treated  with  more  favor  by  En- 
glish than  French  writers.  The  hardiness  with  which  the 
ancient  barons  resisted  their  sovereign,  and  the  noble  strug- 
gles which  they  made  for  civil  liberty,  especially  in  that 
Great  Charter,  the  basement  at  least,  if  not  the  foundation, 
of  our  free  constitution,  have  met  with  a  kindred  sympathy 
in  the  bosoms  of  Englishmen ;  while,  from  an  opposite  feel- 
ing, the  French  have  been  shocked  at  that  aristocratic  inde- 
pendence which  cramped  the  prerogatives  and  obscured  the 
lustre  of  their  crown.  Yet  it  is  precisely  to  this  feudal  poli- 
cy that  France  is  indebted  for  that  which  is  ever  dearest 
to  her  children,  their  national  splendor  and  power.  That 
kingdom  would  have  been  irretrievably  dismembered  in  the 
tenth  century,  if  the  laws  of  feudal  dependence  had  not  pre- 
served its  integrity.  Empires  of  unwieldy  bulk,  like  that  of 
Charlemagne,  have  several  times  been  dissolved  by  the  usur- 
pation of  provincial  governors,  as  is  recorded  both  in  ancient 
history  and  in  that  of  the  Mohammedan  dynasties  in  the 
East.  What  question  can  there  be  that  the  powerful  dukes 
of  Guienne  or  counts  of  Toulouse  would  have  thrown  off  all 
connection  with  the  crown  of  France,  when  usurped  by  one 
of  their  equals,  if  the  slight  dependence  of  vassalage  had  not 
been  substituted  for  legitimate  subjection  to  a  sovereign  ? 

It  is  the  previous  state  of  society,  under  the  grandchildren 
of  Charlemagne,  which  w^e  must  always  keep  in  mind,  if  we 
would  appreciate  the  effects  of  the  feudal  system  upon  the 
welfare  of  mankind.     The  institutions  of  the  eleventh  cen- 


Feudal  System.     EFFECTS  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  143 

tury  must  be  compared  with  those  of  the  ninth,  not  with  the 
advanced  civilization  of  modern  times.  If  the  view  that  I 
have  taken  of  those  dark  ages  is  correct,  the  state  of  anarchy 
which  we  usually  term  feudal  was  the  natural  result  of  a 
vast  and  barbarous  empire  feebly  administered,  and  the 
cause  rather  than  effect  of  the  general  establishment  of 
feudal  tenures.  These,  by  preserving  the  mutual  relations 
of  the  whole,  kept  alive  the  feeling  of  a  common  country 
and  common  duties,  and  settled,  after  the  lapse  of  ages,  into 
the  free  constitution  of  England,  the  firm  monarchy  of 
France,  and  the  federal  union  of  Germany. 

The  utility  of  any  form  of  polity  may  be  estimated  by  its 
effect  upon  national  greatness  and  security,  upon  civil  liber- 
ty and  private  rights,  upon  the  tranquillity  and  order  of  soci- 
ety, upon  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  wealth,  or  upon  the 
general  tone  of  moral  sentiment  and  energy.  The  feudal 
constitution  was  certainly,  as  has  been  observed  already,  lit- 
tle adapted  for  the  defense  of  a  mighty  kingdom,  far  less  for 
schemes  of  conquest.  But  as  it  prevailed  alike  in  several 
adjacent  countries,  none  had  any  thing  to  fear  from  the  mili- 
tary superiority  of  its  neighbors.  It  was  this  inefficiency 
of  the  feudal  militia,  perhaps,  that  saved  Europe  during  the 
Middle  Ages  from  the  danger  of  universal  monarchy.  If  an 
empire  equally  extensive  with  that  of  Charlemagne,  and  sup- 
ported by  military  despotism,  had  been  formed  about  the 
twelfth  or  thirteenth  centuries,  the  seeds  of  commerce  and 
liberty,  just  then  beginning  to  shoot,  would  have  perished, 
and  Europe,  reduced  to  a  barbarous  servitude,  might  have 
fallen  before  the  free  barbarians  of  Tartary. 

If  we  look  at  the  feudal  polity  as  a  scheme  of  civil  free- 
dom, it  bears  a  noble  countenance.  To  the  feudal  law  it  is 
owing  that  the  very  names  of  right  and  privilege  were  not 
swept  away,  as  in  Asia,  by  the  desolating  hand  of  power. 
The  tyranny  which,  on  every  favorable  moment,  was  break- 
ing through  all  barriers,  would  have  rioted  without  control, 
if,  when  the  people  were  poor  and  disunited,  the  nobility  had 
not  been  brave  and  free.  So  far  as  the  sphere  of  feudality 
extended,  it  diffused  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  the  notions  of 
private  right.  Every  one,  I  think,  will  acknowledge  this 
who  considers  the  limitations  of  the  services  of  vassalage,  so 
cautiously  marked  in  those  law-books  which  are  the  records 
of  customs,  the  reciprocity  of  obligation  between  the  lord 
and  his  tenant,  the  consent  required  in  every  measure  of  a 
legislative  or  a  general  nature,  the  security,  above  all,  which 
every  vassal  found  in  the  administration  of  justice  by  his 


144  EFFECTS  OF  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.     Chap.  II.  Part  U. 

peers,  and  even  (we  may  in  this  sense  say)  in  the  trial  by 
combat.  The  bulk  of  the  people,  it  is  true,  were  degraded 
by  servitude ;  but  this  had  no  connection  with  the  feudal 
tenures. 

The  peace  and  good  order  of  society  were  not  promoted 
by  this  system.  Though  private  wars  did  not  originate  in 
the  feudal  customs,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  they  were 
perpetuated  by  so  convenient  an  institution,  which  indeed 
owed  its  universal  establishment  to  no  other  cause.  And  as 
predominant  habits  of  warfare  are  totally  irreconcilable  with 
those  of  industry,  not  merely  by  the  immediate  works  of  de- 
struction which  render  its  efforts  unavailing,  but  through 
that  contempt  of  peaceful  occupations  which  they  produce, 
the  feudal  system  must  have  been  intrinsically  adverse  to 
the  accumulation  of  wealth  and  the  improvement  of  those 
arts  which  mitigate  the  evils  or  abridge  the  labors  of  man- 
kind. 

But  as  a  school  of  moral  disci2)line  the  feudal  institutions 
were  perhaps  most  to  be  valued.  Society  had  sunk,  for  sev- 
eral centuries  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
into  a  condition  of  utter  depravity,  where,  if  any  vices  could 
be  selected  as  more  eminently  characteristic  than  others, 
they  were  falsehood,  treachery,  and  ingratitude.  In  slowly 
purging  off  the  lees  of  this  extreme  corruption,  the  feudal 
spirit  exerted  its  ameliorating  influence.  Violation  of  faith 
stood  first  in  the  catalogue  jof  crimes,  most  repugnant  to  the 
very  essence  of  a  feudal  tenure,  most  severely  and  promptly 
avenged,  most  branded  by  general  infamy.  The  feudal  law- 
books breathe  throughout  a  spirit  of  honorable  obligation. 
The  feudal  course  of  jurisdiction  promoted — what  trial  by 
peers  is  peculiarly  calculated  to  promote — a  keener  feeling 
and  readier  perception  of  moral  as  well  as  of  legal  distinc- 
tions. And  as  the  judgment  and  sympathy  of  mankind  are 
seldom  mistaken,  in  these  great  points  of  veracity  and  jus- 
tice, except  through  the  temporary  success  of  crimes,  or  the 
want  of  a  definite  standard  of  right,  they  gradually  recovered 
themselves  when  law  precluded  the  one  and  supplied  the 
other.  In  the  reciprocal  services  of  lord  and  vassal  there 
was  ample  scope  for  every  magnanimous  and  disinterested 
energy.  The  heart  of  man,  when  placed  in  circumstances 
which  have  a  tendency  to  excite  them,  will  seldom  be  defi- 
cient in  such  sentiments.  No  occasions  could  be  more  fa- 
vorable than  the  protection  of  a  faithful  supporter,  or  the  de- 
fense of  a  beneficent  suzerain,  against  such  powerful  aggres- 
sion as  left  little  prospect  except  of  sharing  in  his  ruin. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  II. 


145 


From  these  feelings  engendered  by  the  feudal  relation  has 
sprung  up  the  peculiar  sentiment  of  personal  reverence  and 
attachment  towards  a  sovereign  which  we  denominate  loy- 
alty, alike  distinguishable  from  the  stupid  devotion  of  East- 
ern slaves  and  from  the  abstract  respect  with  which  free 
citizens  regard  their  chief  magistrate.  Men  who  had  been 
used  to  swear  fealty,  to  profess  subjection,  to  follow,  at  home 
and  in  the  field,  a  feudal  superior  and  his  family,  easily  trans- 
ferred the  same  allegiance  to  the  monarch.  It  was  a  very 
powerful  feeling  which  could  make  the  bravest  men  put  up 
with  slights  and  ill-treatment  at  the  hands  of  their  sover- 
eign ;  or  call  forth  all  the  energies  of  disinterested  exertion 
for  one  whom  they  never  saw^,  and  in  whose  character  there 
was  nothing  to  esteem.  In  ages  when  the  rights  of  the 
community  were  unfelt,  this  sentiment  was  one  great  pre- 
servative of  society  ;  and,  though  collateral  or  even  subserv- 
ient to  more  enlarged  principles,  it  is  still  indispensable  to 
the  tranquillity  and  permanence  of  every  monarchy.  In  a 
moral  view  loyalty  has  scarcely,  perhaps,  less  tendency  to  re- 
fine and  elevate  the  heart  than  patriotism  itself;  and  holds  a 
middle  place  in  the  scale  of  human  motives,  as  they  ascend 
from  the  grosser  inducements  of  self-interest  to  the  further- 
ance of  general  happiness  and  conformity  to  the  purposes  of 
Infinite  Wisdom. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  II. 


I.  THE  SALIC  AND  OTHER  LAWS  OF  THE 
BARBARIANS. 

The  Salic  law  exists  in  two  texts :  one 
purely  Latin,  of  which  there  are  fifteen 
manuscripts ;  the  other  mingled  with  Ger- 
man words,  of  which  there  are  three. 
Most  have  considered  the  latter  to  be  the 
original ;  the  manuscripts  containing  it  are 
entitled  Lex  Salica  antiquissima,  or  vehis- 
tior;  the  others  generally  run  Lex  Salica 
recentior,  or  emendata.  This  seems  to 
create  a  presumption.  But  others  think 
the  pure  Latin  older  than  the  other.  But 
though  the  Salic  law  in  its  present  text  is 
probably  not  older  than  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, it  must  be  referred,  in  all  its  sub- 
stance, to  Germany  for  its  birthplace,  and 
to  the  period  of  heathenism  for  its  date.— 
(Lehnerou,  Institutions  Merovingiennes,  p. 
83.) 

The  Ripuarian  Franks,  Guizot,  with 
some  apparent  reason,  takes  for  the  pro- 


genitors of  the  Austrasians ;  the  Salian, 
of  the  Neustriaus.  The  former  were  set- 
tled on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  as  Loeti., 
or  defenders  of  the  frontier,  under  the 
Empire.  These  tribes  were  united  under 
one  government  through  the  assassination 
of  Sigebert  at  Cologne,  in  the  last  years  of 
Clovis,  who  assumed  his  crown.  Such  a 
theory  might  tend  to  explain  the  subse- 
quent rivalry  of  these  great  portions  of  the 
Frank  monarchy,  though  it  is  hardly  re- 
quired for  that  purpose.  The  Ripuarian 
code  of  law  is  referred  by  Guizot  to  the 
reign  of  Dagobert.  In  this  code  we  find, 
says  Guizot,  "more  of  the  Roman  law, 
more  of  the  royal  and  ecclesiastical  power ; 
its  provisions  are  more  precise,  more  ex- 
tensive, less  barbarous;  it  indicates  a  far- 
ther step  in  the  transition  from  the  Ger- 
man to  the  Roman  form  of  social  life." 
—("Civil,  en  France,"  Lepon  10.) 
The  Bnrguudian  law,  though  earlier  than 


Ii6 


^iOTES  TO  CHAPTER  II. 


either  of  these  iu  their  recensions,  displays 
a  far  more  advanced  state  of  manners. 
The  Burgundian  and  Roman  are  placed  on 
the  same  footing ;  more  is  borrowed  from 
the  civil  law ;  the  royal  power  is  more  de- 
veloped. This  code  remained  in  force  af- 
ter Charlemagne ;  but  Hincmar  says  that 
few  continued  to  live  by  it.  In  the  Visi- 
gothic  laws  enacted  iu  Spain,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Roman,  in  642,  all  the  barbarous 
elements  have  disappeared ;  it  is  the  work 
of  the  clergy,  half  ecclesiastical,  half  im- 
perial. 

It  has  been  remarked  by  acute  writei*s, 
Guizot  and  Troja,  that  the  Salic  law  does 
not  answer  the  purpose  of  a  code,  being 
silent  on  some  of  the  most  important  reg- 
ulations of  civil  society.  The  rules  of  the 
Salic  code  principally  relate  to  the  punish- 
ment or  compensation  of  crimes  ;  and  the 
same  will  be  found  in  our  earliest  Anglo- 
Saxon  laws.  The  object  of  such  written 
laws,  with  a  free  and  barbarous  people, 
was  not  to  record  their  usages,  or  to  lay 
down  rules  which  natural  equity  would 
suggest  as  the  occasion  might  arise,  but 
to  prevent  the  arbitrary  infliction  of  pen- 
allies.  Chapter  Ixii.,  "On  Successions," 
may  have  been  inserted  for  the  sake  of  the 
novel  provision  about  Salic  lands,  which 
could  not  have  formed  a  part  of  old  Teu- 
tonic customs. 

II.  TRIBUTARII,  LIDI,  AND  COLONI. 

These  names,  though  in  a  general  sense 
occupying  similar  positions  in  the  social 
scale,  denote  different  persons.  The  Colo- 
ni  were  Romans,  in  the  sense  of  the  word 
then  usual ;  that  is,  they  were  the  cultiva- 
tors of  land  under  the  Empire,  of  whom 
we  find  abundant  notice  both  in  the  Theo- 
dosian  Code  and  that  of  Justinian.  The 
Roman  colonus  was  free  ;  he  could  marry 
a  free  woman,  and  have  legitimate  chil- 
dren ;  he  could  serve  iu  the  army,  and  was 
capable  of  property;  his  peculium,  unlike 
that  of  the  absolute  slave,  could  not  be 
touched  by  his  master.  Nor  could  his  fix- 
ed rent  or  duty  be  enhanced.  He  could 
even  sue  his  master  for  any  crime  com- 
mitted with  respect  to  him,  or  for  uudue 
exaction.  He  was  attached,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  the  soil,  and  might  in  certain 
cases  receive  corporal  punishment.  He 
paid  a  capitation  tax  or  census  to  the  state, 
the  frequent  enhancement  of  which  con- 
tributed to  that  decline  of  the  agricultural 
population  which  preceded  the  barbarian 
conquest.  The  documents  of  the  Middle 
Ages  furnish  abundant  proofs  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  coloni  in  this  middle  state 
between  entire  freedom  and  servitude. 
And  these  were  doubtless  reckoned  among 


the  Tributarii  of  the  Salic  law,  whose 
composition  was  fixed  at  forty-five  solidi ; 
for  a  slave  had  no  composition  due  to  his 
kindred  ;  he  was  his  master's  chattel,  and 
to  be  paid  for  as  such.  But  the  tributary 
was  not  necessarily  a  colonus.  All  who 
possessed  no  lands  were  subjected  by  the 
imperial  fisc  to  a  personal  capitation.  To 
these  Roman  tributaries  the  barbarian  Lidi 
seem  nearly  to  have  corresponded.  This 
was  a  class  not  quite  free-born,  so  that 
"Fraucus  iugeuuus  "  was  no  tautology,  as 
some  have  fancied,  yet  far  from  slaves ; 
without  political  privileges  or  rights  of 
administering  justice  in  the  county  court, 
and  so  little  favored,  that,  while  the  Frank 
accused  of  a  theft  was  to  be  brought  be- 
fore his  peers,  the  lidus,  under  the  name 
of  "  debilior  persona,"  which  probably  in- 
cluded the  Roman  tributary,  was  to  be 
hanged  on  the  spot.  Throughout  the  Salic 
and  Ripuarian  codes  the  ingenuus  is  op- 
posed both  to  the  lidus  and  to  the  servus ; 
so  that  the  threefold  division  is  incontest- 
able. It  corresponds  in  a  certain  degree 
to  the  edeltngi,/nlingi,  and  lazzi,  or  the  eorl, 
cerol,  and  thrall  of  the  Northern  nations. 

III.  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT. 

The  privileges  of  the  municipal  cities  of 
Italy  were  originally  founded  on  the  re- 
publican institutions  of  Rome  herself;  the 
supreme  power,  so  far  as  it  was  conceded, 
and  the  choice  of  magistrates,  rested  with 
the  assembly  of  the  citizens.  But  after 
Tiberius  took  this  away  from  the  Roman 
comitia  to  vest  it  in  the  Senate,  it  appears 
that  this  example  was  followed  in  every 
provincial  city.  We  find  everywhere  a 
class  named  "curiales,"  or  "decurioues" 
(synonymous  words),  in  whom,  or  in  those 
elected  by  them,  resided  whatever  author- 
ity was  not  reserved  to  the  i)roconsul  or 
other  Roman  magistrate.  Besides  these 
there  was  Defensor  Civitatis— a  standing 
advocate  for  the  city  against  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  provincial  governor.  His  oflice 
is  only  known  by  the  laws  from  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fourth  century,  the  earliest  be- 
ing of  Valentinian  and  Valens,  in  865; 
but  both  Cicero  (Epist.,  xii.,  50)  and  Pliny 
(Epist.,  x.,  3)  mention  an  Ecdicus  with 
something  like  the  same  functions;  and 
Justinian  always  uses  that  word  to  express 
the  Defensor  Civitatis.  He  was  chosen  for 
five  years,  not  by  the  curiales,  but  by  the 
citizens  at  large.  Nor  could  any  decurion 
be  defensor :  he  was  to  be  taken  "  ex  aliis 
idoueis  personis." 

From  the  curiales,  or  members  of  the 
curia,  there  was  in  later  times  formed  a 
Senate,  sometimes  called  "nobilissima  cu- 
ria."    The  name  of  Senator  was  given 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  II. 


147 


to  a  privileged  class,  who,  having  served 
through  all  the  public  functious  of  the  cu- 
ria, were  entitled  to  a  legal  exemption 
in  future,  and  ascended  to  the  dignity  of 
"clarissirai."  Many  others,  independent 
of  the  decurions,  obtained  this  rather  by 
the  emperor's  favor,  or  by  the  perform- 
ance of  duties  which  regularly  led  to  it. 
They  were  nominated  by  the  emperor,  and 
might  be  removed  by  him  ;  but  otherwise 
their  rauk  was  hereditary.  In  this  way 
the  Senators  became  an  aristocracy,  and 
formed  the  nobility  of  Gaul, 

Under  the  domination  of  the  Pranks,  it 
appears  that  the  functions  of  *'  defensor 
civitatis"  frequ«ntly  devolved  upon  the 


bishop.  In  course  of  time  the  bishop  be- 
came as  much  the  civil  governor  of  his 
city  as  the  count  was  of  the  rural  district. 
This  was  a  great  revolution  in  the  internal 
history  of  cities,  and  one  which  generally 
led  to  the  discontinuance  of  their  popular 
institutions;  so  that  after  the  reign  of 
Charlemagne,  if  not  earlier,  we  may  per- 
haps consider  a  municipality  choosing  its 
own  officers  as  an  exception,  though  not  a 
very  unfrequent  one,  to  the  general  usage. 
But  instances  of  this  are  more  commonly 
found  to  the  south  of  the  Loire,  where 
Roman  laws  prevailed  and  the  feudal  spir- 
it was  less  vigorous  than  in  the  Northern 
provinces. 


148  STATE  OF  ITALY.  Chap.  III.  Pakt  I. 


CHAPTER  m. 

THE  HISTOEY  OF  ITALY,  FROM  THE  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  CAE- 
LOVINGIAN  EMPERORS  TO  THE  INVASION  OF  NAPLES  BY 
CHARLES  VIIL 

PART   I. 

§  1.  State  of  Italy  after  the  Death  of  Charles  the  Fat.  Coronation  of  Otho  the  Great. 
§  2.  State  of  Rome.  Conrad  IL  §  3.  Union  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy  with  the 
Empire.  §  4.  Period  between  Conrad  II.  and  Frederick  Barbarossa.  §  5.  Estab- 
lishment of  the  Normans  in  Naples  and  Sicily.  Roger  Guiscard.  §  6,  Rise  of  the 
Lombard  cities.  5  7.  Their  internal  wars.  Frederick  Barbarossa.  Destruction  of 
Milan.  5  S.  Lombard  League.  §  9.  Battle  of  Legnano.  Peace  of  Constance.  §  10. 
Affairs  of  Sicily.  §11.  Temporal  Principality  of  the  Popes.  §12.  Guelf  and  Ghibe- 
lin  Factions.  $  13.  Otho  IV.  §  14.  Frederick  II.  §  15.  Arrangement  of  the  Italian 
Republics,  §  16.  Second  Lombard  War.  §  17.  Extinction  of  the  House  of  Suabia. 
§  18.  Causes  of  the  Success  of  Lombard  Republics.  Their  Prosperity.  §  19.  Their 
Forms  of  Government.  §  20.  Contentions  between  the  Nobility  and  People.  Civil 
Wars. 

§  1.  At  the  death  of  Charles  the  Fat  in  888,  that  part  of 
Italy  which  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Western 
Empire  was  divided,  like  France  and  Germany,  among  a  few 
powerful  vassals,  hereditary  governors  of  provinces.  The 
principal  of  these  were  the  dukes  of  Spoleto  and  Tuscany, 
the  marquises  of  Ivrea,  Susa,  and  Friuli.  The  great  Lom- 
bard duchy  of  Benevento,  which  had  stood  against  the  arms 
of  Charlemagne,  and  comprised  more  than  half  the  present 
kingdom  of  Naples,  had  now  fallen  into  decay,  and  was 
straitened  by  the  Greeks  in  Apulia,  and  by  the  principali- 
ties of  Capua  and  Salerno,  which  had  been  severed  from  its 
own  territory,  on  the  opposite  coast.  Though  princes  of  the 
Carlovingian  line  continued  to  reign  in  France,  their  charac- 
ter was  too  little  distinguished  to  challenge  the  obedience 
of  Italy,  already  separated  by  family  partitions  from  the 
Transalpine  nations ;  and  the  only  contest  was  among  her 
native  chiefs.  One  of  these,  Berenger,  originally  marquis 
of  Friuli,  or  the  March  of  Treviso,  reigned  for  thirty-six 
years, but  with  continually  disputed  pretensions;  and  after 
his  death  the  calamities  of  Italy  were  sometimes  aggravated 
by  tyranny,  and  sometimes  by  intestine  war.^     The  Hunga- 

1  Berenger,  being  grandson,  by  a  daughter,  of  Louis  the  Debonair,  may  be  reckon- 
ed of  the  Carlovingian  family. 


Italy.  INTERNAL  STATE  OF  ROME.  149 

rians  desolated  Lombardy;  the  southern  coasts  were  infest- 
ed by  the  Saracens,  now  masters  of  Sicily.  Plunged  in  an 
abyss  from  which  she  saw  no  other  means  of  extricating 
herself,  Italy  lost  sight  of  her  favorite  independence,  and 
called  in  the  assistance  of  Otho  the  First,  king  of  Germany. 
Little  opposition  was  made  to  this  powerful  monarch.  Be- 
renger  II.,  the  reigning  sovereign  of  Italy,  submitted  to  hold 
the  kingdom  of  him  as  a  fief.  But  some  years  afterwards, 
new  disturbances  arising,  Otho  descended  from  the  Alps  a 
second  time,  deposed  Berenger,  and  received  at  the  hands  of 
Pope  John  XII.  the  imperial  dignity,  which  had  been  sus- 
pended for  nearly  forty  years  (a.d.  962). 

§  2-  Every  ancient  prejudice,  every  recollection,  whether 
of  Augustus  or  of  Charlemagne,  had  led  the  Italians  to  an- 
nex the  notion  of  sovereignty  to  the  name  of  Roman  em- 
peror; nor  were  Otho,  or  his  two  immediate  descendants,  by 
any  means  inclined  to  waive  these  suj)posed  prerogatives, 
which  they  were  well  able  to  enforce.  Most  of  the  Lom- 
bard princes  acquiesced  without  apparent  repugnance  in  the 
new  German  government,  which  was  conducted  by  Otho  the 
Great  with  much  prudence  and  vigor,  and  occasionally  with 
severity.  The  citizens  of  Lombardy  were  still  better  satis- 
fied with  a  change  that  insured  a  more  tranquil  and  regular 
administration  than  they  had  experienced  under  the  preced- 
ing kings.  But  in  one,  and  that  the  chief  of  Italian  cities, 
very  different  sentiments  were  prevalent.  We  find,  indeed, 
a  considerable  obscurity  spread  over  the  internal  history  of 
Rome  during  the  long  period  from  the  recovery  of  Italy  by 
Belisarius  to  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century.  The  popes 
appear  to  have  possessed  some  measure  of  temporal  power, 
even  while  the  city  was  professedly  governed  by  the  exarchs 
of  Ravenna,  in  the  name  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  This  power 
became  more  extensive  after  her  separation  from  Constanti- 
nople. It  was,  however,  subordinate  to  the  undeniable  sov- 
ereignty of  the  new  imperial  family,  who  were  supposed  to 
enter  upon  all  the  rights  of  their  predecessors.  There  was 
always  an  imperial  officer,  or  prefect,  in  that  city,  to  render 
criminal  justice ;  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor  was 
taken  by  the  people ;  and  upon  any  irregular  election  of  a 
pope,  a  circumstance  by  no  means  unusual,  the  emperors 
held  themselves  entitled  to  interpose.  But  the  spirit  and 
even  the  institutions  of  the  Romans  were  republican. 
Amidst  the  darkness  of  the  tenth  century,  which  no  con- 
temporary historian  dissipates,  we  faintly  distinguish  the 
awful  names  of  senate,  consuls,  and  tribunes,  the  domestic 


150  HENRY  II.  AND  ARDOIN.      Chap.  III.  Pakt  1. 

magistracy  of  Rome.  Tliese  shadows  of  past  glory  strike  ug 
at  first  with  surprise ;  yet  there  is  no  improbability  in  the 
supposition  that  a  city  so  renowned  and  populous,  and  so 
happily  sheltered  from  the  usurpation  of  the  Lombards, 
might  have  preserved,  or  might  afterwards  establish,  a  kind 
of  municipal  government,  which  it  would  be  natural  to  dig- 
nify with  those  august  titles  of  antiquity.  During  that  an- 
archy which  ensued  upon  the  fall  of  the  Carlovingian  dynas- 
ty, the  Romans  acquired  an  independence  which  they  did 
not  deserve.  The  city  became  a  prey  to  the  most  terrible 
disorders ;  the  papal  chair  was  sought  for  at  best  by  brib- 
ery or  controlling  influence,  often  by  violence  and  assassi- 
nation ;  it  was  filled  by  such  men  as  naturally  rise  by  such 
means,  whose  sway  was  precarious,  and  generally  ended  ei- 
ther in  their  murder  or  degradation.  For  many  years  the  su- 
preme pontiffs  were  forced  upon  the  Church  by  two  women  of 
high  rank  but  infamous  reputation,  Theodora  and  her  daugh- 
ter Marozia.  The  kings  of  Italy,  whose  election  in  a  diet 
of  Lombard  princes  and  bishops  at  Roncaglia  was  not  con- 
ceived to  convey  any  pretension  to  the  sovereignty  of  Rome, 
could  never  obtain  any  decided  influence  in  papal  elections, 
which  were  the  object  of  struggling  factions  among  the  res- 
ident nobility.  Li  this  temper  of  the  Romans,  they  were  ill 
disposed  to  resume  habits  of  obedience  to  a  foreign  sover- 
eign. The  next  year  after  Otho's  coronation  they  rebelled, 
the  pope  at  their  head  (a.d.  903)  ;  but  were  of  course  sub- 
dued without  difficulty.  The  same  republican  spirit  broke 
out  whenever  the  emperors  were  absent  in  Germany,  espe- 
cially during  the  minority  of  Otho  IIL,  and  directed  itself 
against  the  temporal  superiority  of  the  pope.  But  when 
that  emperor  attained  manhood  he  besieged  and  took  the 
city,  crushing  all  resistance  by  measures  of  severity  ;  and  es- 
pecially by  the  execution  of  the  consul  Crescentius,  a  leader 
of  the  popular  faction,  to  whose  instigation  the  tumultuous 
license  of  Rome  was  principally  ascribed. 

§  3.  At  the  death  of  Otho  IIL  without  children,  in  1002, 
the  compact  between  Italy  and  the  emperors  of  the  house 
of  Saxony  was  determined.  Her  engagement  of  fidelity  was 
certainly  not  applicable  to  every  sovereign  whom  the  princes 
of  Germany  might  raise  to  their  throne.  Accordingly,  Ar- 
doin,  marquis  of  Ivrea,  was  elected  king  of  Italy.  But  a  Ger- 
man party  existed  among  the  Lombard  princes  and  bishops, 
to  which  his  insolent  demeanor  soon  gave  a  pretext  for  in- 
viting Henry  II.,  the  new  king  of  Germany,  collaterally  re- 
lated to  their  late  sovereign.     Ardoin  was  deserted  by  most 


Italy.  CONRAD  II.  151 

of  the  Italians,  but  retained  his  former  subjects  in  Piedmont, 
and  disputed  the  crown  for  many  years  with  Henry,  who 
passed  very  little  time  in  Italy.  During  this  period  there 
was  hardly  any  recognized  government ;  and  the  Lombards 
became  more  and  more  accustomed,  through  necessity,  to 
protect  themselves,  and  to  provide  for  their  own  internal 
police.  Meanwhile  the  German  nation  had  become  odious 
to  the  Italians.  The  rude  soldiery,  insolent  and  addicted  to 
intoxication,  were  engaged  in  frequent  disputes  with  the 
citizens,  wherein  the  latter,  as  is  usual  in  similar  cases,  were 
exposed  first  to  the  summary  vengeance  of  the  troops,  and 
afterwards  to  penal  chastisement  for  sedition.  In  one  of 
these  tumults,  at  the  entry  of  Henry  II.  in  1004,  the  city  of 
Pavia  was  burned  to  the  ground,  which  inspired  its  inhabit- 
ants with  a  constant  animosity  against  that  emperor.  Upon 
his  death  in  1024,  the  Italians  ^vere  disposed  to  break  once 
more  their  connection  with  Germany,  which  had  elected  as 
sovereign  Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia.  They  offered  their 
crown  to  Robert,  king  of  France,  and  to  William,  duke  of 
Guienne  ;  but  neither  of  them  was  imprudent  enough  to  in- 
volve himself  in  the  difficult  and  faithless  politics  of  Italy. 
Eribert,  archbishop  of  Milan,  accompanied  by  some  other 
chief  men  of  Lombardy,  repaired  to  Constance,  and  tender- 
ed the  crown  to  Conrad,  which  he  was  already  disposed  to 
claim  as  a  sort  of  dependency  upon  Germany  (a.d.  1024). 
It  does  not,  appear  that  either  Conrad  or  his  successors  weni 
ever  regularly  elected  to  reign  over  Italy  ;  but  whether  this 
ceremony  took  place  or  not,  we  may  certainly  date  from  that 
time  the  subjection  of  Italy  to  the  Germanic  body.  It  be- 
came an  unquestionable  maxim  that  the  votes  of  a  few  Ger- 
man princes  conferred  a  right  to  the  sovereignty  of  a  coun- 
try which  had  never  been  conquered,  and  which  had  never 
formally  recognized  this  superiority.  But  it  was  an  equally 
fundamental  rule  that  the  elected  king  of  Geraiany  could 
not  assume  the  title  of  Ronian  Emperor  until  his  coronation 
by  the  pope.  The  middle  appellation  of  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans w^as  invented  as  a  sort  of  approximation  to  the  imperial 
dignity.  But  it  was  not  till  the  reign  of  Maximilian  that 
the  actual  coronation  at  Rome  was  dispensed  with,  and  the 
title  of  emperor  taken  immediately  after  the  election. 

§  4.  The  period  between  Conrad  of  Franconia  and  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa,  or  from  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
to  that  of  the  twelfth  century,  is  marked  by  three  great 
events  in  Italian  history;  the  struggle  between  the  empire 
and  the  papacy  for  ecclesiastical  investitures,  the  establish- 


152  THE  NORMANS  AT  AVERSA.    Chap.  III.  Part  I. 

ment  of  the  Norman  kingdom  in  Kajjles,  and  the  formation 
of  distinct  and  nearly  independent  republics  among  the  cities 
of  Lombardy.  The  first  of  these  will  find  a  more  appropri- 
ate place  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  where  I  shall  trace  the 
progress  of  ecclesiastical  power.  But  it  produced  a  long 
and  almost  incessant  state  of  disturbance  in  Italy;  and 
should  be  mentioned  at  present  as  one  of  the  main  causes 
which  excited  in  that  country  a  systematic  opposition  to  the 
imperial  authority. 

The  southern  provinces  of  Italy,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century,  were  chiefly  subject  to  the  Greek  empire, 
which  had  latterly  recovered  part  of  its  losses,  and  exhibit- 
ed some  ambition  and  enterprise,  though  without  any  in- 
trinsic vigor.  They  were  governed  by  a  lieutenant,  styled 
Catapan,^  who  resided  at  Bari,in  Apulia.  On  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast  three  duchies,  or  rather  republics,  of  Naples, 
Gaeta,  and  Amalfi,  had  for  several  ages  preserved  their  con- 
nection with  the  Greek  empire,  and  acknowledged  its  nomi- 
nal sovereignty.  The  Lombard  principalities  of  Benevento, 
Salerno,  and  Capua  had  much  declined  from  their  ancient 
splendor.  The  Greeks  were,  however,  not  likely  to  attempt 
any  further  conquests :  the  Court  of  Constantinople  had  re- 
lapsed into  its  usual  indolence ;  nor  had  they  much  right  to 
boast  of  successes  rather  due  to  the  Saracen  auxiliaries  whom 
they  hired  from  Sicily.  No  momentous  revolution,  apparent- 
ly, threatened  the  south  of  Italy,  and  least  of  all  could  it 
be  anticij^ated  from  what  quarter  the  storm  was  about  to 
gather. 

§  5.  The  followers  of  RoUo,  who  rested  from  plunder  and 
piracy  in  the  quiet  possession  of  Normandy,  became  devout 
professors  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  particularly  addicted 
to  the  custom  of  pilgrimage,  which  gratified  their  curiosity 
and  spirit  of  adventure.  In  small  bodies,  well  armed  on  ac- 
count of  the  lawless  character  of  the  countries  through  which 
they  passed,  the  Norman  pilgrims  visited  the  shrines  of 
Italy  and  even  the  Holy  Land.  Some  of  these,  very  early 
in  the  eleventh  century,  were  engaged  by  a  Lombard  prince 
of  Salerno  against  the  Saracens,  who  had  invaded  his  terri- 
tory ;  and  through  that  superiority  of  valor,  and  perhaps  of 
corporal  strength,  which  this  singular  people  seem  to  have 
possessed  above  all  other  Europeans,  they  made  surprising^ 
havoc  among  the  enemy.  This  exploit  led  to  fresh  engage- 
ments, and  these  engagements  drew  new  adventurers  from 
Normandy ;   they  founded  the  little  city   of  Aversa,  near 

2  Catapanus,  from  Karu  iruv,  one  employed  in  general  arlministratiou  of  affairs. 


Italy.  SUCCESSES  OF  THE  NORMANS.  153 

Capua,  and  were  employed  by  the  Greeks  against  the  Sar- 
acens of  Sicily.  But,  though  performing  splendid  services 
in  this  war,  they  were  ill  repaid  by  their  ungrateful  employ- 
ers; and  being  by  no  means  of  a  temper  to  bear  with  injury, 
they  revenged  themselves  by  a  sudden  invasion  of  Apulia. 
This  province  was  speedily  subdued,  and  divided  among 
•twelve  Norman  counts  ;  but  soon  afterwards  Robert  Guis- 
card,  one  of  twelve  brothers,  many  of  whom  were  renowned 
in  these  Italian  wars,  acquired  the  sovereignty ;  and,  add- 
ing Calabria  to  his  conquests,  put  an  end  to  the  long  do- 
minion of  the  Eastern  emperors  in  Italy.  He  reduced  the 
principalities  of  Salerno  and  Benevento ;  in  the  latter  in- 
stance sharing  the  spoil  with  the  pope,  who  took  the  city  to 
himself,  while  Robert  retained  the  territory.  His  conquests 
in  Greece,  which  he  invaded  with  the  magnificent  design  of 
overthrowing  the  Eastern  Empire,  were  at  least  equally  splen- 
did, though  less  durable  (a.d.  1061).  Rooer,  his  younger 
brother,  undertook,  meanwhile,  the  romantic  enterprise  of 
conquering  the  island  of  Sicily  with  a  small  body  of  Norman 
volunteers.  But  the  Saracens  were  broken  into  petty  states, 
and  discouraged  by  the  bad  success  of  their  brethren  in 
Spain  and  Sardinia.  After  many  years  of  war  Roger  became 
sole  master  of  Sicily,  and  took  the  title  of  count.  The  son 
of  this  prince,  upon  the  extinction  of  Robert  Guiscard's  pos- 
terity, united  the  two  Norman  sovereignties,  and,  subjuga- 
ting the  free  republics  of  Naples  and  Amalfi,  and  the  prin- 
cipality of  Capua,  established  a  boundary  which  has  hardly 
been  changed  since  his  time  (a.d.  1127). 

The  first  successes  of  these  Norman  leaders  were  viewed  un- 
favorably by  the  popes.  Leo  IX.  marched  in  person  against 
Robert  Guiscard  with  an  army  of  German  mercenaries,  but 
was  beaten  and  made  prisoner  in  this  unwise  enterprise,  the 
scandal  of  which  nothing  but  good-fortune  could  have  light- 
ened. He  fell,  however,  into  the  hands  of  a  devout  people, 
who  implored  his  absolution  for  the  crime  of  defending  them- 
selves ;  and,  whether  through  gratitude  or  as  the  price  of 
his  liberation,  invested  them  with  their  recent  conquests  in 
Apulia,  as  fiefs  of  the  Holy  See.  This  investiture  was  re- 
peated and  enlarged  as  the  popes,  especially  in  their  con- 
tention with  Henry  IV.  and  Henry  Y.,  found  the  advantage 
of  using  the  Normans  as.  faithful  auxiliaries.  Finally,  In- 
nocent II.,  in  1139,  conferred  upon  Roger  the  title  of  King 
of  Sicily.  It  is  difticult  to  understand  by  what  pretense 
these  countries  could  be  claimed  by  the  See  of  Rome  in  sov- 
ereignty, unless  by  virtue  of  the  pretended  donation  of  Con- 

(7* 


154  SUCCESSES  OF  THE  NORMANS.     Chap.  III.  Part  I. 

stantine,  or  that  of  Louis  the  Debonair,  which  is  hardly  less 
suspicious  ;  and  least  of  all  how  Innocent  II.  could  surrender 
the  liberties  of  the  city  of  Naples,  whether  that  was  con- 
sidered as  an  independent  republic  or  as  a  portion  of  the 
Greek  empire.  But  the  Normans,  who  had  no  title  but 
their  swords,  were  naturally  glad  to  give  an  appearance  of 
legitimacy  to  their  conquest ;  and  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
even  in  the  hands  of  the  most  powerful  princes  in  Europe, 
never  ceased  to  pay  a  feudal  acknowledgment  to  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter. 

§  6.  The  revolutions  which  time  brought  forth  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  Italy  were  still  more  interesting.  Under  the 
Lombard  and  French  princes  every  city  with  its  adjacent 
district  was  subject  to  the  government  and  jurisdiction  of  a 
count,  who  was  himself  subordinate  to  the  duke  or  marquis 
of  the  province.  From  these  counties  it  was  the  practice 
of  the  first  German  emperors  to  dismember  particular  towns 
or  tracts  of  country,  granting  them  upon  a  feudal  tenure  to 
rural  lords,  by  many  of  whom,  also,  the  same  title  was  as- 
sumed. Thus  by  degrees  the  authority  of  the  original  offi- 
cers was  confined  almost  to  the  walls  of  their  own  cities ; 
and  in  many  cases  the  bishops  obtained  a  grant  of  the  tem- 
poral government,  and  exercised  the  functions  which  had  be- 
longed to  the  count. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  time  at  which  the  cities 
of  Lombardy  began  to  assume  a  republican  form  of  g~overn- 
raent,  or  to  trace  with  precision  the  gradations  of  their  prog- 
ress. These  cities  were  far  more  populous  and  better  de- 
fended than  those  of  France ;  they  had  learned  to  stand 
sieges  in  the  Hungarian  invasions  of  the  tenth  century,  and 
had  acquired  the  right  of  protecting  themselves  by  strong 
fortifications.  Those  which  had  been  placed  under  the  tem- 
poral government  of  their  bishops  had  peculiar  advantages 
in  struggling  for  emancipation.  This  circumstance  in  the 
state  of  Lombardy  I  consider  as  highly  important  towards 
explaining  the  subsequent  revolution.  Notwithstanding  sev- 
eral exceptions,  a  Churchman  was  less  likely  to  be  bold  and 
active  in  command  than  a  soldier ;  and  the  sort  of  election 
which  was  always  necessary,  and  sometimes  more  than  nom- 
inal, on  a  vacancy  of  the  see,  kept  up  among  the  citizens  a 
notion  that  the  authorityof  their  bishop  and  chief  magistrate 
emanated  in  some  degree  from  themselves.  In  many  in- 
stances, especially  in  the  Church  of  Milan,  the  earliest,  per- 
haps, and  certainly  the  most  famous  of  Lombard  republics, 
there  occurred  a  disputed  election ;  two,  or  even  three,  com- 


Italy.  PROGRESS  OF  LOMBARD  CITIES.  155 

petitors  claimed  the  archiepiscopal  functions,  and  were  com- 
pelled, in  the  absence  of  the  emperors,  to  obtain  the  exercise 
of  them  by  means  of  their  own  faction  among  the  citizens. 

These  were  the  general  causes  which,  operating  at  various 
times  during  the  eleventh  century,  seem  gradually  to  have 
produced  a  republican  form  of  government  in  the  Italian 
cities.  But  this  part  of  history  is  very  obscure.  The  ar- 
chives of  all  cities  before  the  reign  of  Frederick  Barbarossa 
have  perished.  We  perceive,  however,  throughout  the  elev- 
enth century,  that  the  cities  were  continually  in  warfare  with 
each  other.  This,  indeed,  was  according  to  the  manners  of 
that  age,  and  no  inference  can  absolutely  be  draw^n  from  it 
as  to  their  internal  freedom.  But  it  is  observable  that  their 
chronicles  speak,  in  recording  these  transactions,  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  not  of  their  leaders,  which  is  the  true  republican 
tone  of  history.  Thus,  in  the  Annals  of  Pisa,  we  read,  under 
the  years  1002  and  1004,  of  victories  gained  bythe  Pisans 
over  the  people  of  Lucca;  in  1006,  that  the  Pisans  and 
Genoese  conquered  Sardinia.  These  annals,  indeed,  are  not 
by  a  contemporary  writer,  nor  perhaps  of  much  authority. 
But  we  have  an  original  account  of  a  war  that  broke  out  in 
1057,  between  Pavia  and  Milan,  in  which  the  citizens  are 
said  to  have  raised  armies,  made  alliances,  hired  foreign 
troops,  and  in  every  respect  acted  like  independent  states. 
There  was,  in  fact,  no  power  left  in  the  empire  to  control 
them.  The  two  Henrys  IV.  and  V.  were  so  much  embar- 
rassed during  the  quarrel  concerning  investitures,  and  the 
continual  troubles  of  Germany,  that  they  were  less  likely  to 
interfere  with  the  rising  freedom  of  the  Italian  cities  than  to 
purchase  their  assistance  by  large  concessions.  Henry  IV. 
granted  a  charter  to  Pisa,*in  1081,  full  of  the  most  impor- 
tant privileges,  promising  even  not  to  name  any  marquis  of 
Tuscany  without  the  people's  consent ;  and  it  is  possible  that 
although  the  iuvStruments  have  perished,  other  places  might 
obtain  similar  advantages.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  before  the  death  of  Henry  V.,  in  1125,  almost  all 
the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  many  among  those  of  Tuscany, 
were  accustomed  to  elect  their  own  magistrates,  and  to  act 
as  independent  communities  in  waging  war  and  in  domestic 
government. 

The  territory  subjected  originally  to  the  count  or  bishop 
of  these  cities  had  been  reduced,  as  I  mentioned  above,  by 
numerous  concessions  to  the  rural  nobility.  But  the  new 
republics,  deeming  themselves  entitled  to  all  which  their 
former  governors  had  once  possessed,  began  to  attack  their 


156  LOMBARD  ACQUISITIONS.     Chap.  III.  Part  i. 

nearest  neighbors,  and  to  recover  the  sovereignty  of  all  their 
ancient  territory.  They  besieged  the  castles  of  the  rural 
counts,  and  successively  reduced  them  into  subjection.  They 
suppressed  some  minor  communities,  which  had  been  formed 
in  imitation  of  themselves  by  little  tovvms  belonging  to  their 
district.  Sometimes  they  purchased  feudal  superiorities  or 
territorial  jurisdictions,  and,  according  to  a  policy  not  unu= 
sual  with  the  stronger  party,  converted  the  rights  of  proper- 
ty into  those  of  government.  Hence,  at  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century,  we  are  assured  by  a  contemporary  writer 
that  hardly  any  nobleman  could  be  found,  except  the  Mar- 
quis of  Montferrat,  who  had  not  submitted  to  some  city. 
We  may  except  also,  I  should  presume,  the  families  of  Este 
and  Malaspina,  as  well  as  that  of  Savoy.  Muratori  produces 
many  charters  of  mutual  compact  between  the  nobles  and 
the  neighboring  cities;  whereof  one  invariable  article  is, 
that  the  former  siiould  reside  within  the  walls  a  certain 
number  of  months  in  the  year.  The  rural  nobility,  thus  de- 
prived of  the  independence  which  had  endeared  their  cas- 
tles, imbibed  a  new  ambition  of  directing  the  municipal  gov- 
ernment of  the  cities,  which  consequently,  during  this  period 
of  the  republics,  fell  chiefly  into  the  hands  of  the  superior 
families.  It  was  the  sagacious  policy  of  the  Lombards  to 
invite  settlers  by  throwing  open  to  them  the  privileges  of 
citizenship,  and  sometimes  they  even  bestowed  them  by 
compulsion.  Sometimes  a  city,  imitating  the  wisdom  of  an- 
cient Rome,  granted  these  privileges  to  all  the  inhabitants 
of  another.  Thus  the  principal  cities,  and  especially  Milan, 
reached,  before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  a  degree 
of  population  very  far  beyond  that  of  the  capitals  of  the 
great  kingdoms.  Within  their  strong  walls  and  deep  trench- 
es, and  in  the  midst  of  their  well-peopled  streets,  the  indus- 
trious dwelt  secure  from  the  license  of  armed  pillagers  and 
the  oppressors  of  feudal  tyi-ants.  Artisans,  whom  the  mili- 
tary land-holders  contemned,  acquired  and  deserved  the  right 
of  bearing  arms  for  their  own  and  the  public  defense.  Their 
occupations  became  liberal,  because  they  were  the  founda- 
tion of  their  political  franchises;  the  citizens  were  classed 
in  companies  according  to  their  respective  crafts,  each  of 
which  had  its  tribune  or  standard-bearer  (gonfalonier),  at 
whose  command,  when  any  tumult  arose  or  enemy  threaten- 
ed, they  rushed  in  arms  to  muster  in  the  market-place. 

But,  unhappily,  we  can  not  extend  the  sympathy  which 
institutions  so  full  of  liberty  create  to  the  national  conduct 
of  these  little  rejDublics.     Their  love  of  freedom  was  alloyed 


Italy.  THEIR  MUTUAL  ANIMOSITIES.  157 

by  that  restless  spirit,  from  which  a  democracy  is  seldom  ex- 
empt, of  tyrannizing  over  weaker  neighbors.  They  played 
over  again  the  tragedy  of  ancient  Greece,  with -all  its  cir- 
cumstances of  inveterate  hatred,  unjust  ambition,  and  atro- 
cious retaliation,  though  with  less  consummate  actors  upon 
the  scene.  Among  all  the  Lombard  cities,  Milan  was  the 
most  conspicuous,  as  well  for  power  and  population  as  for 
the  abuse  of  those  resources  by  arbitrary  and  ambitious  con- 
duct. Thus,  in  1111,  they  razed  the  town  of  Lodi  to  the 
ground,  distributing  the  inhabitants  among  six  villages,  and 
subjecting  them  to  an  unrelenting  despotism.  Thus,  in  1 11 8, 
they  commenced  a  war  of  ten  years'  duration  with  the  little 
city  of  Como;  but  the  surprising  perseverance  of  its  inhab- 
itants procured  for  them  better  terms  of  capitulation,  though 
they  lost  their  original  independence.  The  Cremonese  treat- 
ed so  harshly  the  town  of  Crema  that  it  revolted  from  them, 
and  put  itself  under  the  protection  of  Milan.  Cities  of  more 
equal  forces  carried  on  interminable  hostilities  by  wasting 
each  other's  territory,  destroying  the  harvests,  and  burning 
the  villages. 

The  sovereignty  of  the  emperors,  meanwhile,  though  not 
very  effective,  was  in  theory  always  admitted.  Their  name 
was  used  in  public  acts,  and  appeared  upon  the  coin.  When 
they  came  into  Italy  they  had  certain  customary  supplies 
of  provisions,  called  fodrum  regale,  at  the  expense  of  the 
city  where  they  resided ;  during  their  presence  all  inferior 
magistracies  were  suspended,  and  the  right  of  jurisdiction 
devolved  upon  them  alone.  But  such  was  the  jealousy  of 
the  Lombards  that  they  built  the  royal  palaces  outside  their 
gates ;  a  precaution  to  Avhich  the  emperors  were  compelled 
to  submit.  This  was  at  a  very  early  time  a  subject  of  con- 
tention between  the  inhabitants  of  Pavia  and  Conrad  IL, 
whose  palace,  seated  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  they  had  de- 
molished in  a  sedition,  and  were  unwilling  to  rebuild  in  that 
situation. 

§  7.  Such  was  the  condition  of  Italy  when  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,  duke  of  Suabia,  and  nephew  of  the  last  emperor, 
Conrad  III.,  ascended  the  throne  of  Germany  (a.d.  1152). 
His  accession  forms  the  commencement  of  a  new  period,  the 
duration  of  which  is  about  one  hundred  years,  and  which  is 
terminated  by  the  death  of  Conrad  IV.,  the  last  emperor  of 
the  house  of  Suabia.  It  is  characterized,  like  the  former,  by 
three  distinguishing  features  in  Italian  history ;  the  victori- 
ous struggle  of  the  Lombard  and  other  cities  for  independ- 
ence, the  final  establishment  of  a  t^emporal  sovereignty  ovei 


15«  FREDERICK  BARBAROSSA.      Chap.  III.  Part  I. 

the  middle  provinces  by  the  popes,  and  the  union  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  to  the  dominions  of  the  house  of  Suabia. 
In  Frederick  Barbarossa  the  Italians  found  a  very  differ- 
ent sovereign  from  the  two  last  emperors,  Lothaire  and  Con- 
rad III.,  who  had  seldom  appeared  in  Italy,  and  with  forces 
quite  inadequate  to  control  such  insubordinate  subjects. 
The  distinguished  valor  and  ability  of  this  prince  rendered 
a  severe  and  arbitrary  temper,  and  a  haughty  conceit  of  his 
imperial  rights,  more  formidable.  He  believed  that,  as  suc- 
cessor of  Augustus,  he  inherited  the  kingdoms  of  the  world. 
In  the  same  right,  he  niorepowerfully,  if  not  more  rationally, 
laid  claim  to  the  entire  prerogatives  of  the  Roman  emperors 
over  their  own  subjects ;  and  in  this  the  professors  of  the 
civil  law — which  was  now  diligently  studied — lent  him  tlieir 
aid  with  the  utmost  servility.  To  such  a  disi^osition  the 
self-government  of  the  Lombard  cities  appeared  mere  re- 
bellion. Milan  especially,  the  most  renowned  of  them  all, 
drew  down  upon  herself  his  inveterate  resentment.  He 
found,  unfortunately,  too  good  a  pretense  in  her  behavior  to- 
w^ards  Lodi.  Two  natives  of  that  ruined  city  threw  them- 
selves at  the  emperor's  feet,  imploring  him,  as  the  ultimate 
source  of  justice,  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  their  country.  It 
is  a  striking  proof  of  the  terror  inspired  by  Milan  that  the 
consuls  of  Lodi  disavowed  the  complaints  of  their  country- 
men, and  the  inhabitants  trembled  at  the  danger  of  provok- 
ing a  summary  vengeance,  against  which  the  imperial  arms 
seemed  no  protection.  The  Milanese,  however,  abstained 
from  attacking  the  people  of  Lodi,  though  they  treated  with 
contempt  the  emperor's  order  to  leave  them  at  liberty. 
Frederick  meanwhile  came  into  Italy,  and  held  a  diet  at  Ron- 
caglia,  where  complaints  poured  in  from  many  quarters 
against  the  Milanese.  Pavia  and  Cremona,  their  ancient  ene- 
mies, were  impatient  to  renew  hostilities  under  the  imperial 
auspices.  Brescia,  Tortona,  and  Crema  were  allies,  or  rather 
dependents,  of  Milan.  Frederick  soon  took  occasion  to  at- 
tack the  latter  confederacy.  Tortona  was  compelled  to  sur- 
render, and  levelled  to  the  ground.  But  a  feudal  army  was 
soon  dissolved  ;  the  emperor  had  much  to  demand  his  atten- 
tion at  Rome,  where  he  was  on  ill  terms  w^ith  Adrian  IV. ; 
and  when  the  imperial  troops  wei'e  withdrawn  from  Lom- 
bardy,  the  Milanese  rebuilt  Tortona,  and  expelled  the  citi- 
zens of  Lodi  from  their  dwellings.  Frederick  assembled  a 
fresh  army,  to  w^hich  almost  everj^  city  of  Lombardy,  will- 
ingly or  by  force,  contributed  its  militia.  It  is  said  to  have 
exceeded   a   hundred    thousand   men.      The   Milanese   shut 


Italy.  CAPTURE  OF  MILAN.  159 

themselves  up  within  their  walls ;  and  perhaps  might  have 
defied  the  imperial  forces,  if  their  immense  population,  which 
gave  them  confidence  in  arms,  had  not  exposed  them  to  a 
different  enemy.  Milan  was  obliged  by  hunger  to  capitu- 
late, upon  conditions  not  very  severe,  if  a  vanquished  people 
could  ever  safely  rely  upon  the  convention  that  testifies  their 
submission. 

Frederick,  after  the  surrender  of  Milan,  held  a  diet  at  Ron- 
eaglia,  where  the  effect  of  his  victories  was  fatally  perceived 
(a.d.  1158).  The  bishops,  the  higher  nobility,  the  lawyers, 
vied  with  one  another  in  exalting  his  prerogatives.  He  de- 
fined the  regalian  rights,  as  they  were  called,  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  exclude  the  cities  and  private  proprietors  from  coin- 
ing money,  and  from  tolls  or  territorial  dues,  which  they  had 
for  many  years  possessed.  These,  however,  he  permitted 
them  to  retain  for  a  pecuniary  stipulation.  A  more  impor- 
tant innovation  was  the  appointment  of  magistrates,  with  the 
title  of  podesta,  to  administer  justice  concurrently  with  the 
consuls ;  but  he  soon  proceeded  to  abolish  the  latter  ofiice 
in  many  cities,  and  to  throw  the  whole  government  into  the 
hands  of  his  own  magistrates.  He  prohibited  the  cities  from 
levying  war  against  each  other.  It  may  be  presumed  that 
he  showed  no  favor  to  Milan.  The  capitulation  was  set  at 
nought  in  its  most  express  provisions  ;  a  podesta  was  sent  to 
supersede  the  consuls,  and  part  of  the  territory  taken  away. 
Whatever  might  be  the  risk  of  resistance,  and  the  Milanese 
had  experience  enough  not  to  undervalue  it,  they  were  de- 
termined rather  to  see  their  liberties  at  once  overthrown 
than  gradually  destroyed  by  a  faithless  tyrant.  They  availed 
themselves  of  the  absence  of  his  army  to  renew  the  war.  Its 
issue  was  more  calamitous  than  that  of  the  last.  Almost  all 
Lombardy  lay  patient  under  subjection.  The  small  town  of 
Crema,  always  the  faithful  ally  of  Milan,  stood  a  memorable 
siege  against  the  imperial  army;  but  the  inhabitants  were 
ultimately  compelled  to  capitulate  for  their  lives,  and  the 
vindictive  Cremonese  razed  their  dwellings  to  the  ground. 
But  all  smaller  calamities  were  forgotten  when  the  great  city 
of  Milan,  worn  out  by  famine  rather  than  subdued  by  force, 
W'as  reduced  to  surrender  at  discretion.  Lombardy  stood  in 
anxious  suspense  to  know  the  determination  of  Frederick  re- 
specting this  ancient  metropolis,  the  seat  of  the  early  Chris- 
tian emperors,  and  second  only  to  Rome  in  the  hierarchy  of 
the  Latin  Church.  A  delay  of  three  weeks  excited  fallacious 
hopes  ;  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  an  order  was  given  to  the 
Milanese  to  evacuate  their  habitations.     The  deserted  streets 


160  LEAGUE  OF  LOMBAKDY.      Chap.  III.  Part  1 

were  instantly  occupied  by  the  imperial  army ;  the  people 
of  Pavia  and  Cremona,  of  Lodi  and  Como,  were  commis- 
sioned to  revenge  themselves  on  the  respective  quarters  of 
the  city  assigned  to  them;  and  in  a  few  days  the  pillaged 
churches  stood  alone  amidst  the  ruins  of  what  had  been  Mi- 
lan (a.d.  1162). 

There  was  now  little  left  of  that  freedom  to  which  Lom- 
bardy  had  aspired  :  it  was  gone  like  a  pleasant  dream,  and 
she  awoke  to  the  fears  and  miseries  of  servitude.  Frederick 
obeyed  the  dictates  of  his  vindictive  temper,  and  of  the  poli- 
cy usual  among  statesmen.  He  abrogated  the  consular  regi- 
men in  some  even  of  the  cities  which  had  supported  him,  and 
established  his  podesta  in  their  place.  This  magistrate  was 
always  a  stranger,  frequently  not  even  an  Italian ;  and  he 
came  to  his  office  with  all  those  prejudices  against  the  peo- 
ple he  was  to  govern  which  cut  off  every  hope  of  justice  and 
humanity.  The  citizens  of  Lombardy,  especially  the  Mi- 
lanese, who  had  been  dispersed  in  the  villages  adjoining  their 
ruined  capital,  were  unable  to  meet  the  perpetual  demands 
of  tribute.  In  some  parts,  it  is  said,  two-thirds  of  the  prod- 
uce of  their  lands,  the  only  wealth  that  remained,  were  ex- 
torted from  them  by  the  imperial  officers.  It  was  in  vain 
that  they  prostrated  themselves  at  the  feet  of  Frederick.  He 
gave  at  the  best  only  vague  promises  of  redress ;  they  were 
in  his  eyes  rebels ;  his  delegates  had  acted  as  faithful  offi- 
cers, whom,  even  if  they  had  gone  a  little  beyond  his  inten- 
tions, he  could  not  be  expected  to  punish. 

§  8.  But  there  still  remained  at  the  heart  of  Lombardy 
the  strong  principle  of  national  liberty,  imperishable  among 
the  perishing  armies  of  her  patriots,  inconsumable  in  the 
conflagration  of  her  cities.  Those  whom  private  animosities 
had  led  to  assist  the  German  conqueror  blushed  at  the  deg' 
radation  of  their  country,  and  at  the  share  they  had  taken  in 
it.  A  league  was  secretly  formed,  in  which  Cremona^-cJiie 
of  the  chief  cities  on  the  imperial  side,  took  a  proifiinent 
part.  Those  beyond  the  Adige,  hitherto  not  much  engaged 
in  the  disputes  of  Central  Lombardy,  had  already  formed  a 
separate  confederacy  to  secure  themselves  from  encroach- 
ments which  appeared  the  more  unjust,  as  they  had  never 
borne  arms  against  the  emperor.  Their  first  successes  corre- 
sponded to  the  justice  of  their  cause;  Frederick  was  re- 
pulsed from  the  territory  of  Yerona — a  fortunate  augury  for 
the  rest  of  Lombardy  (a.d.  1164).  These  two  clusters  of 
cities  on  the  east  and  west  of  the  Adige  now  united  them- 
selves into  the  famous  Lombard  leasrue,  the  terms  of  which 


Italy.  LEAGUE  OF  LOMBARDY.  16i 

were  settled  in  a  general  diet.  Their  alliance  was  to  last 
twenty  years,  during  which  they  pledged  themselves  to  mu- 
tual assistance  against  any  one  who  should  exact  more  from 
them  than  they  had  been  used  to  perform  from  the  time  of 
Henry  to  the  first  coming  of  Frederick  into  Italy ;  imply- 
ing in  this  the  recovery  of  their  elective  magistracies,  their 
rights  of  war  and  peace,  and  those  lucrative  privileges  which, 
under  the  name  of  regalian,  had  been  wrested  from  them  in 
the  diet  of  Koncaglia. 

§  9.  This  union  of  the  Lombard  cities  was  formed  at  a 
very  favorable  juncture.  Frederick  had,  almost  ever  since 
his  accession,  been  engaged  in  open  hostility  with  the  See  of 
Rome,  and  was  pursuing  the  fruitless  policy  of  Henry  IV., 
who  had  endeavored  to  substitute  an  anti-pope  of  his  own 
faction  for  the  legitimate  pontiff.  In  the  prosecution  of  this 
scheme  he  had  besieged  Rome  with  a  great  army,  which,  the 
citizens  resisting  longer  than  he  expected,  fell  a  prey  to  the 
autumnal  pestilence  which  visits  the  neighborhood  of  that 
capital.  The  flower  of  German  nobility  was  cut  off  by  this 
calamity,  and  the  emperor  recrossed  the  Alps,  entirely  unable 
for  the  present  to  withstand  the  Lombard  confederacy.  Their 
first  overt  act  of  insurrection  was  the  rebuilding  of  Milan ; 
the  confederate  troops  all  joined  in  this  undertaking;  and 
the  Milanese,  still  numerous,  though  dispersed  and  perse- 
cuted, revived  as  a  powerful  republic.  Lodi  was  compelled 
to  enter  into  the  league ;  Pavia  alone  continued  on  the  im- 
perial side.  As  a  check  to  Pavia  and  to  the  Marquis  of 
Montferrat,  the  most  potent  of  the  independent  nobility,  the 
Lombards  planned  the  erection  of  a  new  city  between  the 
confines  of  these  two  enemies  in  a  rich  plain  to  the  south  of 
the  Po,  and  bestowed  uj^on  it,  in  compliment  to  the  pope, 
Alexander  HI.,  the  name  of  Alessandria.  Though,  from  itf 
hasty  construcTiion,  Alessandria  was  even  in  that  age  deemei 
rude  in  appearance,  it  rapidly  became  a  thriving  and  popu- 
lous city.  The  intrinsic  energy  and  resources  of  Lombardy 
were  now  made  manifest.  Frederick,  who  had  triumphed  by 
their  disunion,  was  unequal  to  contend  against  their  league. 
After  several  years  of  indecisive  war,  the  emperor  invaded 
the  Milanese  territory;  but  the  confederates  gave  him  bat- 
tle, and  gained  a  complete  victory  at  Legnano  (a.d.  1176). 
Frederick  escaped  alone  and  disguised,  from  the  field,  with 
little  hope  of  raising  a  fresh  army,  though  still  reluctant,  from 
shame,  to  acquiesce  in  the  freedom  of  Lombardy.  He  was 
at  length  persuaded,  through  the  mediation  of  the  republic 
of  Venice,  to  consent  to  a  truce  of  six  years,  the  provisional 


162  PEACE  OF  CONSTANCE.      Chap.  III.  Part  1. 

terms  of  which  Avere  all  favorable  to  the  league.  It  was 
weakened,  however,  by  the  defection  of  some  of  its  own 
members ;  Cremona,  which  had  never  cordially  united  with 
her  ancient  enemies,  made  separate  conditions  with  Freder- 
ick, and  suffered  herself  to  be  named  among  the  cities  on 
the  imperial  side  in  the  armistice.  Tortona  and  even  Ales- 
sandria followed  the  same  course  during  the  six  years  of  its 
duration — a  fatal  testimony  of  unsubdued  animosities,  and 
omen  of  the  calamities  of  Italy.  At  the  expiration  of  the 
truce,  Frederick's  anxiety  to  secure  the  crown  for  his  son 
overcame  his  pride,  and  the  famous  peace  of  Constance  es- 
tablished the  Lombard  republics  in  real  independence  (a.d. 
1183). 

By  the  treaty  of  Constance  the  cities  were  maintained  in 
the  enjoyment  of  all  the  regalian  rights,  whether  within 
their  walls  or  in  their  district,  which  they  could  claim  by 
usage.  Those  of  levying  war,  of  erecting  fortifications,  and 
of  administering  civil  and  criminal  justice,  were  specially 
mentioned.  The  nomination  of  their  consuls,  or  other  mag- 
istrates, was  left  absolutely  to  the  citizens ;  but  they  were 
to  receive  the  investiture  of  their  office  from  an  imperial  leg- 
ate. The  customary  tributes  of  provision  during  the  em- 
peror's residence  in  Italy  were  preserved ;  and  he  was  au- 
thorized to  appoint  in  every  city  a  judge  of  appeal  in  civil 
causes.  The  Lombard  league  was  confirmed,  and  the  cities 
were  permitted  to  renew  it  at  their  own  discretion  ;  but 
they  were  to  take,  every  ten  years,  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
emperor.  This  just  compact  preserved,  along  with  every 
security  for  the  liberties  and  welfare  of  the  cities,  as  much 
of  the  imperial  prerogatives  as  could  be  exercised  by  a  for- 
eign sovereign  consistently  with  the  people's  happiness. 

§  10.  Frederick  did  not  attempt  to  molest  the  cities  of 
Lombardy  in  the  enjoyment  of  those  privileges  conceded  by 
the  treaty  of  Constance.  His  ambition  was  diverted  to  a 
new  scheme  for  aggrandizing  the  house  of  Suabia  by  the 
marriage  of  his  eldest  son  Henry  with  Constance,  the  aunt 
and  hen-ess  of  William  IL,  king'  of  Sicily.  That  kingdom, 
which  the  first  monarch  Roger  had  elevated  to  a  high  pitch 
of  renown  and  power,  fell  into  decay  through  the  miscon- 
duct of  his  son  William,  surnamed  the  Bad,  and  did  not  re- 
coA^er  much  of  its  lustre  under  the  second  William,  though 
styled  the  Good.  His  death  without  issue  was  apparently 
no  remote  event ;  and  Constance  was  the  sole  legitimate 
survivor  of  the  royal  family.  It  is  a  curious  circumstance 
that  no  hereditary  kingdom  appears  absolutely  to  have  ex- 


Italy.  AFFAIRS  OF  SICILY.  163 

eluded  females  from  its  throne,  except  that  which  from  its 
magnitude  was  of  all  the  most  secure  from  falling  into  the 
condition  of  a  province.  The  Sicilians  felt  too  late  the  de- 
fect of  their  constitution,  Avhich  permitted  an  independent 
people  to  be  transferred,  as  the  dowry  of  a  woman,  to  a  for- 
eign prince,  by  whose  ministers  they  might  justly  expect  to 
be  insulted  and  oppressed.  Henry,  whose  marriage  with 
Constance  took  place  in  1186,  and  who  succeeded  in  her 
right  to  the  throne  of  Sicily  three  years  afterwards,  was  ex- 
asperated by  a  courageous  but  unsuccessful  effort  of  the 
Norman  barons  to  preserve  the  crown  for  an  illegitimate 
branch  of  the  royal  family ;  and  his  reign  is  disgraced  by  a 
series  of  atrocious  cruelties.  The  power  of  the  house  of  Sua- 
bia  was  now  at  its  zenith  on  each  side  of  the  Alps ;  Henry 
received  the  imperial  crown  the  year  after  his  father's  death 
in  the  third  crusade,  and  even  prevailed  upon  the  princes  of 
Germany  to  elect  his  infant  son  Frederick  as  his  successor. 
But  his  own  premature  decease  clouded  the  prospects  of  his 
family  :  Constance  survived  him  but  a  year ;  and  a  child  of 
four  years  old  was  left  with  the  inheritance  of  a  kingdom 
which  his  father's  severity  had  rendered  disaifected,  and 
which  the  leaders  of  German  mercenaries  in  his  service 
desolated  and  disputed. 

§  11.  During  the  minority  of  Frederick  H.,  from  1196  to 
1216,  the  papal  chair  was  filled  by  Innocent  HI.,  a  name 
second  only,  and  hardly  second,  to  that  of  Gregory  VII. 
Young,  noble,  and  intrepid,  he  united  with  the  accustomed 
spirit  of  ecclesiastical  usurpation,  which  no  one  had  ever 
carried  to  so  high  a  point,  the  more  worldly  ambition  of 
consolidating  a  separate  principality  for  the  Holy  See  in  the 
centre  of  Italy.  The  real  or  spurious  donations  of  Constan- 
tine,  Pepin,  Charlemagne,  and  Louis,  had  given  rise  to  a  per- 
petual claim  on  the  part  of  the  popes  to  very  extensive  do- 
minions ;  but  little  of  this  had  been  effectuated,  and  in  Rome 
itself  they  were  thwarted  by  the  prefect — an  officer  who 
swore  fidelity  to  the  emperor — and  by  the  insubordinate 
spirit  of  the  people.  In  the  very  neighborhood  the  small 
cities  owned  no  subjection  to  the  capital,  and  were  probably 
as  much  self-governed  as  those  of  Lombard y.  One  is  trans- 
ported back  to  the  earliest  times  of  the  republic  in  reading 
of  the  desperate  wars  between  Rome  and  Tibur  or  Tuscu- 
lum  ;  neither  of  which  was  subjugated  till  the  latter  part  of 
the  twelfth  century.  At  a  farther  distance  were  the  duchy 
of  Spoleto,  the  march  of  Ancona,  and  what  had  been  the 
exarchate  of  Ravenna,  to  all  of  which  the  popes  had  more 


164  INNOCENT  III.  Chap.  III.  Paut  I. 

or  less  grounded  pretensions.  Early  in  the  last-mentioned 
age,  the  famous  Countess  Matilda,  to  whose  zealous  protec- 
tion Gregory  VII.  had  been  eminently  indebted  during  his 
long  dispute  with  the  emperor,  granted  the  reversion  of  all 
her  possessions  to  the  Holy  See,  iirst  in  the  lifetime  of  Greg- 
ory, and  again  under  the  pontificate  of  Paschal  III.  These 
were  very  extensive,  and  held  by  different  titles.  Of  her 
vast  imperial  fiefs,  Mantua,  Modena,  and  Tuscany,  she  cer- 
tainly could  not  dispose.  The  duchy  of  Spoleto  and  march 
of  Ancona  were  supposed  to  rest  upon  a  different  footing. 
These  had  been  formerly  among  the  great  fiefs  of  the  king- 
dom of  Italy.  They  are  commonly  considered  as  her  al- 
lodial or  patrimonial  property ;  yet  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how, 
being  herself  a  subject  of  tlie  empire,  she  could  transfer  even 
her  allodial  estates  from  its  sovereignty.  Nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  can  it  apparently  be  maintained  that  she  was  lawful 
sovereign  of  countries  which  had  not  long  since  been  impe- 
rial fiefs,  and  tlie  suzerainty  over  which  had  never  been  re- 
nounced. The  original  title  of  the  Holy  See,  therefore,  docs 
not  seem  incontestable  even  as  to  this  part  of  Matilda's  do- 
nation. It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  emperors  kept  pos- 
session of  the  whole  during  the  twelfth  century,  and  treated 
both  Spoleto  and  Ancona  as  parts  of  the  empire,  notwith- 
standing continual  remonstrances  from  the  Roman  pontiffs. 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  at  the  negotiations  of  Venice  in  1177, 
promised  to  restore  the  patrimony  of  Matilda  in  fifteen 
years ;  but  at  the  close  of  that  period  Henry  VI.  was  not 
disposed  to  execute  this  arrangement,  and  granted  the  county 
in  fief  to  some  of  his  German  followers.  Upon  his  death,  the 
circumstances  were  favorable  to  Innocent  III.  The  infant 
King  of  Sicily  had  been  intrusted  by  Constance  to  his  guard- 
ianship. A  double  election  of  Philip,  brother  of  Henry  VI., 
and  of  Otho,  duke  of  Brunswick,  engaged  the  princes  of  Ger- 
many, who  had  entirely  overlooked  the  claims  of  young 
Frederick,  in  a  doubtful  civil  war.  Neither  party  was  in  a 
condition  to  enter  Italy ;  and  the  imperial  dignity  was  va' 
cant  for  several  years,  till,  the  death  of  Philip  removing  one 
competitor,  Otho  IV.,  whom  the  pope  had  constantly  fa- 
vored, was  crowned  emperor.  During  this  interval  the  Ital- 
ians had  no  superior,  and  Innocent  availed  himself  of  it  to 
maintain  the  pretensions  of  the  See.  These  he  backed  by 
the  production  of  rather  a  questionable  document,  the  will  of 
Henry  VI.,  said  to  have  been  found  among  the  baggage  of 
Marquard,  one  of  the  German  soldiers  who  had  been  invest- 
ed with  fiefs  by  the  late  emperor.     The  cities  of  what  we 


Italy.  GUELFS  AND  GHIBELINS.  165 

now  call  the  ecclesiastical  state  had  in  the  twelfth  century 
their  own  municipal  government  like  those  of  Lombavdy ; 
but  they  were  far  less  able  to  assert  a  complete  independ- 
ence. They  gladly,  therefore,  put  themselves  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Holy  See,  which  held  out  some  prospect  of  se- 
curing them  from  Marquard  and  other  rapacious  partisans, 
without  disturbing  their  internal  regulations.  Thus  the 
duchy  of  Spoleto  and  march  of  Ancona  submitted  to  Inno- 
cent III. ;  but  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  keep  constant 
possession  of  such  extensive  territories,  and  some  years  after- 
wards adopted  the  prudent  course  of  granting  Ancona  in  fief 
to  the  Marquis  of  Este.  He  did  not,  as  may  be  supposed, 
neglect  his  authority  at  home ;  the  Prefect  of  Rome  was  now 
compelled  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  pope,  which  put  an  end 
to  the  regular  imperial  supremacy  over  that  city,  and  the 
privileges  of  the  citizens  were  abridged.  This  is  the  proper 
era  of  that  temporal  sovereignty  which  the  bishops  of  Rome 
possess  over  their  own  city,  though  still  prevented  by  va- 
rious causes,  for  nearly  three  centuries,  from  becoming  un- 
questioned and  unlimited. 

§  12.  In  the  wars  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  against  Milan 
and  its  allies,  we  have  seen  the  cities  of  Lombardy  divided, 
and  a  considerable  number  of  them  firmly  attached  to  the 
imperial  interest.  The  jealousies  long  existing  between  the 
different  classes,  and  onlj^  suspended  by  the  national  strug- 
gle which  terminated  at  Constance,  gave  rise  to  new  modifi- 
cations of  interests,  and  new  relations  towards  the  empire. 
About  the  year  1200,  or  perhaps  a  little  later,  the  two  lead- 
ing parties  which  divided  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  whose 
mutual  animosity — having  no  general  subject  of  contention 
— required  the  association  of  a  name  to  direct  as  well  as  in- 
vigorate its  prejudices,  became  distinguished  by  the  cele- 
brated appellations  of  Gitelfs  and  Ghlbelins  ;  the  former 
adhering  to  the  papal  side,  the  latter  to  that  of  the  emperor. 
These  names  were  derived  from  Germany,  and  had  been  the 
rallying  word  of  faction  for  more  than  half  a  century  in  that 
country  before  they  were  transported  to  a  still  more  favora- 
ble soil.  The  Guelfs  took  their  name  from  a  very  illustrious 
fixmily,  several  of  whom  had  successively  been  dukes  of  Ba- 
varia in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  The  heiress  of  the 
last  of  these  intermarried  with  a  younger  son  of  the  house 
of  Este,  a  noble  family  settled  near  Padua,  and  possessed  of 
great  estates  on  each  bank  of  the  lower  Po.  They  gave  birth 
to  a  second  line  of  Guelfs,  from  whom  the  royal  house  of 
Brunswick  is  descended.     The  name  of  Ghibelin  is  derived 


166  OTHO  IV.  Chap.  III.  Part  I. 

from  a  village  in  Franconia,  whence  Conrad  the  Salic  came, 
the  progenitor,  through  females,  of  the  Suabian  emperors. 
At  the  election  of  Lothaire  in  1125,  the  Suabian  family  were 
disappointed  of  what  they  considered  almost  an  hereditary 
possession  ;  and  at  this  time  an  hostility  appears  to  have 
commenced  between  them  and  the  house  of  Guelf,  who  were 
nearly  related  to  Lothaire.  Henry  the  Proud  and  his  son 
Henry  the  Lion,  representatives  of  the  latter  family,  were 
frequently  persecuted  by  the  Suabian  emperors ;  but  their 
fortunes  belong  to  the  history  of  Germany.  Meanwhile  the 
elder  branch,  though  not  reserved  for  such  glorious  destinies 
as  the  Guelfs,  continued  to  flourish  in  Italy  ;  the  marquises 
of  Este  were  by  far  the  most  powerful  nobles  in  Eastern 
Lombardy,  and  about  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  began 
to  be  considered  as  the  heads  of  the  Church  party  in  their 
neighborhood.  They  were  frequently  chosen  to  the  oftice  of 
podesta,  or  chief  magistrate,  by  the  cities  of  Romagna  ;  and 
in  1208  the  people  of  Ferrara  set  the  fatal  example  of  sacri- 
ficing their  freedom  for  tranquillity  by  electing  Azzo  VH., 
marquis  of  Este,  as  their  lord  or  sovereign. 

§  13.  Otho  lY.  was  son  of  Henry  the  Lion,  and  consequent- 
ly head  of  the  Guelfs.  On  his  obtaining  the  imperial  crown 
(a.d.  1198),  the  prejudices  of  Italian  factions  were  diverted 
out  of  their  usual  channel.  He  was  soon  engaged  in  a  quar- 
rel with  the  pope,  whose  hostility  to  the  empire  was  certain, 
into  whatever  hands  it  might  fall.  In  Milan,  however,  and 
generally  in  the  cities  which  had  belonged  to  the  Lombard 
league  against  Frederick  I.,  hatred  of  the  house  of  Suabia 
prevailed  more  than  jealousy  of  the  imperial  prerogatives ; 
they  adhered  to  names  rather  than  to  principles,  and  sup" 
ported  a  Guelf  emperor  even  against  the  pope.  Terms  of 
this  description,  having  no  definite  relation  to  principles 
which  it  might  be  troublesome  to  learn  and  defend,  are  al- 
ways acceptable  to  mankind,  and  have  the  peculiar  advan- 
tage of  precluding  altogether  that  spirit  of  compromise  and 
accommodation  by  which  it  is  sometimes  endeavored  to  ob- 
struct their  tendency  to  hate  and  injure  each  other.  From 
this  time,  every  city,  and  almost  every  citizen,  gloried  in  one 
of  these  barbarous  denominations.  In  several  cities  the  im- 
perial party  predominated  through  hatred  of  their  neighbors, 
who  espoused  that  of  the  Church.  Thus  the  inveterate  feuds 
between  Pisa  and  Florence,  Modena  and  Bologna,  Cremona 
and  Milan,  threw  them  into  opposite  factions.  But  there 
was  in  every  one  of  these  a  strong  party  against  that  which 
prevailed,  and  consequently  a  Guelf  city  frequently  became 


Italy.  FKEDEKICK  II.  167 

Ghibelin,  or  conversely,  according  to  the  fluctuations  of  the 
time. 

§  14.  The  change  to  which  we  have  adverted  in  the  pol- 
itics of  the  Guelf  party  lasted  only  during  the  reign  of  Otho 
IV.  When  the  heir  of  the  house  of  Suabia  grew  up  to  man- 
hood, Innocent,  who,  though  his  guardian,  had  taken  little 
care  of  his  interests,  as  long  as  he  flattered  himself  with  the 
hope  of  finding  a  Guelf  emperor  obedient,  placed  the  young 
Frederick  at  the  head  of  an  opposition  composed  of  cities 
always  attached  to  his  family,  and  of  such  as  implicitly  fol- 
lowed the  See  of  Rome.  He  met  with  considerable  success 
both  in  Italy  and  Germany,  and,  after  the  death  of  Otho,  re- 
ceived the  imperial  crown  (a.d.  1212).  But  he  had  no  longer 
to  expect  any  assistance  from  the  pope  who  conferred  it. 
Innocent  was  dead,  and  Honorius  III.,  his  successor,  could 
not  behold  without  apprehension  the  vast  power  of  Fred- 
erick, supported  in  Lombardy  by  a  faction  which  balanced 
that  of  the  Church,  and  menacing  the  ecclesiastical  territo- 
ries on  the  other  side  by  the  possession  of  Naples  and  Sici- 
ly. This  kingdom,  feudatory  to  Rome,  and  long  her  firmest 
ally,  was  now,  by  a  fatal  connection  which  she  had  not  been 
able  to  prevent,  thrown  into  the  scale  of  her  most  danger- 
ous enemy.  Hence  the  temporal  dominion  which  Innocent 
HI.  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  establish,  became  a  very  pre- 
carious possession,  exposed  on  each  side  to  the  attacks  of  a 
power  that  had  legitimate  pretensions  to  almost  every  prov- 
ince composing  it.  The  life  of  Frederick  II.  was  wasted  in 
an  unceasing  contention  with  the  Church,  and  with  his  Italian 
subjects,  whom  she  excited  to  rebellions  against  him.  With- 
out inveighing,  like  the  popish  writers,  against  this  prince, 
certainly  an  encourager  of  letters,  and  endowed  with  many 
eminent  qualities,  we  may  lay  to  his  charge  a  good  deal  of 
dissimulation ;  I  will  not  add  ambition,  because  I  am  not 
aware  of  any  period  in  the  reign  of  Frederick  when  he  was 
not  obliged  to  act  on  his  defense  against  the  aggression  of 
others.  But  if  he  had  been  a  model  of  virtues,  such  men  as 
Honorius  HI.,  Gregory  IX.,  and  Innocent  IV.,  the  popes 
with  whom  he  had  successively  to  contend  would  not  have 
given  him  respite  while  he  remained  master  of  Naples  as 
as  well  as  the  Empire. 

It  was  the  custom  of  every  pope  to  urge  princes  into  a 
crusade,  which  the  condition  of  Palestine  rendered  indispen- 
sable, or,  more  properly,  desperate.  But  this  great  piece  of 
supererogatory  devotion  had  never  yet  been  raised  into  an 
absolute  duty  of  their  station,  nor  had  even  private  persons 


168  THE  GUELFS  AND  GHIBELINS.    Chap.  III.  Part  X. 

been  ever  required  to  take  up  the  cross  by  compulsion. 
Honorius  III.,  however,  exacted  a  vow  from  Frederick,  be- 
fore he  conferred  upon  him  the  imperial  crown,  that  he 
would  undertake  a  crusade  for  the  deliverance  of  Jerusa- 
lem. Frederick  submitted  to  this  engagement,  which  per- 
haps he  never  designed  to  keep,  and  certainly  endeavored 
afterwards  to  evade.  Though  he  became  by  marriage  nomi- 
nal king  of  Jerusalem,  his  excellent  understanding  was  not 
captivated  with  so  barren  a  prospect,  and  at  length  his  de- 
lays in  the  performance  of  his  vow  provoked  Gregory  IX.  to 
issue  against  him  a  sentence  of  excommunication.  Such  a 
thunder-bolt  was  not  to  be  lightly  regarded,  and  Frederick 
sailed,  the  next  year,  for  Palestine.  But  having  disdained  to 
solicit  absolution  for  what  he  considered  as  no  crime,  the 
Court  of  Rome  was  excited  to  still  fiercer  indignation  against 
this  profanation  of  a  crusade  by  an  excommunicated  sover- 
eign. Upon  his  arrival  in  Palestine,  he  received  intelligence 
that  the  papal  troops  had  broken  into  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples. No  one  could  rationally  have  blamed  Frederick,  if  he 
had  quitted  the  Holy  Land  as  he  found  it ;  but  he  made  a 
treaty  with  the  Saracens,  which  though  by  no  means  so  dis- 
advantageous as  under  all  the  circumstances  might  have  been 
expected,  served  as  a  pretext  for  new  calumnies  against  him 
in  Europe.  The  charge  of  irreligion,  eagerly  and  success- 
fully propagated,  he  repelled  by  persecuting  edicts  against 
heresy  that  do  no  great  honor  to  his  memory,  and  availed 
him  little  at  the  time.  Over  his  Neapolitan  dominions  he 
exercised  a  rigorous  government,  rendered  perhaps  necessary 
by  the  levity  and  insubordination  characteristic  of  the  in- 
habitants, but  which  tended,  through  tfyi  artful  representa- 
tions of  Honorius  and  Gregory,  to  alarm  and  alienate  the 
Italian  republics. 

A  new  generation  had  risen  up  in  Lombardy  since  the 
peace  of  Constance,  and  the  prerogatives  reserved  by  that 
treaty  to  the  Empire  were  so  seldom  called  into  action,  that 
few  cities  were  disposed  to  recollect  their  existence.  They 
denominated  themselves  Guelfs  or  Ghibelins,  according  to 
habit,  and  out  of  their  mutual  opposition,  but  without  much 
reference  to  the  Empire.  Those,  however,  of  the  former 
party,  and  especially  Milan,  retained  their  antipathy  to  the 
house  of  Suabia.  Though  Frederick  II.  was  entitled,  as  far 
as  established  usage  can  create  a  right,  to  the  sovereignty 
of  Italy,  the  Milanese  would  never  acknowledge  him,  nor 
permit  his  coronation  at  Monza,  according  to  ancient  cer- 
emony, v/ith  the  iron  crown  of  the  Lombard  kings.     The 


Italy.         AKKANGEMENT  OF  ITALIAN  REPUBLICS.  169 

pope  fomented,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  this  disaffected 
spirit,  and  encouraged  the  Lombard  cities  to  renew  their 
former  league.  This,  although  conformable  to  a  provision 
in  the  treaty  of  Constance,  was  manifestly  hostile  to  Fred- 
erick, and  may  be  considered  as  the  commencement  of  a  sec- 
ond contest  between  the  republican  cities  of  Lombardy  and 
the  Empire.  But  there  was  a  striking  difference  between 
this  and  the  former  confederacy  against  Frederick  Barba- 
rossa.  In  the  league  of  1167,  almost  every  city,  forgetting 
all  smaller  animosities  in  the  great  cause  of  defending  the 
national  privileges,  contributed  its  share  of  exertion  to  sus- 
tain that  perilous  conflict ;  and  this  transient  unanimity  in  a 
people  so  distracted  by  internal  faction  as  the  Lombards,  is 
the  surest  witness  to  the  justice  of  their  undertaking.  Sixty 
years  afterwards,  their  war  against  the  second  Frederick  had 
less  of  provocation  and  less  of  public  spirit.  It  was,  in  fact, 
a  party  struggle  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelin  cities,  to  which  the 
names  of  the  Church  and  the  Empire  gave  more  of  dignity 
and  consistence. 

§  15.  The  republics  of  Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century  were 
so  numerous  and  independent,  and  their  revolutions  so  fre- 
quent, that  it  is  a  difticult  matter  to  avoid  confusion  in  fol- 
lowing their  history.  It  will  give  more  arrangement  to  our 
ideas,  and  at  the  same  time  illustrate  the  chants  that  took 
place  in  these  little  states,  if  we  consider  them  as  divided 
into  four  clusters  or  constellations,  not  indeed  unconnected 
one  with  another,  yet  each  having  its  own  centre  of  motion 
and  its  own  boundaries,  (l.)  The  first  of  these  we  may  sup- 
pose formed  of  the  cities  in  central  Lombardy,  between  the 
Sessia  and  the  Adige,  the  Alps  and  the  Ligurian  mountains; 
it  comprehends  Milan,  Cremona,  Pavia,  Brescia,  Bergamo, 
Parma,  Piacenza,  Mantua,  Lodi,  Alessandria,  and  several  oth- 
ers less  distinguished.  These  were  the  original  seats  of  Ital- 
ian liberty,  the  great  movers  in  the  wars  of  the  elder  Fi-ed- 
erick.  Milan  was  at  the  head  of  this  cluster  of  cities,  and 
her  influence  gave  an  ascendency  to  the  Guelf  party ;  she 
had,  since  the  treaty  of  Constance,  rendered  Lodi  and  Pavia 
almost  her  subjects,  and  was  in  strict  union  with  Brescia  and 
Piacenza.  Parma,  however,  and  Cremona,  were  unshaken 
defenders  of  the  Empire.  (2.)  In  the  second  class  we  may 
place  the  cities  of  the  march  of  Verona,  between  the  Adige 
and  the  frontiers  of  Germany.  Of  these  there  were  but  four 
worth  mentioning  :  Yerona,  Vicenza,  Padua,  and  Treviso. 
The  citizens  of  all  the  four  were  inclined  to  the  Guelf  inter- 
ests ;  but  a  powerful  body  of  rural  nobility,  who  had  never 


170  SECOND  LOMBARD  WAR.     Chaf.  III.  Part  I 

been  compelled,  like  those  upon  the  upper  Po,to  quit  their 
fortresses  in  the  hilly  country,  or  reside  within  the  walls,  at- 
tached themselves  to  the  opposite  denomination.  Some  of 
them  obtained  very  great  authority  in  the  civil  lends  of  these 
four  republics  ;  and  especially  two  brothers,  Eccelin  and  Al- 
beric  da  Romano,  of  a  rich  and  distinguished  family,  known 
for  its  devotion  to  the  Empire.  By  extraordinary  vigor  and 
decision  of  character,  by  dissimulation  and  breach  of  oaths, 
by  the  intimidating  effects  of  almost  unparalleled  cruelty, 
Eccelin  da  Romano  became  after  some  years  the  absolute 
master  of  three  cities — Padua,  Verona,  and  Vicenza  ;  and  the 
Guelf  party,  in  consequence,  was  entirely  subverted  beyond 
the  Adige  during  the  continuance  of  his  tyranny.  (3.)  An- 
other cluster  was  composed  of  the  cities  in  Romagna :  Bo- 
logna, Imola,  Faenza,  Ferrara,  and  several  others.  Of  these 
Bologna  was  far  the  most  powerful,  and,  as  no  city  was  more 
steadily  for  the  interests  of  the  Church,  the  Guelfs  usually 
predominated  in  this  class;  to  which,  also,  the  influence  of 
the  house  of  Este  not  a  little  contributed.  Modena,  though 
not  geographically  within  the  limits  of  this  division,  may  be 
classed  along  with  it  from  her  constant  wars  with  Bologna. 
(4.)  A  fourth  class  will  comprehend  the  whole  of  Tuscany, 
separated  almost  entirely  from  the  politics  of  LombarSy  and 
Romagna.  Florence  headed  the  Guelf  cities  in  this  province, 
Pisa  the  Ghibelin.  The  Tuscan  union  was  formed  by  Inno- 
cent III.,  and  was  strongly  inclined  to  the  popes ;  but  grad- 
ually the  Ghibelin  party  acquired  its  share  of  influence;  and 
the  cities  of  Siena,  Arezzo,  and  Lucca  shifted  their  policy,  ac- 
cording to  external  circumstances  or  the  fluctuations  of  their 
internal  factions.  The  ])etty  cities  in  the  region  of  Spoleto 
and  Ancona  hardly,  perhaps,  deserve  the  name  of  republics  ; 
and  Genoa  does  not  readily  fall  into  any  of  our  four  classes, 
unless  her  wars  with  Pisa  may  be  thought  to  connect  her 
with  Tuscany.^ 

§  16.  After  several  years  of  transient  hostility  and  preca- 
rious truce,  the  Guelf  cities  of  Lombardy  engaged  in  a  regu- 
lar and  protracted  w^ar  with  Frederick  II.,  or  more  properly 
with  their  Ghibelin  adversaries.  Few  events  of  this  contest 
deserve  particular  notice.     Neither  party  ever  obtained  such 

8  I  have  taken  no  notice  of  Piedmont  in  this  division.  The  history  of  that  country 
seems  to  be  less  ehicidated  by  ancient  or  modern  w^riters  than  that  of  other  parts  of 
Italy.  It  was  at  this  time  divided  between  the  counts  of  Savoy  and  marquises  of 
Montferrat.  But  Asti,  Chieri,  and  Turin,  especially  the  two  former,  appear  to  have 
bad  a  republican  form  of  government.  They  were,  however,  not  absolutely  inde- 
pendent.  The  only  Piedmontese  city  that  can  properly  be  considered  as  a  separate 
Btate,  In  the  thirteenth  century,  was  Vercelli,  and  even  there  the  bishop  seems  t€ 
have  possessed  a  sort  of  temporal  sovereignty. 


Italy.  GREGORY  IX.  171 

decisive  advantages  as  had  alternately  belonged  to  Frederick 
Barbarossa  and  the  Lombard  confederacy  during  the  war 
of  the  preceding  century.  A  defeat  of  the  Milanese  by  the 
emperor,  at  Corte  Nuova,  in  1237,  was  balanced  by  his  un- 
successful siege  at  Brescia  the  next  year.  The  Pisans  as- 
sisted Frederick  to  g^ain  a  great  naval  victory  over  the  Gen- 
oese fleet,  in  1241  ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  rise  from  the 
blockade  of  Parma,  which  had  left  the  standard  of  Ghibelin> 
ism,  in  1248.  Ultimately,  however,  the  strength  of  the  house 
of  Suabia  was  exhausted  by  so  tedious  a  struggle  ;  the  Ghib' 
elins  of  Italy  had  their  vicissitudes  of  success ;  but  their 
country,  and  even  themselves,  lost  more  and  more  of  the  an- 
cient connection  with  Germany. 

In  this  resistance  to  Frederick  II.  the  Lombards  were 
much  indebted  to  the  constant  support  of  Gregory  IX.  and 
his  successor  Innocent  lY.,  and  the  Guelf  or  the  Church 
party  were  used  as  synonymous  terms.  These  pontiffs  bore 
an  unquenchable  hatred  to  the  house  of  Suabia.  No  con- 
cessions mitigated  their  animosity  ;  no  reconciliation  was  sin- 
cere. Whatever  faults  may  be  imputed  to  Frederick,  it  is 
impossible  for  any  one,  not  blindly  devoted  to  the  Court  of 
Rome,  to  deny  that  he  was  iniquitously  proscribed  by  hei 
unprincipled  ambition.  His  real  crime  was  the  inheritance 
of  his  ancestors,  and  the  name  of  the  house  of  Suabia.  In 
1239  he  was  excommunicated  by  Gregory  IX.  To  this  he 
was  tolerably  accustomed  by  former  experience ;  but  the 
sentence  was  attended  by  an  absolution  of  his  subjects  from 
their  allegiance,  and  a  formal  deposition.  These  sentences 
were  not  very  effective  upon  men  of  vigorous  minds,  or  upon 
those  whose  passions  were  engaged  in  their  cause  ;  but  they 
influenced  both  those  who  feared  the  threatenings  of  the 
clergy  and  those  who  wavered  already  as  to  their  line  of 
political  conduct.  In  the  fluctuating  state  of  Lombardy  the 
excommunication  of  Frederick  undermined  his  interests  even 
in  cities  like  Parma,  that  had  been  friendly,  and  seemed  to 
identify  the  cause  of  his  enemies  with  that  of  religion — a 
prejudice  artfully  fomented  by  means  of  calumnies  propaga- 
ted against  himself,  and  which  the  conduct  of  such  leading 
Ghibelins  as  Eccelin,  who  lived  in  an  open  defiance  of  God 
and  man,  did  not  contribute  to  lessen.  In  1240,  Gregory 
proceeded  to  publish  a  crusade  against  Frederick,  as  if  he 
had  been  an  open  enemy  to  religion  ;  which  he  revenged  by 
putting  to  death  all  the  prisoners  he  made  who  wore  the 
cross.  There  was  one  thing  wanting  to  make  the  expulsion 
of  the  emperor  from  the  Christian  commonwealth  more  com- 


172  COUNCIL  OF  LYONS.         Chap.  III.  Part  I. 

plete.  Gregory  IX.  accordingly  projected,  and  Innocent  lY. 
carried  into  effect,  the  convocation  of  a  general  council  (a.d. 
1245).  This  was  held  at  Lyons,  an  imperial  city,  but  over 
which  Frederick  could  no  longer  retain  his  supremacy.  In 
this  assembly,  where  one  hundred  and  forty  prelates  ap- 
peared, the  question  whether  Frederick  ought  to  be  deposed 
was  solemnly  discussed  ;  he  submitted  to  defend  himself  by 
his  advocates  :  and  the  pope, in  the  presence,  though  without 
formally  collecting  the  suffrages  of  the  council,  pronounced 
a  sentence,  by  which  Frederick's  excommunication  was  re- 
newed, the  empire  and  all  his  kingdoms  taken  away,  and  his 
subjects  absolved  from  their  fidelity.  This  is  the  most  pomp- 
ous act  of  usurpation  in  all  the  records  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  ;  and  the  tacit  approbation  of  a  general  council  seemed 
to  incorporate  the  pretended  right  of  deposing  kings,  which 
might  have  passed  as  a  mad  vaunt  of  Gregory  VII.  and  his 
successors,  with  the  established  faith  of  Christendom. 

§  17.  Upon  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  in  1250,  he  left  to 
his  son  Conrad  a  contest  to  maintain  for  every  part  of  his 
inheritance,  as  well  as  for  the  imperial  crown.  But  the  vig- 
or of  the  house  of  Suabia  was  gone ;  Conrad  was  reduced  to 
fight  for  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  the  only  succession  which 
he  could  hope  to  secure  against  the  troops  of  Innocent  TV., 
who  still  pursued  his  family  with  implacable  hatred,  and 
claimed  that  kingdom  as  forfeited  to  its  feudal  superior,  the 
Holy  See.  After  Conrad's  premature  death,  which  happened 
in  1254,  the  throne  was  filled  by  his  illegitimate  brother, 
Manfred,  who  retained  it  by  his  bravery  and  address,  in  do- 
spite  of  the  popes,  till  they  were  compelled  to  call  in  the  as- 
sistance of  a  more  powerful  arm. 

The  death  of  Conrad  brings  to  a  termination  that  period 
in  Italian  history  which  we  have  described  as  nearly  co-e:i' 
tensive  svith  the  greatness  of  the  house  of  Suabia.  It  is  per 
haps,  upon  the  whole,  the  most  honorable  to  Italy — that  it. 
which  she  displayed  the  most  of  national  energy  and  patriot- 
ism. A  Florentine  or  Venetian  may  dwell  with  pleasure  upoi\ 
later  times,  but  a  Lombard  will  cast  back  liis  eye  across  tho. 
desert  of  centuries,  till  it  reposes  on  the  field  of  Legnano. 

§  18.  The  successful  resistance  of  the  Lombard  cities  to 
such  princes  as  both  the  Fredericks  must  astonish  a  reader 
who  brings  to  the  story  of  these  Middle  Ages  notions  de- 
rived from  modern  times.  But  when  we  consider  not  only 
the  ineffectual  control  which  could  be  exerted  over  a  feudal 
army,  bound  only  to  a  short  term  of  service,  and  reluctantly 
kept  in  the  field  at  its  own  cost,  but  the  peculiar  distrust  and 


iTAiY.  LOMBARD  CITIES.  173 

disaffection  with  which  many  German  princes  regarded  the 
house  of  Suabia,  less  reason  will  appear  for  surprise.  Nor 
did  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  almost  always  in  agitation,  yield 
any  material  aid  to  the  second  Frederick.  The  main  cause, 
however,  of  that  triumph  which  attended  Lombardy  was  the 
intrinsic  energy  of  a  free  government.  From  the  eleventh 
century,  when  the  cities  became  virtually  republican,  they 
put  out  those  vigorous  shoots  which  are  the  growth  of  free- 
dom alone.  Their  domestic  feuds,  their  mutual  wars,  the 
fierce  assaults  of  their  national  enemies,  checked  not  their 
strength,  their  wealth,  or  their  population  ;  but  rather,  as  the 
limbs  are  nerved  by  labor  and  hardship,  the  republics  of  It- 
aly grew  in  vigor  and  courage  through  the  conflicts  they 
sustained. 

We  have  few  authentic  testimonies  as  to  the  domestic  im- 
provement of  the  free  Italian  cities,  while  they  still  deserve 
the  name.  But  we  may  perceive  by  history  that  their  power 
and  population,  according  to  their  extent  of  territory,  were 
almost  incredible.  In  Galvaneus  Flamma,  a  Milanese  writer, 
we  find  a  curious  statistical  account  of  that  city  in  1288, 
which,  though  of  a  date  about  thirty  years  after  its  liberties 
had  been  overthrown  by  usurpation,  must  be  considered  as 
implying  a  high  degree  of  previous  advancement,  even  if  we 
make  allowance,  as  probably  w^e  should,  for  some  exaggera- 
tion. The  inhabitants  are  reckoned  at  200,000;  the  private 
houses  13,000;  the  nobility  alone  dwelt  in  sixty  streets; 
8000  gentlemen  or  heavy  cavalry  (milites)  might  be  mus- 
tered from  the  city  and  its  district,  and  240,000  men  capable 
of  arms — a  force  sufficient,  the  writer  observes,  to  crush  all 
the  Saracens.  There  were  in  Milan  six  hundred  notaries, 
two  hundred  physicians,  eighty  school-masters,  and  fifty  tran- 
scribers of  manuscripts.  In  the  district  were  one  hundred 
and  fifty  castles  with  adjoining  villages.  At  this  period  the 
territory  of  Milan  was  not,  perhaps,  more  extensive  than  the 
county  of  Surrey  ;  it  was  bounded  at  a  little  distance,  on  al- 
most every  side,  by  Lodi,  or  Pavia,  or  Bergamo,  or  Como. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  Flamma  may  have  meant  to  in- 
clude some  of  these  as  dependencies  of  Milan,  though  not 
strictly  united  with  it.  How  flourishing  must  the  state  of 
cultivation  have  been  in  such  a  country,  which  not  only  drew 
no  supplies  from  any  foreign  land,  but  exported  part  of  her 
own  produce  !  It  was  in  the  best  age  of  their  liberties,  im- 
mediately after  the  battle  of  Legnano,  that  the  Milanese 
commenced  the  great  canal  which  conducts  the  waters  of 
the  Tesino  to  their  capital,  a  work  very  extraordinary  for 


174  LOMBARD  CITIES.  Chap.  III.  Part  1 

that  time.  During  the  same  period  the  cities  gave  proofs 
of  internal  prosperity  that  in  many  instances  have  descended 
to  our  own  observation  in  the  solidity  and  magnificence  of 
their  architecture.  Ecclesiastical  structures  were  perhaps 
more  splendid  in  France  and  England ;  but  neither  country 
could  pretend  to  match  the  palaces  and  public  buildings,  the 
streets  flagged  with  stone,  the  bridges  of  the  same  material, 
or  the  commodious  private  houses  of  Italy. 

The  courage  of  these  cities  was  wrought  sometimes  to  a 
tone  of  insolent  defiance  through  the  security  inspired  by 
their  means  of  defense.  From  the  time  of  the  Romans  to 
that  when  the  use  of  gunpowder  came  to  prevail,  little 
change  was  made,  or  perhaps  could  be  made,  in  that  part  of 
military  science  which  relates  to  the  attack  and  defense  of 
fortified  places.  We  find  precisely  the  same  engines  of  of- 
fense ;  the  cumbrous  towers,  from  which  arrows  were  shot 
at  the  besieged,  the  machines  from  which  stones  were  dis- 
charged, the  battering-rams  which  assailed  the  walls,  and  the 
basket-work  covering  (the  vinea  or  testudo  of  the  ancients, 
and  the  gattus  or  chat-chateil  of  the  Middle  Ages)  under 
which  those  who  pushed  the  battering-engines  w^ere  protect- 
ed from  the  enemy.  On  the  other  hand,  a  city  was  fortified 
with  a  strong  wall  of  brick  or  marble,  with  towers  raised 
upon  it  at  intervals,  and  a  deep  moat  in  front.  Sometimes 
the  antemural  or  barbacan  was  added^ — a  rampart  of  less 
height,  which  impeded  the  ajjproach  of  the  hostile  engines. 
The  gates  were  guarded  with  a  portcullis;  an  invention 
which,  as  well  as  the  barbacan,  was  borrowed  from  the  Sara- 
cens. With  such  advantages  for  defense,  a  numerous  and 
intrepid  body  of  burghers  might  not  unreasonably  stand  at 
bay  against  a  powerful  army;  and  as  the  consequences  of 
capture  were  most  terrible,  w^hile  resistance  was  seldom 
hopeless,  we  can  not  wonder  at  the  desperate  bravery  of  so 
many  besieged  towns.  Indeed  it  seldom  happened  that  one 
of  considerable  size  was  taken,  except  by  famine  or  treachery, 

§  19.  Of  the  government  which  existed  in  the  republics  of 
Italy  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  no  definite 
sketch  can  be  traced.  The  magistrates  elected  in  almost  all 
of  them,  when  they  first  began  to  shake  off  the  jurisdiction 
of  their  count  or  bishop,  were  styled  Consuls — a  word  very- 
expressive  to  an  Italian  ear,  since,  in  the  darkest  ages,  tradi- 
tion must  have  preserved  some  acquaintance  with  the  repub- 
lican government  of  Rome.  The  consuls  were  always  an- 
nual ;  and  their  ofl[ice  comprehended  the  command  of  the 
national  militia  in  war,  as  well  as  the  administration  of  jus- 


Italy.  LOMBARD  CITIES.  175 

tice  and  preservation  of  public  order ;  but  their  number  was 
various — two,  four,  six,  or  even  twelve.  In  their  legislative 
and  deliberative  councils  the  Lombards  still  copied  the  Ro- 
man constitution,  or  perhaps  fell  naturally  into  the  form 
most  calculated  to  unite  sound  discretion  with  the  exercise 
of  popular  sovereignty.  A  council  of  trust  and  secrecy 
(della  credenza)  was  composed  of  a  small  number  of  persons, 
who  took  the  management  of  public  affairs,  and  may  be 
called  the  ministers  of  the  state.  But  the  decision  upon 
matters  of  general  importance,  treaties  of  alliance  or  declara- 
tions of  war,  the  choice  of  consuls  or  ambassadors,  belonged  to 
the  general  council.  This  appears  not  to  have  been  uniform- 
ly constituted  in  every  city ;  and  according  to  its  composition 
the  government  was  more  or  less  democratical.  An  ultimate 
sovereignty,  however,  was  reserved  to  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple; and  a  Parliament  or  general  assembly  was  held  to  de- 
liberate on  any  change  in  the  form  of  constitution. 

About  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  a  new  and  singular 
species  of  magistracy  was  introduced  into  the  Lombard  cit- 
ies. During  the  tyranny  of  Frederick  I.  he  had  appointed 
officers  of  his  own,  called  Podestds,  instead  of  the  elective 
consuls.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  memorial  of  despotic 
power  should  not  have  excited  insuperable  alarm  and  dis- 
gust in  the  free  republics.  But,  on  the  contrary,  they  almost 
universally,  after  the  peace  of  Constance,  revived  an  office 
which  had  been  abrogated  when  they  first  rose  in  rebellion 
against  Frederick.  From  experience,  as  we  must  presume, 
of  the  partiality  which  their  domestic  factions  carried  into 
the  administration  of  justice,  it  became  a  general  practice  to 
elect,  by  the  name  of  podesta,  a  citizen  of  some  neighboring 
state  as  their  general,  their  criminal  judge,  and  preserver  of 
the  peace.  The  last  duty  was  frequently  arduous,  and  re- 
quired a  vigorous  as  well  as  an  upright  magistrate.  Offenses 
against  the  laws  and  security  of  the  commonwealth  were 
during  the  Middle  Ages  as  often,  perhaps  more  often,  com- 
mitted by  the  rich  and  powerful  than  by  the  inferior  class 
of  society.  The  sentence  of  a  magistrate  against  a  powerful 
offender  was  not  pronounced  without  danger  of  tumult ;  it 
w^as  seldom  executed  without  force.  A  convicted  criminal 
was  not,  as  at  present,  the  stricken  deer  of  society,  whose 
disgrace  his  kindred  shrink  from  participating,  and  whose 
memory  they  strive  to  forget.  The  law  was  to  be  enforced 
not  against  an  individual,  but  a  family— not  against  a  fami- 
ly, but  a  faction — not  perhaps  against  a  local  faction,  but  the 
whole  Guelf  or  Ghibelip  name,  which  might  become  inter- 


176  LOMBARD  CITIES.  Chap.  III.  Part  i. 

ested  in  the  quarrel.  The  podesta  was  to  arm  the  republic 
against  her  refractory  citizen ;  his  house  was  to  be  besieged 
and  razed  to  the  ground,  his  defenders  to  be  quelled  by  vio- 
lence :  and  thus  the  people,  become  familiar  with  outrage 
and  homicide  under  the  command  of  their  magistrates,  were 
more  disposed  to  repeat  such  scenes  at  the  instigation  of 
their  passions. 

The  podestar  was  sometimes  chosen  in  a  general  assembly, 
sometimes  by  a  select  number  of  citizens.  His  office  was  an- 
nual, though  prolonged  in  peculiar  emergencies.  He  was  in- 
variably a  man  of  noble  family,  even  in  those  cities  which 
excluded  their  own  nobility  from  any  share  in  the  govern- 
ment. He  received  a  fixed  salary,  and  was  compelled  to  re- 
main in  the  city  after  the  expiration  of  his  office  for  the  pur- 
pose of  answering  such  charges  as  might  be  adduced  against 
his  conduct.  He  could  neither  marry  a  native  of  the  city, 
nor  have  any  relation  resident  within  the  district,  nor  even, 
so  great  was  their  jealousy,  eat  or  drink  in  the  house  of  any 
citizen.  The  authority  of  these  foreign  magistrates  was  not 
by  any  means  alike  in  all  cities.  In  some  he  seems  to  have 
superseded  the  consuls,  and  commanded  the  armies  in  war. 
In  others,  as  Milan  and  Florence,  his  authority  was  merely 
judicial.  We  find  in  some  of  the  old  annals  the  years  head- 
ed by  the  names  of  the  podestas,  as  by  those  of  the  consuls 
in  the  history  of  Rome. 

§  20.  The  effects  of  the  evil  spirit  of  discord  that  had  so 
fatally  breathed  upon  the  republics  of  Lombardy  were  by  no 
means  confined  to  national  interests,  or  to  the  grand  distinc- 
tion of  Guelf  and  Ghibelin.  Dissensions  glowed  in  the  heart- 
of  every  city,  and  as  the  danger  of  foreign  war  became  dis- 
tant, these  grew  more  fierce  and  unappeasable.  The  feudal 
system  had  been  established  upon  the  principle  of  territorial 
aristocracy ;  it  maintained  the  authority,  it  encouraged  the 
pride  of  rank.  Hence,  when  the  rural  nobility  were  com- 
pelled to  take  up  their  residence  in  cities,  they  preserved  the 
ascendency  of  birth  and  riches.  From  the  natural  respect 
which  is  shown  to  these  advantages,  all  offices  of  trust  and 
command  were  shared  among  them ;  it  is  not  material 
whether  this  were  by  positive  right  or  continual  usage.  -  A 
limited  aristocracy  of  this  description,  where  the  inferior  citi- 
zens possess  the  right  of  selecting  their  magistrates  by  free 
suffrage  from  a  numerous  body  of  nobles,  is  not  among  the 
worst  forms  of  government,  and  affords  no  contemptible  se- 
curity against  oppression  and  anarchy.  This  regimen  ap- 
pears to  have  prevailed  in  most  of  the  Lombard  cities  dur* 


Italy.  LOMBARD  CITIES.  177 

ing  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries ;  but  gradually  dis- 
sensions arose  between  the  nobility  and  the  plebeian  burgess- 
es, which  at  length  broke  out  into  civil  war  in  most  of  the 
Italian  cities.  About  the  year  1220  the  question  of  aristo- 
cratical  or  popular  command  was  tried  by  arms  in  Milan, 
Piacenza,  Modena,  Cremona,  and  Bologna. 

There  is  a  natural  preponderance  in  the  popular  scale, 
which,  in  a  fair  trial,  invariably  gains  on  that  of  the  less  nu- 
merous class.  The  artisans,  who  composed  the  bulk  of  the 
population,  were  arranged  in  companies  according  to  their 
occupations.  Sometimes,  as  at  Milan,  they  formed  separate 
associations,  with  rules  for  their  internal  government.  The 
clubs,  called  at  Milan  la  Motta  and  la  Crtdenza,  obtained  a 
degree  of  weight  not  at  all  surprising  to  those  who  consider 
the  spirit  of  mutual  attachment  which  belongs  to  such  fra- 
ternities;  and  we  shall  see  a  more  striking  instance  of  this 
hereafter  in  the  republic  of  Florence.  To  so  formidable  and 
organized  a  democracy  the  nobles  opposed  their  numerous 
families,  the  generous  spirit  that  belongs  to  high  birth,  the 
influence  of  wealth  and  established  name.  The  members  of 
each  distinguished  family  appear  to  have  lived  in  the  same 
street ;  their  houses  were  fortified  with  square  massive  tow- 
ers of  commanding  height,  and  wore  the  semblance  of  castles 
within  the  walls  of  a  city.  Brancaleon,  the  famous  senator 
of  Rome,  destroyed  one  hundred  and  forty  of  these  domestic 
intrenchments,  which  were  constantly  serving  the  purpose 
of  civil  broils  and  outrage.  Expelled,  as  frequently  hap- 
pened, from  the  city,  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  nobles  to 
avail  themselves  of  their  superiority  in  the  use  of  cavalry, 
and  to  lay  waste  the  district,  till  weariness  of  an  unprofita- 
ble contention  reduced  the  citizens  to  terms  of  compromise. 
But  when  all  these  resources  were  ineffectual,  they  were 
tempted  or  forced  to  sacrifice  the  public  liberty  to  their  own 
welfare,  and  lent  their  aid  to  a  foreign  master  or  a  domestic 
usurper. 

In  all  these  scenes  of  turbulence,  whetjher  the  contest  was 
between  the  nobles  and  people,  or  the  Guelf  and  Ghibelin 
factions,  no  mercy  was  snown  by  the  conquerors.  The  van- 
quished lost  their  homes  and  fortunes,  and,  retiring  to  other 
cities  of  their  own  party,  waited  for  the  opportunity  of  re- 
venge. In  a  popular  tumult  the  houses  of  the  beaten  side 
were  frequently  levelled  to  the  ground — not  perhaps  from  a 
sort  of  senseless  fury,  which  Muratori  inveighs  against,  but 
on  account  of  the  injury  which  these  fortified  houses  inflicted 
upon  the  lower  citizens.     The  most  deadlv  hatred   is   that 

8*       . 


178  LOMBARD  CITIES.  Chap.  III.  Pakt  I 

which  men  exasperated  by  proscription  and  forfeiture  bear 
to  their  country ;  nor  have  we  need  to  ask  any  other  cause 
for  the  calamities  of  Italy  than  the  bitterness  with  which 
an  unsuccessful  faction  was  thus  pursued  into  banishment. 
When  the  Ghibelins  were  returning  to  Florence,  after  a  de- 
feat given  to  the  prevailing  party  in  1260,  it  was  proposed 
among  them  to  demolish  the  city  itself  which  had  cast  them 
out ;  and,  but  for  the  persuasion  of  one  man,  Farinata  degP 
Uberti,  their  revenge  would  have  thus  extinguished  all  patri- 
otism.* It  is  to  this  that  we  must  ascribe  their  proneness  to 
call  in  assistance  from  every  side,  and  to  invite  any  servitude 
for  the  sake  of  retaliating  upon  their  adversaries. 

Independently  of  the  two  leading  differences  which  em- 
battled the  citizens  of  an  Italian  state,  their  form  of  govern- 
ment and  their  relation  to  the  empire,  there  were  others 
more  contemptible  though  not  less  mischievous.  In  every 
city  the  quarrels  of  private  families  became  the  foundation 
of  general  schism,  sedition,  and  proscription.  Sometimes 
these  blended  themselves  with  the  grand  distinctions  of 
Guelf  and  Ghibelin  ;  sometimes  they  were  more  nakedly  con- 
spicuous. Thus  an  outrage  committed  at  Pistoja  in  1300 
split  the  inhabitants  into  the  parties  of  Bianchi  and  Neri ; 
and  these,  spreading  to  Florence,  created  one  of  the  most 
virulent  divisions  which  annoyed  that  republic.  In  one  of 
the  changes  which  attended  this  little  ramification  of  faction, 
Florence  expelled  a  young  citizen  who  had  borne  offices  of 
magistracy,  and  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Bianchi.  Dante 
Alighieri  retired  to  the  courts  of  some  Ghibelin  princes, 
where  his  sublime  and  inventive  mind,  in  the  gloom  of  exile, 
completed  that  original  combination  of  vast  and  extrava- 
gant conceptions  with  keen  political  satire,  which  has  given 
immortality  to  his  name,  and  even  lustre  to  the  petty  con- 
tests of  his  time. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Lombard  republics  their  differ- 
ences, as  well  mutual  as  domestic,  had  been  frequently  ap- 
peased by  the  mectiation  of  the  emperors ;  and  the  loss  of 
this  salutary  influence  may  be  considered  as  no  slight  evil 
attached  to  that  absolute  emancipation  which  Italy  attained 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  popes  sometimes  endeavored 
to  interpose  an  authority  which,  though  not  quite  so  direct, 
was  held  in  greater  veneration ;  and  if  their  own  tempers 
had  been  always  pure  from  the  selfish  and  vindictive  pas- 

*  I  can  not  forgive  Dante  for  placing  this  patriot  tr^  I'anime  piu  nere,  in  one  of  the 
worse  regions  of  his  Inferno.  The  conversation  of  the  poet  with  Farinata,  cant.  10,  i» 
very  fine,  and  illustrative  of  Florentine  history. 


Italy.  STATE  OF  ITALY.  179 

sioiis  of  those  whom  they  influenced,  might  have  produced 
more  general  and  permanent  good.  But  they  considered 
the  Ghibelins  as  their  own  peculiar  enemies,  and  the  triumph 
of  the  opposite  faction  as  the  Church's  best  security.  Greg- 
ory X.  and  Nicholas  III.,  whether  from  benevolent  motives, 
or  because  their  jealousy  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  while  at  the 
head  of  the  Guelfs,  suggested  the  revival  of  a  Ghibelin  party 
as  a  counterpoise  to  his  power,  distinguished  their  pontificate 
by  enforcing  measures  of  reconciliation  in  all  Italian  cities ; 
but  their  successors  returned  to  the  ancient  policy  and  prej- 
udices of  Rome. 


PART  II. 

0  1.  State  of  Italy  after  the  Extinction  of  the  House  of  Snabia.  §  2.  Conquest  of  Na- 
ples by  Charles  of  Anjou.  §  3.  The  Lombard  Republics  become  severally  sub- 
ject to  Princes  or  Usurpers.  5  4.  The  Visconli  of  Milan.  Their  Aggrandizement. 
5.  Decline  of  the  Imperial  Authority  over  Italy.  §  6.  Internal  Slate  of  Rome. 
§  7.  Rienzi.  §  8.  Florence,  §  9.  Her  Forms  of  Government.  Constitution  of 
1266.  §  10.  Struggles  between  the  Nobility  and  the  People.  The  Ordinances  of 
Justice.  §  11.  Despotism  of  the  Duke  of  Athens.  §  12.  Rule  of  the  Guelf  Society. 
§  13.  Revolutions  in  Florence.  §  14.  Territory  of  Florence.  §  16,  Conquest  of 
Pisa.  Pisa:  its  Commerce,  Naval  Wars  with  Genoa,  and  Decay.  §16,  Genoa. 
Her  Contentions  with  Venice.  War  of  Chioggio.  §  17,  Government  of  Genoa, 
18.  Venice.  Her  Origin  and  Prosperity,  §  19.  Venetian  Government.  Its  Vices. 
§  20.  Territorial  Conquests  of  Venice.  §  21.  Military  System  of  Italy.  §  22.  Com- 
panies of  Adventure.  1.  Foreign:  Guaruieri,  Hawkwood  ;  and 2,  Native;  Braccio. 
Sforza.  §  23.  Improvements  in  Military  Service.  Arms,  offensive  and  defensive. 
Invention  of  Gunpowder.  §  24.  Naples,  Sicilian  Vespers,  First  Line  of  Anjou. 
§  25,  Charles  II,  Robert,  Joanna  I,  §  26.  Ladislaus.  §  27.  Joanna  II.  §  28. 
Alfonso,  king  of  Naples.  §  29,  State  of  Italy  during  the  Fifteenth  Century,  §  30. 
Florence.  Rise  of  the  Medici,  and  Ruin  of  their  Adversaries.  §  31.  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici.    §  32.  Pretensions  of  Charles  VIII,  to  Naples, 

§  1.  From  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  in  1250,  to  the  inva- 
sion of  Charles  VIII.  in  1494,  a  long  and  undistinguished 
period  occurs,  which  it  is  impossible  to  break  into  any  nat- 
ural divisions.  It  is  an  age  in  many  respects  highly  bril- 
liant— the  age  of  poetry  and  letters,  of  art,  and  of  continual 
improvement.  Italy  displayed  an  intellectual  superiority  in 
this  period  over  the  Transalpine  nations  which  certainly  had 
not  appeared  since  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
But  her  political  history  presents  a  labyrinth  of  petty  facts 
so  obscure  and  of  so  little  influence  as  not  to  arrest  the  at- 
tention, so  intricate  and  incapable  of  classification  as  to  leave 
only  confusion  in  the  memory.  The  general  events  that  are 
worthy  of  notice,  and  give  a  character  to  this  long  period, 
are  the  establishment  of  small  tyrannies  upon  the  ruins  of 


180  D'iCLINE  OF  THE  GHIBELINS.     Chap.  III.  Part  II 

republican  government  in  most  of  the  cities,  the  gradual  rise 
of  three  considerable  states,  Milan,  Florence,  andVenice,  the 
naval  and  commercial  rivalry  between  the  last  city  and 
Genoa,  the  final  acquisition  by  the  popes  of  their  present  ter- 
ritorial sovereignty,  and  the  revolutions  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  under  the  lines  of  Anjou  and  Aragon. 

After  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  the  distinctions  ofGuelf 
and  Ghibelin  became  destitute  of  all  rational  meaning.  The 
most  odious  crimes  were  constantly  perpetrated,  and  the  ut- 
most miseries  endured,  for  an  echo  and  a  shade  that  mocked 
the  deluded  enthusiasts  of  faction.  None  of  the  Guelfs  de- 
nied the  nominal  but  indefinite  sovereignty  of  the  empire  ; 
and  beyond  a  name  the  Ghibelins  themselves  Avould  have 
been  little  disposed  to  carry  it.  But  the  virulent  hatreds 
attached  to  these  words  grew  continually  more  implacable, 
tillages  of  ignominy  and  tyrannical  government  had  extin- 
guished every  energetic  passion  in  the  bosoms  of  a  degraded 
people. 

§  2.  In  the  fall  of  the  house  of  Suabia,  Rome  appeared  to 
have  consummated  her  triumph.  She  gained  a  still  further 
ascendency  by  the  change  of  dynasty  in  Naples.  This  king- 
dom had  been  occupied,  after  the  death  of  Conrad,  by  his 
illegitimate  brother,  Manfred,  in  the  behalf,  as  he  at  first  pre- 
tended, of  young  Conradin  the  heir,  but  in  fact  as  his  own 
acquisition.  He  was  a  prince  of  an  active  and  firm  mind, 
well  fitted  for  his  difficult  post,  to  whom  the  Ghibelins  looked 
up  as  their  head,  and  as  the  re23resentative  of  his  father.  It 
was  a  natural  object  with  the  popes,  independently  of  their 
ill-will  towards  a  son  of  Frederick  II.,  to  see  a  sovereign 
upon  whom  they  could  better  rely  placed  upon  so  neighbor- 
ing a  throne.  Charles,  count  of  Anjou,  brother  of  St.  Lo«is, 
was  tempted  by  them  to  lead  a  crusade  (for  as  such  all  w^ars 
for  the  interest  of  Rome  were  now  considered)  against  the 
Neapolitan  usurper  (a.d.  1265).  The  chance  of  a  battle  de- 
cided the  fate  of  Naples,  and  had  a  striking  influence  upon 
the  history  of  Europe  for  several  centuries.  Manfred  was 
killed  in  the  field  ;  but  there  remained  the  legitimate  heir  of 
the  Fredericks,  a  boy  of  seventeen  years  old,  Conradin,  son 
of  Conrad,  who  rashly,  as  we  say  at  least  after  the  event, 
attempted  to  regain  his  inheritance.  He  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Charles,  and  the  voice  of  those  rude  ages,  as  well  as  of  a 
more  enlightened  posterity,  has  united  in  branding  with  ev- 
erlasting infamy  the  name  of  that  prince,  who  did  not  hes- 
itate to  purchase  the  security  of  his  own  title  by  the  public 
execution   of  an  honorable  competitor,  or  rather  a  rightfii' 


Italy.  SUBJECTION  OF  LOMBARD  CITIES.  181 

claimant  of  the  throne  he  had  usurped  (a.d.  1268).  With 
Conradin  the  house  of  Suabia  was  extinguished;  but  Con- 
stance, the  daughter  of  Manfred,  had  transported  his  right 
to  Sicily  and  Naples  into  the  house  of  Aragon,  by  her  mar- 
riage with  Peter  III. 

This  success  of  a  monarch  selected  by  the  Roman  pontiifs 
as  their  particular  champion  turned  the  tide  of  faction  over 
all  Italy.  He  expelled  the  Ghibelins  from  Florence,  of  which 
they  had  a  few  years  before  obtained  a  complete  command 
by  means  of  their  memorable  victory  upon  the  River  Arbia. 
After  the  fall  of  Conradin  that  party  was  everywhere  dis- 
couraged. Germany  held  out  small  hopes  of  support,  even 
when  the  imperial  throne,  which  had  long  been  vacant,  should 
be  filled  by  one  of  her  princes.  The  populace  were  in  al- 
most every  city  attached  to  the  Church  and  to  the  name  of 
Guelf ;  the  kings  of  Naples  employed  their  arms,  and  the 
popes  their  excommunications;  so  that  for  the  remainder  of 
tlie  thirteenth  century  the  name  of  Ghibelin  was  a  term  of 
proscription  in  the  majority  of  Lombard  and  Tuscan  repub- 
lics. Charles  was  constituted  by  the  pope  vicar-general  in 
Tuscany.  This  was  a  new  pretension  of  the  Roman  pontiffs, 
to  name  the  lieutenants  of  the  Empire  during  its  vacancy, 
which  indeed  could  not  be  completely  filled  up  without  their 
consent.  It  soon,  however,  became  evident  tliat  he  aimed  at 
the  sovereignty  of  Italy.  Some  of  the  popes  themselves, 
Gregory  X.  and  Nicholas  IV.,  grew  jealous  of  their  own 
creature. 

§  3.  Almost  all  the  Lombard  republics  had,  by  force,  or 
stratagem,  or  free  consent,  already  fallen  under  the  yoke  of 
some  leading  citizens,  who  became  the  lord  (signore)  or,  in 
the  German  sense,  tyrant  of  his  country.  The  first  instance 
of  a  voluntary  delegation  of  sovereignty  was  that  of  Ferrara, 
which  placed  itself  under  the  lord  of  Este.  Eccelin  made 
himself  truly  the  tyrant  of  the  cities  beyond  the  Adige ;  and 
such  experience  ought  naturally  to  have  inspired  the  Italians 
with  more  universal  abhorrence  of  despotism.  But  every 
danger  appeared  trivial  in  the  eyes  of  exasperated  factions 
when,  compared  with  the  ascendency  of  their  adversaries. 
Weary  of  unceasing  and  useless  contests,  in  which  ruin  fell 
with  an  alternate  but  equal  hand  upon  either  party,  liberty 
withdrew  from  a  people  who  disgraced  her  name;  and  the 
tumultuous,  the  brave,  the  intractable  Lombards,  became 
eager  to  submit  themselves  to  a  master,  and  patient  under 
the  heaviest  oppression.  Or,  if  tyranny  sometimes  over- 
stepped the  limits  of  forbearance,  and  a  seditious  rising  ex- 


182  THE  VISCONTI.  Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

pelled  the  reigning  prince,  it  was  only  to  produce  a  change 
of  hands,  and  transfer  the  impotent  people  to  a  diiferent,  and 
perhaps  a  worse  despotism.  In  many  cities  not  a  conspiracy 
v/as  planned,  not  a  sigh  was  breathed,  in  favor  of  republican 
government,  after  once  they  had  passed  under  the  sway  of 
a  single  person.  The  progress,  indeed,  was  gradual,  though 
sure,  from  limited  to  absolute,  from  temporary  to  hereditary 
power,  from  a  just  and  conciliating  rule  to  extortion  and 
cruelty.  But  before  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century 
at  the  latest,  all  those  cities  which  had  spurned  at  the  faint- 
est  mai-k  of  submission  to  the  emperors  lost  even  the  recol- 
lection of  self-government,  and  Avere  bequeathed,  like  an  un- 
doubted patrimony,  among  the  children  of  their  new  lords. 
Such  is  the  progress  of  usurpation,  and  such  the  vengeance 
that  Heaven  reserves  for  those  who  waste  in  license  and  fac- 
tion its  first  of  social  blessings,  liberty. 

§  4.  The  city  most  distinguished,  in  both  wars  against  the 
house  of  Suabia,  for  an  unconquerable  attachment  to  repub- 
lican institutions,  was  the  first  to  sacrifice  them  in  a  few  years 
after  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  Milan  had  for  a  considera- 
ble time  been  agitated  by  civil  dissensions  between  the  no- 
bility and  inferior  citizens.  These  parties  were  pretty  equal- 
ly balanced,  and  their  success  was  consequently  alternate. 
Each  had  its  own  podesta,  as  a  party  leader,  distinct  from 
the  legitimate  magistrate  of  the  city.  In  consequence  of  the 
crime  of  a  nobleman,  who  had  murdered  one  of  his  creditors, 
the  two  parties  took  up  arms  in  1257.  A  civil  war,  of  vari- 
ous success,  and  interrupted  by  several  pacifications,  which 
in  that  unhappy  temper  could  not  be  durable,  was  termina- 
ted in  about  two  years  by  the  entire  discomfiture  of  the 
aristocracy,  and  by  the  election  of  Martin  della  Torre  as 
chief  and  lord  (capitano  e  signore)  of  the  people.  Though 
the  Milanese  did  not,  probably,  intend  to  renounce  the  sov- 
ereignty resident  in  their  general  assemblies,  yet  they  soon 
lost  the  republican  spirit :  five  in  succession  of  the  family 
della  Torre  might  be  said  to  reign  in  Milan  ;  each  indeed  by 
a  formal  election,  but  with  an  implied  recognition  of  a  sort 
of  hereditary  title.  Twenty  years  afterwards  the  Visconti, 
a  family  of  opposite  interests,  supplanted  the  Torriani  at 
Milan ;  and  the  rivalry  between  these  great  houses  was  not 
at  an  end  till  the  final  establishment  of  Matteo  Visconti  in 
1313  ;  but  the  people  were  not  otherwise  considered  than  as 
aiding.by  force  the  one  or  other  party,  and  at  most  deciding 
between  the  pretensions  of  their  masters. 

The  vigor  and  concert  infused  into  the  Guelf  party  by  the 


ITALY.  REVIVAL  OF  THE  GHIBELINS.  183 

successes  of  Charles  of  Anjou  was  not  very  durable.  That 
prince  was  soon  involved  in  a  protracted  and  unfortunate 
quarrel  with  the  kings  of  Aragon,  to  whose  protection  his  re- 
volted subjects  in  Italy  had  recurred.  On  the  other  hand, 
several  men  of  energetic  character  retrieved  the  Ghibelin  in- 
terests in  Lombardy,  and  even  in  the  Tuscan  cities.  The  Vis- 
conti  were  acknowledged  heads  of  that  faction.  A  family 
early  established  as  lords  of  Verona,  the  della  Scala,  main- 
tained the  credit  of  the  same  denomination  between  the 
Adige  and  the  Adriatic.  The  inferior  tyrants  were  partly 
Guelf,  partly  Ghibelin,  according  to  local  revolutions;  but, 
upon  the  whole,  the  latter  acquired  a  gradual  ascendency. 
Those,  indeed,  who  cared  for  the  independence  of  Italy,  or 
for  their  own  power,  had  far  less  to  fear  from  the  phantom 
of  imperial  prerogatives,  long  intermitted  and  incapable  of 
being  enforced,  than  from  the  new  race  of  foreign  princes 
whom  the  Church  had  substituted  for  the  house  of  Suabia. 
The  Angevin  kings  of  Naples  were  sovereigns  of  Provence, 
and  from  thence  easily  encroached  upon  Piedmont,  and 
threatened  the  Milanese.  Robert,  the  third  of  this  line,  al- 
most openly  aspired,  like  his  grandfather  Charles  I.,  to  a  real 
sovereignty  over  Italy.  His  offers  of  assistance  to  Guelf 
cities  in  war  were  always  coupled  with  a  demand  of  the  sov- 
ereignty. Many  yielded  to  his  ambition  ;  and  even  Flor- 
ence twice  bestowed  upon  him  a  temporary  dictatorship.  In 
1314  he  was  acknowledged  lord  of  Lucca,  Florence,  Pavia, 
Alessandria,  Bergamo,  and  the  cities  of  Romagna.  In  1318 
the  Guelfs  of  Genoa  found  no  other  resource  against  the 
Ghibelin  emigrants  who  were  under  their  walls  than  to  re- 
sign their  liberties  to  the  King  of  Naples  for  the  term  of  ten 
years,  which  he  procured  to  be  renewed  for  six  more.  The 
Avignon  popes,  especially  John  XXII.,  out  of  blind  hatred 
to  the  Emperor  Louis  of  Bavaria  and  the  Visconti  family, 
abetted  all  these  measures  of  ambition.  But  they  were  ren- 
dered abortive  by  Robert's  death,  and  the  subsequent  dis- 
turbances of  his  kingdom. 

.  At  the  latter  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  there  were  al- 
most as  many  princes  in  the  north  of  Italy  as  there  had  been 
free  cities  in  the  preceding  age.  Their  equality,  and  the  fre- 
quent domestic  revolutions  which  made  their  seat  unsteady, 
kept  them  for  a  while  from  encroaching  on  each  other. 
Gradually,  however,  they  became  less  numerous :  a  quantity 
of  obscure  tyrants  were  swept  away  from  the  smaller  cities ; 
and  the  people,  careless  or  hopeless  of  liberty,  were  glad 
tc  change  the  rule  of  despicable  petty  usurpers  for  that  of 


184  POWER  OF  THE  VISCONTL    Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

niore  distiDguished  and  powerful  families.  About  the  year 
1350  the  central  parts  of  Lombardy  had  fallen  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Visconti.  Four  other  houses  occupied  the 
second  rank;  that  of  Este  at  Ferrara  and  Modena;  of  Scala 
at  Verona,  of  Carrara  at  Padua,  which  later  than  any  Lom- 
bard city  had  resigned  her  liberty  ;  and  of  Gonzaga  at  Man- 
tua, which,  without  ever  obtaining  any  material  extension  of 
territory,  continued,  probably  for  that  reason,  to  reign  un- 
disturbed till  the  eighteenth  century.  But  these  united  were 
hardly  a  match,  as  they  sometimes  experienced,  for  the  Vis- 
conti. That  family,  the  object  of  every  league  formed  in 
Italy  for  more  than  fifty  years,  in  constant  hostility  to  the 
Church,  and  well  inured  to  intei'dicts  and  excommunications, 
producing  no  one  man  of  military  talents,  but  fertile  of  ty- 
rants detested  for  their  perfidiousness  and  cruelty,  was  nev- 
ertheless enabled,  with  almost  uninterrupted  success,  to  add 
city  after  city  to  the  dominion  of  Milan,  till  it  absorbed  all 
the  north  of  Italy.  Under  Gian  Galeazzo,  whose  reign  be- 
gan in  1385,  the  viper  (their  armorial  bearing)  assumed  in- 
deed a  menacing  attitude  :^  he  overturned  the  great  family 
of  Scala,  and  annexed  their  extensive  possessions  to  his  own  ; 
no  power  intervened  from  Vercelli,  in  Piedmont,  to  Feltre 
and  Belluno ;  while  the  free  cities  of  Tuscany,  Pisa,  Siena, 
Perugia,  and  even  Bologna,  as  if  by  a  kind  of  witchcraft, 
voluntarily  called  in  a  dissembling  tyrant  as  their  master. 
At  length  the  Visconti  were  tacitly  admitted  among  the 
reigning  princes,  by  the  erection  of  Milan  into  a  duchy  under 
letters  patent  of  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus  (a.d.  1295). 

§  5.  The  imperial  authority  over  Italy  was  almost  entirely 
suspended  after  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  A  long  inter- 
regnum followed  in  Germany  ;  and  when  the  vacancy  was 
supplied  by  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  (a.d.  1272),  he  was  too 
prudent  to  dissipate  his  moderate  resources  where  the  great 
house  of  Suabia  had  failed.  About  forty  years  afterwards 
the  emperor,  Henry  VII.,  of  Luxemburg  (a.d.  1 308),  a  prince, 
like  Rodolph,  of  small  hereditary  possessions,  but  active  and 
discreet,  availed  himself  of  the  ancient  respect  borne  to  the 
imperial  name,  and  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  Italians,  to 
recover  for  a  very  short  time  a  remarkable  influence.  But, 
though  professing  neutrality  and  desire  of  union  between  the 
Guelfs  and  Ghibelins,  he  could  not  succeed  in  removing  the 
disgust  of  the  former ;  his  exigencies  impelled  him  to  large 

1  Allusions  to  heraldry  are  very  common  in  the  Italian  writers.  All  the  historians 
ot  the  fourteenth  century  habitually  use  the  viper,  il  biscione,  aa  a  synonym  for  the 
power  of  Milan. 


Italy.  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  EMPIRE.  185 

demands  of  money  ;  and  the  Italians,  when  they  counted  his 
scanty  German  cavalry,  perceived  that  obedience  was  alto^ 
gether  a  matter  of  their  own  choice.  Henry  died,  howeve>, 
in  time  to  save  himself  from  any  decisive  reverse.  His  suc- 
cessors, Louis  of  Bavaria  and  Charles  IV.,  descended  from 
the  Alps  with  similar  motives,  but  after  some  temporary 
good-fortune  were  obliged  to  return,  not  without  discredit. 
Yet  the  Italians  never  broke  that  almost  invisible  thread 
which  connected  them  with  Germany ;  the  fallacious  name 
of  Roman  emperor  still  challenged  their  allegiance,  though 
conferred  by  seven  Teutonic  electors  without  their  concur- 
rence. Even  Florence,  the  most  independent  and  high- 
spirited  of  republics,  was  induced  to  make  a  treaty  with 
Charles  IV.  in  1355,  which,  while  it  confirmed  all  her  actual 
liberties,  not  a  little,  by  that  very  confirmation,  affected  her 
sovereignty.  This  deference  to  the  supposed  prerogatives 
of  the  Empire,  even  while  they  were  least  formidable,  was 
partly  owing  to  jealousy  of  French  or  Neapolitan  interfer- 
ence, partly  to  the  national  hatred  of  the  popes  who  had  se- 
ceded to  Avignon,  and  in  some  degree  to  a  misplaced  respect 
for  antiquity,  to  which  the  revival  of  letters  had  given  birth. 
The  great  civilians,  and  the  much  greater  poets,  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  taught  Italy  to  consider  her  emperor  as  a 
dormant  sovereign,  to  whom  her  various  principalities  and 
republics  were  subordinate,  and  during  whose  absence  alone 
they  had  legitimate  authority. 

In  one  part,  however,  of  that  country,  the  Empire  had, 
soon  after  the  commencement  of  this  period,  spontaneously 
renounced  its  sovereignty.  From  the  era  of  Pepin's  dona- 
tion, confirmed  and  extended  by  many  subsequent  charters, 
the  Holy  See  had  tolerably  just  pretensions  to  the  province 
entitled  Romagna,  or  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna.  But  the 
popes,  whose  menaces  were  dreaded  at  the  extremities  of 
Europe,  were  still  very  weak  as  temporal  princes.  Even  In- 
nocent III.  had  never  been  able  to  obtain  possession  of  this 
part  of  St.  Peter's  patrimony.  The  circumstances  of  Ro- 
dolph's  accession  inspired  Nicholas  HI.  with  more  confidence. 
That  emperor  granted  a  confirmation  of  every  thing  included 
in  the  donations  of  Louis  I.,Otho,  and  his  other  predecessors, 
but  was  still  reluctant  or  ashamed  to  renounce  his  imperial 
rights.  Accordingly,  his  charter  is  expressed  to  be  granted 
without  diminution  of  the  Empire  (sine  demembratione  im- 
perii) ;  and  his  chancellor  received  an  oath  of  fidelity  from 
the  cities  of  Romagna.  But  the  pope  insisting  firmly  on  his 
own  claim,  Rodolph  discreetly  avoided  involving  himself  in 


im  INTERNAL  STATE  OF  HOME.     Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

a  fatal  quarrel,  and,  in  1278,  absolutely  released  the  imperial 
supremacy  over  all  the  dominions  already  granted  to  the 
Holy  See. 

§  6.  This  is  a  leading  epoch  in  the  temporal  monarchy  of 
Rome.  But  she  stood  only  in  the  place  of  the  emperor;  and 
her  ultimate  sovereignty  was  compatible  with  the  practica- 
ble independence  of  the  free  cities,  or  of  the  usurpers  who 
had  risen  up  among  them.  Bologna,  Faenza,  Rimini,  and 
Ravenna,  with  many  others  less  considerable,  took  an  oath, 
indeed,  to  the  pope,  but  continued  to  regulate  both  their  in- 
ternal concerns  and  foreign  relations  at  their  own  discretion. 
The  first  of  these  cities  was  far  pre-eminent  above  the  rest 
for  population  and  renown,  and,  though  not  without  several 
intermissions,  preserved  a  republican  character  to  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  rest  were  soon  enslaved  by 
petty  tyrants,  more  obscure  than  those  of  Lombard y.  It 
was  not  easy  for  the  pontiffs  of  Avignon  to  reinstate  them- 
selves in  a  dominion  which  they  seem  to  have  abandoned; 
but  they  made  several  attempts  to  recover  it,  sometimes 
with  spiritual  arms,  sometimes  witli  the  more  efficacious  aid 
of  mercenary  troops.  The  annals  of  this  part  of  Italy  are 
peculiarly  uninteresting. 

Rome  itself  was,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  very  little 
disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the  government  of  her  bishop.  His 
rights  were  indefinite,  and  unconfirmed  by  positive  law ;  the 
emperor  was  long  sovereign;  the  people  always  meant  to  be 
free.  Besides  the  common  causes  of  insubordination  and  an- 
archy among  the  Italians,  which  applied  equally  to  the  caj^i- 
tal  city,  other  sentiments  more  peculiar  to  Rome  preserved 
a  continual  though  not  uniform  influence  for  many  centuries. 
There  still  remained  enough  in  the  wreck  of  that  vast  inher- 
itance to  swell  the  bosoms  of  her  citizens  with  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  own  dignity.  They  bore  the  venerable  name, 
they  contemplated  the  monuments  of  art  and  empire,  and 
forgot,  in  the  illusions  of  national  pride,-that  the  tutelar  gods 
of  the  building  were  departed  forever.  About  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century  these  recollections  were  heightened 
by  the  eloquence  of  Arnold  of  Brescia,  a  political  heretic 
who  preached  against  the  temporal  jurisdiction  of  the  hie- 
rarchy. In  a  temporary  intoxication  of  fancy,  they  were  led 
to  make  a  ridiculous  show  of  self-importance  towards  Freder- 
ick Barbarossa,  when  he  came  to  receive  the  imperial  crown  ; 
but  the  German  sternly  chided  their  ostentation,  and  chas- 
tised their  resistance.  With  the  popes  they  could  deal 
more  securely.     Several  of  them  were  expelled  from  Rome 


Italy.  KIENZI.  187 

during  that  age  by  the  seditions  citizens.  Lucius  II.  died 
of  hurts  received  in  a  tumult.  The  government  was  vested 
in  fifty-six  Senators,  annually  chosen  by  the  people  through 
the  intervention  of  an  electoral  body,  ten  delegates  from 
each  of  the  thirteen  districts  of  the  city.  This  constitution 
lasted  not  quite  fifty  years.  In  1192  Rome  imitated  the 
prevailing  fashion  by  the  appointment  of  an  annual  foreign 
magistrate.  Except  in  name,  the  Senator  of  Rome  appears 
to  have  perfectly  resembled  the  podesta  of  other  cities. 
This  magistrate  superseded  the  representative  Senate,  who 
had  proved  by  no  means  adequate  to  control  the  most  law- 
less aristocracy  of  Italy.  I  shall  not  repeat  the  story  of 
Brancaleon^s  rigorous  and  inflexible  justice,  which  a  great 
historian  has  already  drawn  from  obscurity.  It  illustrates 
not  the  annals  of  Rome  alone,  but  the  general  state  of  Italian 
society,  the  nature  of  a  podesta's  duty,  and  the  difliculties  of 
its  execution.  In  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the 
Senate,  and  the  Senator  who  succeeded  them,  exercised  one 
distinguishing  attribute  of  sovereignty,  that  of  coining  gold 
and  silver  money.  Some  of  their  coins  still  exist,  with  le- 
gends in  a  very  republican  tone.  Doubtless  the  temporal 
authority  of  the  popes  varied  according  to  their  personal 
character.  Innocent  III.  had  much  more  than  his  prede- 
cessors for  almost  a  century,  or  than  some  of  his  successors. 
He  made  the  Senator  take  an  oath  of  fealty  to  him,  which, 
though  not  very  comprehensive,  must  have  passed  in  those 
times  as  a  recognition  of  his  superiority. 

§  v.  Though  there  was  much  less  obedience  to  any  legiti- 
mate power  at  Rome  than  anywhere  else  in  Italy,  even  dur- 
ing the  thirteenth  century,  yet,  after  the  secession  of  the 
popes  to  Avignon,  their  own  city  was  left  in  a  far  worse  con- 
dition than  before.  Disorders  of  every  kind,  tumult  and 
robbery,  prevailed  in  the  streets.  The  Roman  nobility  were 
engaged  in  perpetual  war  with  each  other.  Not  content 
with  their  own  fortified  palaces,  they  turned  the  sacred  mon- 
uments of  antiquity  into  strongholds,  and  consummated  the 
destruction  of  time  and  conquest.  At  no  period  has  the  city 
endured  such  irreparable  injuries ;  nor  was  the  downfall  of 
the  Western  Empire  so  fatal  to  its  capital  as  the  contempt- 
ible feuds  of  the  Orsini  and  Colonna  families.  Whatevel 
there  was  of  government,  whether  administered  by  a  legate 
from  Avignon  or  by  the  municipal  authorities,  had  lost  all 
hold  on  these  powerful  barons.  In  the  midst  of  this  degra- 
dation and  wretchedness,  an  obscure  man,  Nicola  di  Rienzi, 
conceived  the  project  of  restoring  Rome,  not  only  to  good 


188  AFFAIRS  OF  ROME.  Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

order,  but  even  to  her  ancient  greatness  (a.d.  1347).  He  had 
received  an  education  beyond  his  birth,  and  nourished  his 
mind  with  the  study  of  the  best  writers.  After  many  ha- 
rangues to  the  people,  which  the  nobility,  blinded  by  their 
self-confidence,  did  not  attempt  to  repress,  Rienzi  suddenly 
excited  an  insurrection,  and  obtained  complete  success.  He 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  new  government,  with  the  title 
of  Tribune,  and  with  almost  unlimited  power.  The  first  ef- 
fects of  this  revolution  were  wonderful.  All  the  nobles  sub- 
mitted, though  with  great  reluctance ;  the  roads  were  cleared 
of  robbers;  tranquillity  was  restored  at  home;  some  severe 
examples  of  justice  intimidated  offenders;  and  the  tribune 
was  regarded  by  all  the  people  as  the  destined  restorer  of 
Kome  and  Italy.  Though  the  Court  of  Avignon  could  not 
approve  of  such  an  usurpation,  it  temporized  enough  not  di- 
rectly to  oppose  it.  Most  of  the  Italian  republics,  and  some 
of  the  princes,  sent  ambassadors,  and  seemed  to  recognize 
pretensions  which  were  tolerably  ostentatious.  The  King 
of  Hungary  and  Queen  of  Naples  submitted  their  quarrel  to 
the  arbitration  of  Rienzi,  who  did  not,  however,  undertake  to 
decide  upon  it.  But  this  sudden  exaltation  intoxicated  his 
understanding,  and  exhibited  failings  entirely  incompatible 
with  his  elevated  condition.  If  Rienzi  had  lived  in  our  own 
age,  his  talents,  which  were  really  great,  would  have  found 
their  proper  orbit;  for  his  character  was  one  not  unusual 
among  literary  politicians — a  combination  of  knowledge,  elo- 
quence, and  enthusiasm  for  ideal  excellence,  with  vanity,  in- 
experience of  mankind,  unsteadiness,  and  physical  timidity. 
As  these  latter  qualities  became  conspicuous,  they  eclipsed 
his  virtues  and  caused  his  benefits  to  be  forgotten  ;  he  was 
compelled  to  abdicate  his  government,  and  retire  into  exile. 
After  several  years,  some  of  which  he  passed  in  the  prisons 
of  Avignon,  Rienzi  was  brought  back  to  Rome,  with  the  title 
of  Senator,  and  under  the  command  of  the  legate.  It  was 
supposed  that  the  Romans,  w^ho  had  returned  to  their  habits 
of  insubordination,  would  gladly  submit  to  their  favorite  trib- 
une. And  this  proved  the  case  for  a  few  months  :  but  af- 
ter that  time  they  ceased  altogether  to  respect  a  man  who 
so  little  respected  himself  in  accepting  a  station  where  he 
could  no  longer  be  free ;  and  Rienzi  was  killed  in  a  sedition." 
Once  more,  not  long  after  the  death  of  Rienzi,  the  freedom 

2  An  illustrious  female  writer  has  drawn  with  a  single  stroke  the  character  of 
Rienzi,  Crescentius,  and  Arnold  of  Brescia,  the  fond  restorers  of  Roman  liberty,  qui 
ont  pris  Us  souvenirs  pour  lea  esperances.  Corinue,  t.  i.,  p.  159.  Could  Tacitus  have 
excelled  this  ? 


iTALi.  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.  189 

of  Rome  seems  to  have  revived  in  republican  institutions, 
though  with  names  less  calculated  to  inspire  peculiar  recol- 
lections. Magistrates  called  bannerets,  chosen  from  the  thir- 
teen districts  of  the  city,  with  a  militia  of  three  thousand 
citizens  at  their  command,  were  placed  at  the  head  of  this 
commonwealth.  The  great  object  of  this  new  organization 
was  to  intimidate  the  Roman  nobility,  whose  outrages,  in  the 
total  absence  of  government,  had  grown  intolerable.  Sev- 
eral of  them  were  hanged  the  first  year  by  order  of  the  ban- 
nerets. In  1435  the  Romans  formally  took  away  the  gov- 
ernment from  Eugenius  IV.,  and  elected  seven  seigniors  or 
chief  magistrates,  like  the  priors  of  Florence.  But  this  rev- 
olution was  not  of  long  continuance,  and  the  citizens  soon 
after  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  the  pope. 

§  8.  The  province  of  Tuscany  continued  longer  than  Lom- 
bardy  under  the  government  of  an  imperial  lieutenant.  It 
was  not  till  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  that  the 
cities  of  Florence,  Lucca,  Pisa,  Siena,  Arezzo,  Pistoja,  and 
several  less  considerable,  which  might,  perhaps,  have  already 
their  own  elected  magistrates,  became  independent  repub- 
lics. During  the  reign  of  Frederick  II.,  Florence  became,  as 
far  as  she  was  able,  an  ally  of  the  popes.  There  was,  indeed, 
a  strong  Ghibelin  party,  comprehending  many  of  the  great- 
est families,  but  the  spirit  of  the  people  was  thoroughly 
Guelf  After  several  revolutions,  accompanied  by  alternate 
proscription  and  demolition  of  houses,  the  Guelf  party, 
through  the  assistance  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  obtained  a  final 
ascendency  in  1266  ;  and  after  one  or  two  unavailing  schemes 
of  accommodation  it  was  established  as  a  fundamental  law 
in  the  Florentine  constitution  that  no  person  of  Ghibelin  an- 
cestry could  be  admitted  to  offices  of  public  trust,  which,  in 
such  a  government,  was  in  effect  an  exclusion  from  the  priv- 
ileges of  citizenship. 

The  changes  of  internal  government  and  vicissitudes  of 
success  among  factions  were  so  frequent  at  Florence,  for 
many  years  after  this  time,  that  she  is  compared  by  her  great 
banished  poet  to  one  in  sickness,  who,  unable  to  rest,  gives 
herself  momentary  ease  by  continual  change  of  posture  in 
her  bed.  They  did  not  become  much  less  numerous  after 
the  age  of  Daiite.  Yet  the  revolutions  of  Florence  should, 
perhaps,  be  considered  as  no  more  than  a  necessary  price  of 
her  liberty.  It  was  her  boast  and  her  happiness  to  have  es- 
caped, except  for  one  short  period,  that  odious  rule  of  vile 
usurpers,  under  which  so  many  other  free  cities  had  been 
crushed.    A  sketch  of  the  constitution  of  so  famous  a  republic 


^ 


190  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.    Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

ought  not  to  be  omitted  in  this  place.  Nothing  else  in  the  his- 
tory of  Italy  after  Frederick  II.  is  so  worthy  of  our  attention. 

§  9.  The  basis  of  the  Florentine  polity  was  a  division  of 
the  citizens  exercising  commerce  into  their  several  companies 
or  arts.  These  were  at  first  twelve  :  seven  called  the  greater 
arts,  and  five  lesser;  but  the  latter  were  gradually  increased 
to  fourteen.  The  seven  greater  arts  were  those  of  lawyers 
and  notaries,  of  dealers  in  foreign  cloth,  called  sometimes 
Calimala,  of  bankers  or  money-changers,  of  woollen-drapers, 
of  physicians  and  druggists,  of  dealers  in  silk,  and  of  furriers. 
The  inferior  arts  were  those  of  retailers  of  cloth,  butchers, 
smiths,  shoe-makers,  and  builders.  This  division  was  fully 
established  and  rendered  essential  to  the  constitution  in 
1266.  By  the  provisions  made  in  that  year  each  of  the  sev- 
en greater  arts  had  a  council  of  its  own,  a  chief  magistrate 
or  consul,  who  administered  justice  in  civil  causes  to  all 
members  of  his  company,  and  a  banneret  (gonfaloniere)  or 
military  officer,  to  whose  standard  they  repaired  when  any 
attempt  was  made  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  city. 

The  administration  of  criminal  justice  belonged  at  Flor- 
ence, as  at  other  cities,  to  a  foreign  Podestd^  or  rather  to  two 
foreign  magistrates,  the  Podestd  and  the  Capitano  del popolo, 
whose  jurisdiction  appears  to  have  been  concurrent.  These 
offices  were  preserved  till  the  innovations  of  the  Medici. 
The  domestic  magistracies  underwent  more  changes.  In- 
stead of  consuls,  which  had  been  the  first  denomination  of 
the  chief  magistrates  of  Florence,  a  college  of  twelve  or  four- 
teen persons  called  Anziani  or  J3uo7momini^  but  varying  in 
name  as  well  as  number,  according  to  revolutions  of  party, 
was  established  about  the  middle  of  the  thiiteenth  century, 
to  direct  public  affiiirs.  This  order  was  entirely  changed  in 
1282,  and  gave  place  to  a  new  form  of  supreme  magistracy, 
which  lasted  till  the  extinction  of  the  republic.  Six  Priors, 
elected  every  two  months,  one  from  each  of  the  six  quarters 
of  the  city,  and  from  each  of  the  greater  arts,  except  that  of 
lawyers,  constituted  an  executive  magistracy.  They  lived 
during  their  continuance  in  office  in  a  palace  belonging  to 
the  city,  and  were  maintained  at  the  public  cost.  The  actu- 
al priors,  jointly  with  the  chiefs  and  councils  (usually  called 
la  Capitudme)  of  the  seven  greater  arts,  and  with  certain 
adjuncts  (arroti)  named  by  themselves,  elected  by  ballot 
their  successors.  Such  was  the  practice  for  about  forty  years 
after  this  government  was  established.  But  an  innovation, 
begun  in  1324,  and  perfected  four  years  afterwards,  gave  a 
peculiar  character  to  the  constitution  of  Florence.     A  lively 


Italy.  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.  191 

and  ambitious  people,  not  merely  jealous  of  their  public  sov- 
ereignty, but  deeming  its  exercise  a  matter  of  personal  en- 
joyment, aware  at  the  same  time  that  the  will  of  the  whole 
body  could  neither  be  immediately  expressed  on  all  occa- 
sions, nor  even  through  chosen  representatives,  without  the 
risk  of  violence  and  partiality,  fell  upon  the  singular  idea  of 
admitting  all  citizens  not  unworthy  by  their  station  or  con- 
duct to  offices  of  magistracy  by  rotation.  Lists  were  sepa- 
rately made  out  by  the  priors,  the  twelve  buonuomini,  the 
chiefs  and  councils  of  arts,  the  bannerets  and  other  respecta- 
ble persons,  of  all  citizens,  Guelfs  by  origin,  turned  of  thirty 
years  of  age,  and,  in  their  judgment,  worthy  of  public  trust. 
The  lists  thus  formed  were  then  united,  and  those  who  had 
composed  them,  meeting  together,  in  number  ninety-seven, 
proceeded  to  ballot  upon  every  name.  Whoever  obtained 
sixty-eight  hlack  balls  was  placed  upon  the  reformed  list; 
and  all  the  names  it  contained  being  put  on  separate  tickets 
into  a  bag  or  purse  (imborsati),  were  drawn  successively  as 
the  magistracies  were  renewed.  As  there  were  above  fifty 
of  these,  none  of  which  could  be  held  for  more  than  four 
months,  several  hundred  citizens  were  called  in  rotation  to 
bear  their  share  in  the  government  within  two  years.  But 
at  the  expiration  of  every  two  years  the  scrutiny  was  re- 
newed, and  fresh  names  were  mingled  with  those  which  still 
continued  undrawn;  so  that  accident  might  deprive  a  man 
for  life  of  his  portion  of  magistracy. 

Four  councils  had  been  established  by  the  constitution 
of  1266  for  the  decision  of  all  propositions  laid  before  them 
by  the  executive  magistrates,  whether  of  a  legislative  nature 
or  relating  to  public  policy.  These  were  now  abrogated; 
and  in  their  places  were  substituted  one  of  300  members,  all 
plebeians,  called  consiglio  di  popolo,  and  one  of  250,  called 
consiglio  di  commune,  into  which  the  nobles  might  enter. 
These  were  changed  by  the  same  rotation  as  the  magis- 
tracies, every  four  months.  A  Parliament,  or  general  assem- 
bly of  the  Florentine  people,  was  rarely  convoked ;  but  the 
leading  principle  of  a  democratical  republic,  the  ultimate 
sovereignty  of  the  multitude,  was  not  forgotten.  This  con- 
stitution of  1324  was  fixed  by  the  citizens  at  large  in  a  Par- 
liament ;  and  the  same  sanction  was  given  to  those  tempo- 
rary delegations  of  the  seigniory  to  a  prince  which  occasion- 
ally took  place.  What  is  technically  called  by  their  histori- 
an syars^^o^o^o  was  the  assembly  of  a  Parliament,  or  a  reso* 
lution  of  all  derivative  powers  into  the  immediate  operation 
«f  the  popular  will. 


192  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.    Chap.  III.  P.uit  II. 

The  ancient  government  of  this  republic  appears  to  have 
been  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  its  nobility.  These  were  very 
numerous,  and  possessed  large  estates  in  the  district.  But 
by  the  constitution  of  1266,  which  was  nearly  coincident 
with  the  triumph  of  the  Guelf  faction,  the  essential  powers 
of  magistracy  as  well  as  of  legislation  were  thrown  into  the 
scale  of  the  commons.  The  colleges  of  arts,  whose  functions 
became  so  eminent,  were  altogether  commercial,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  belong  to  one  or  other  of  the  greater  arts  in  or- 
der to  be  admitted  into  the  executive  college  of  the  priors. 
Many,  indeed,  of  the  nobles  enrolled  themselves  in  these 
companies,  and  were  among  the  most  conspicuous  merchants 
of  Florence;  but  the  majority  of  the  ancient  families  saw 
themselves  pushed  aside  from  the  helm,  which  was  intrusted 
to  a  class  whom  they  had  habitually  held  in  contempt. 

§  10.  The  nobility,  however,  set  the  new  constitution  at 
defiance,  and  dwelling  in  strong  and  lofty  houses  among  their 
kindred,  and  among  the  fellows  of  their  rank,  committed  all 
sorts  of  outrages  with  impunity.  At  length  in  1295,  Giano 
della  Bella,  a  man  of  ancient  lineage,  but  attached  to  the 
popular  side,  introduced  a  series  of  enactments  exceedingly 
disadvantageous  to  the  ancient  aristocracy.  The  first  of 
these  w^as  the  appointment  of  an  executive  officer,  the  gon- 
falonier of  justice,  whose  duty  it  was  to  enforce  the  sen- 
tences of  the  podesta  and  capitano  del  popolo  in  cases  where 
the  ordinary  officers  were  insufficient.  A  thousand  citizens, 
afterwards  increased  to  four  times  that  number,  were  bound 
to  obey  his  commands.  They  were  distributed  into  com- 
panies, the  gonfaloniers  or  captains  of  which  became  a  sort 
of  corporation  or  college,  and  a  constituent  part  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. This  new  militia  seems  to  have  superseded  that 
of  the  companies  of  arts.  The  gonfalonier  of  justice  was 
part  of  the  seigniory  along  with  the  priors,  of  whom  he  was 
reckoned  the  president,  and  changed,  like  them,  every  two 
months.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  first  magistrate  of  Florence. 
If  Giano  della  Bella  had  trusted  to  the  efficacy  of  this  new 
security  for  justice,  his  fame  would  have  been  beyond  re- 
proach. But  he  followed  it  up  by  harsher  provisions.  The 
nobility  were  now  made  absolutely  ineligible  to  the  office  of 
prior.  For  an  offense  committed  by  one  of  a  noble  family, 
his  relations  were  declared  responsible  in  a  penalty  of  3000 
pounds.  And,  to  obviate  the  difficulty  arising  from  the  fre- 
quent intimidation  of  witnesses,  it  was  provided  that  com- 
mon fame,  attested  by  two  credible  persons,  should  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  condemnation  of  a  nobleman. 


Italy.  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLOKENCE.  193 

These  are  the  famous  ordinances  of  justice  which  passed 
at  Florence  for  the  great  charter  of  her  democracy. 

The  nobility  were  soon  aware  of  the  position  in  which 
they  stood.  For  half  a  century  their  great  object  was  to 
procure  the  relaxation  of  the  ordinances  of  justice.  But  they 
had  no  success  with  an  elated  enemy.  The  sort  of  proscrip- 
tion which  attended  the  ancient  nobles  lowered  their  spirit ; 
while  a  new  aristocracy  began  to  raise  its  head,  the  aristoc- 
racy of  families,  who,  after  filling  the  highest  magistracies 
for  two  or  three  generations,  obtained  an  hereditary  impor- 
tance, which  answered  the  purpose  of  more  unequivocal  no- 
bility;  just  as  in  ancient  Rome  plebeian  families,  by  admis- 
sion to  curule  offices,  acquired  the  character  and  appellation 
of  nobility,  and  were  only  distinguishable  by  their  genealogy 
from  the  original  patricians.  Florence  had  her  plebeian  no- 
bles (popolani  grandi)  as  well  as  Rome ;  the  Peruzzi,  the 
Ricci,  the  Albizi,  the  Medici,  correspond  to  the  Catos,  the 
Pompeys,  the  Brutuses,  and  the  Antonies.  But  at  Rome 
the  two  orders,  after  an  equal  partition  of  the  highest  offices, 
were  content  to  respect  their  mutual  privileges ;  at  Florence 
the  commoners  preserved  a  rigorous  monopoly,  and  the  dis- 
tinction of  high  birth  was,  that  it  debf^rred  men  from  polit- 
ical franchises  and  civil  justice. 

This  second  aristocracy  did  not  obtain  much  more  of  the 
popular  affection  than  that  which  it  superseded.  In  order 
to  keep  the  nobles  under  more  control  the  governing  party 
more  than  once  introduced  a  new  foreign  magistrate,  with 
the  title  of  captain  of  defense  (della  guardia),  whom  they  in- 
vested with  an  almost  unbounded  criminal  jurisdiction.  One 
Gabrielli  of  Agobbio  was  twice  fetched  for  this  purpose  (a.d. 
1336,1340);  and  in  each  case  he  behaved  in  so  tyrannical  a 
manner  as  to  occasion  a  tumult.  His  office,  however,  was  of 
short  duration,  and  the  title  at  least  did  not  import  a  sover- 
eign command.  But  very  soon  afterwards  Florence  had  to 
experience  one  taste  of  a  cup  which  her  neighbors  had  drunk 
off  to  the  dregs,  and  to  animate  her  magnanimous  love  of 
freedom  by  a  knowledge  of  the  calamities  of  tyranny. 

§  11.  A  war  with  Pisa,  unsuccessfully,  if  not  unskillfully, 
conducted,  gave  rise  to  such  dissatisfaction  in  the  city  that 
the  leading  commoners  had  recourse  to  an  appointment 
something  like  that  of  Gabrielli,  and  from  similar  motives. 
Walter  de  Brienne,  duke  of  Athens,  was  descended  from  one 
of  the  French  Crusaders  who  had  dismembered  the  Grecian 
empire  in  the  preceding  century ;  but  his  father,  defeated 
in  battle,  had  lost  the  principality  along  with  his  life,  and  the 

9 


194  GOVEKNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.     Chap.  Ill,  Part  II. 

titular  duke  was  an  adventurer  in  the  Court  of  France.  He 
had  been,  however,  slightly  known  at  Florence  on  a  former 
occasion.  There  was  an  uniform  maxim  among  the  Ital- 
ian republics  that  extraordinary  powers  should  be  conferred 
upon  none  but  strangers.  The  Duke  of  Athens  was  accord- 
ingly pitched  upon  for  the  military  command,  wiiich  was 
united  with  domestic  jurisdiction.  This  appears  to  have 
been  promoted  by  the  governing  party  in  order  to  curb  the 
nobility ;  but  they  w^ere  soon  undeceived  in  their  expectar 
tions.  The  first  act  of  the  Duke  of  Athens  was  to  bring 
four  of  the  most  eminent  commoners  to  capital  punishment 
for  military  offenses.  These  sentences,  whether  just  or  oth- 
erwise, gave  much  pleasure  to  the  nobles,  who  had  so  fre- 
quently been  exposed  to  similar  severity,  and  to  the  popu- 
lace, who  are  naturally  pleased  with  the  humiliation  of  their 
superiors.  Both  of  these  were  caressed  by  the  duke,  and 
both  conspired,  with  blind  passion,  to  second  his  ambitious 
views.  It  was  proposed  and  carried  in  a  full  Parliament,  or 
assembly  of  the  people,  to  bestow  upon  him  the  seigniory  for 
life  (a.d.  1342).  The  real  friends  of  their  country,  as  well  as 
the  oligarchy,  shuddered  at  this  measure.  Throughout  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  party,  Florence  had  never  yet  lost  sight 
of  republican  institutions.  But  happily  the  reign  of  tyranny 
was  very  short.  The  Duke  of  Athens  had  neither  judgment 
nor  activity  for  so  difficult  a  station.  He  launched  out  at 
once  into  excesses  which  it  would  be  desirable  that  arbitrary 
power  should  always  commit  at  the  outset.  The  taxes  were 
considerably  increased  ;  their  produce  was  dissipated.  The 
honor  of  the  state  was  sacrificed  by  an  inglorious  treaty  with 
Pisa;  her  territory  was  diminished  by  some  towns  throwing 
off  their  dependence.  Severe  and  multiplied  punishments 
spread  terror  through  the  city.  Ten  months  passed  in  this 
manner,  when  three  separate  conspiracies,  embracing  most 
of  the  nobility  and  of  the  great  commoners,  were  planned  for 
the  recovery  of  freedom.  The  city  was  barricaded  in  every 
direction ;  and  after  a  contest  of  some  duration  the  Duke  of 
Athens  consented  to  abdicate  his  seigniory. 

§  12.  Thus  Florence  recovered  her  liberty.  Her  constitu- 
tional laws  now  seemed  to  revive  of  themselves.  But  the 
nobility,  who  had  taken  a  very  active  part  in  the  recent  lib- 
eration of  their  country,  thought  it  hard  to  be  still  placed 
under  the  rigorous  ordinances  of  justice.  The  populace  of 
Florence,  with  its  characteristic  forgetfulness  of  benefits,  was 
tenacious  of  those  proscriptive  ordinances.  A  new  civil  war 
in  the  city  streets  decided  their  quarrel  ^  after  a  desperate* 


Italy.  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.  1»3. 

resistance,  many  of  the  principal  houses  were  pillaged  and 
burned;  and  the  perpetual  exclusion  of  the  nobility  was 
confirmed  by  fresh  laws.  But  the  people,  now  sure  of  their 
triumph,  relaxed  a  little  upon  this  oocasion  the  ordinances 
of  justice;  and,  to  make  some  distinction  in  favor  of  merit 
or  innocence,  effaced  certain  families  from  the  list  of  nobility. 
Five  hundred  and  thirty  persons  were  thus  elevated,  as  we 
may  call  it,  to  the  rank  of  commoners.  Conversely,  several 
unpopular  commoners  were  ennobled,  in  order  to  disfranchise 
them.  Nothing  was  more  usual  in  subsequent  times  than 
such  an  arbitrary  change  of  rank,  as  a  penalty  or  a  benefit. 
Those  nobles  who  were  rendered  plebeian  by  favor,  were 
obliged  to  change  their  name  and  arms.  The  constitution 
now  underwent  some  change.  From  six  the  priors  were  in- 
creased to  eight ;  and  instead  of  being  chosen  from  each  of 
the  greater  arts,  they  were  taken  from  the  four  quarters  of 
the  city.  The  gonfaloniers  of  companies  were  reduced  to 
sixteen.  And  these,  along  with  the  seigniory  and  the  twelve 
buonuomini,  formed  the  college,  where  every  proposition  was 
discussed  before  it  could  be  offered  to  the  councils  for  their 
legislative  sanction.  But  it  could  only  originate,  strictly 
speaking,  in  the  seigniory,  that  is,  the  gonfalonier  of  justice, 
and  eight  priors,  the  rest  of  the  college  having  merely  the 
function  of  advice  and  assistance. 

Several  years  elapsed  before  any  material  disturbance 
arose  at  Florence;  but  in  1357  a  spring  was  set  in  motion 
which  gave  quite  a  different  character  to  the  domestic  histo- 
ry of  Florence.  At  the  time  when  the  Guelfs,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  Charles  of  Anjou,  acquired  an  exclusive  domina- 
tion in  the  republic,  the  estates  of  the  Ghibelins  were  confis- 
cated. One-third  of  these  confiscations  was  allotted  to  the 
state ;  another  went  to  repair  the  losses  of  Guelf  citizens ; 
but  the  remainder  became  the  property  of  a  new  corporate 
society,  denominated  the  Guelf  party  (parte  Guelfa),  with  a 
regular  internal  organization.  The  Guelf  party  had  two 
councils, one  of  fourteen  and  one  of  sixty  members;  three, 
or  afterwards  four,  captains,  elected  by  scrutiny  every  two 
months,  a  treasury,  and  common  seal — a  little  republic  with- 
in the  republic  of  Florence.  Their  primary  duty  w^as  to 
watch  over  the  Guelf  interest ;  and  for  this  purpose  they 
had  a  particular  oflicer  for  the  accusation  of  suspected  Ghib- 
elins. We  hear  not  much,  however,  of  the  Guelf  society  for 
near  a  century  after  their  establishment ;  but  they  now  be- 
gan to  execute  a  preponderating  influence  in  the  state.  In 
this  society  the  ancient  nobles  retained  a  considerable  iuflu- 


196  GOVERNMENT  OE  FLORENCE.     Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

ence.  The  laws  of  exclusion  had  never  been  applied  to  that 
corporation.  Two  of  the  captains  were  always  noble,  two 
were  commoners.  The  people,  in  debarring  the  nobility  from 
ordinary  privileges,  were  little  aware  of  the  more  dangerous 
channel  which  had  been  left  open  to  their  ambition.  With 
the  nobility  some  of  the  great  commoners  acted  in  concert, 
and  especially  the  family  and  faction  of  the  Albizi.  They 
carried  a  law  by  which  every  person  accepting  an  office  who 
should  be  convicted  of  Ghibelinism  or  of  Ghibelin  descent, 
upon  testimony  of  public  fame,  became  liable  to  punishment, 
capital  or  pecuniary,  at  the  discretion  of  the  priors.  To  this 
law  they  gave  a  retrospective  effect.  Many  citizens  who 
had  been  magistrates  within  a  few  years  were  cast  in  heavy 
fines  on  this  indefinite  charge.  But  the  more  usual  practice 
was  to  warn  (ammonire)  men  beforehand  against  undertak- 
ing public  trust.  If  they  neglected  this  hint,  they  were  sure 
to  be  treated  as  convicted  Ghibelins.  Thus  a  very  numer- 
ous class,  called  Ammoniti^  was  formed  of  proscribed  and 
discontented  persons,  eager  to  throw  off  the  intolerable  yoke 
of  the  Guelf  society  ;  for  the  imputation  of  Ghibelin  con- 
nections was  generall}^  an  unfounded  pretext  for  crushing 
the  enemies  of  the  governing  faction.  Men  of  approved 
Guelf  principles  and  origin  were  every  day  warned  from 
their  natural  privileges  of  sharing  in  magistracy.  This 
spread  an  universal  alarm  through  the  city;  but  the  great 
advantage  of  union  and  secret  confederacy  rendered  the 
Guelf  society,  who  had  also  the  law  on  their  side,  irresistible 
by  their  opponents.  Meanwhile  the  public  honor  was  well 
supported  abroad;  Florence  had  never  before  been  so  dis- 
tinguished as  during  the  prevalence  of  this  oligarchy. 

§  13.  The  Guelf  society  had  governed  with  more  or  less 
absoluteness  for  near  twenty  years,  when  the  republic  be- 
came involved,  through  the  perfidious  conduct  of  the  papal 
legate,  in  a  war  with  the  Holy  See.  Though  the  Floren- 
tines were  by  no  means  superstitious,  this  hostility  to  the 
Church  appeared  almost  an  absurdity  to  determined  Guelfs, 
and  shocked  those  prejudices  about  names  which  make  up 
the  politics  of  vulgar  minds.  The  Guelf  society,  though  it 
could  not  openly  resist  the  popular  indignation  against 
Gregory  XL,  was  not  heartily  inclined  to  this  war.  Its 
management  fell,  therefore,  into  the  hands  of  eight  commis- 
sioners, some  of  them  not  well  affected  to  the  society  ;  whose 
administration  was  so  successful  and  popular  as  to  excite  the 
utmost  jealousy  in  the  Guelfs.  They  began  to  renew  their 
warnings,  and  in  eight  months  excluded  fourscore  citizens. 


Italy.  GOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.  197 

The  civil  dissensions  which  followed  need  not  be  described 
at  length.  The  seven  greater  arts  were  generally  attached 
to  the  Guelf  Society,  while  the  fourteen  lesser  arts,  com- 
posed of  retail  and  mechanical  traders,  were  eager  to  make 
Florence  a  democracy  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name,  by  partici- 
pating in  the  executive  government.  While  the  lesser  arts 
were  murmuring  at  the  exclusive  privileges  of  the  commer- 
cial aristocracy,  there  was  yet  an  inferior  class  of  citizens 
who  thought  their  own  claims  to  equal  privileges  irrefra- 
gable. The  arrangement  of  twenty-one  trading  companies 
had  still  left  several  kinds  of  artisans  unincorporated,  and 
consequently  unprivileged.  These  had  been  attached  to  the 
art  with  which  their  craft  had  most  connection  in  a  sort  of 
dependent  relation.  Thus  to  the  company  of  drapers,  the 
most  wealthy  of  all,  the  various  occupations  instrumental  in 
the  manufacture,  as  wool-combers,  dyers,  and  weavers,  were 
appendant.  Besides  the  sense  of  political  exclusion,  these 
artisans  alleged  that  they  were  oppressed  by  their  employers 
of  the  art.  A  still  lower  order  of  the  community  was  the 
mere  populace,  who  did  not  practice  any  regular  trade,  or 
who  only  worked  for  daily  hire.  These  were  called  Ciompi, 
a  corruption,  it  is  said,  of  the  French  compere. 

The  inferior  tradesmen  demanded  the  establishment  of 
two  new  arts  for  themselves,  and  one  for  the  lower  people. 
After  various  seditions,  a  violent  insurrection,  in  which  the 
ciompi,  or  lowest  populace,  were  alone  concerned,  broke  out. 
The  gates  of  the  palace  belonging  to  the  seigniory  were 
forced  open,  the  priors  compelled  to  fly,  and  no  appearance 
of  a  constitutional  magistracy  remained  to  throw  the  vail  of 
law  over  the  excesses  of  anarchy.  The  republic  seemed  to 
rock  from  its  foundations ;  and  the  circumstance  to  which 
historians  ascribe  its  salvation  is  not  the  least  singular  in 
this  critical  epoch.  One  Michel  di  Lando,  a  Avool-comber, 
half-dressed  and  without  shoes,  happened  to  hold  the  stand- 
ard of  justice  wrested  from  the  proper  officer  when  the  pop- 
ulace burst  into  the  palace.  Whether  he  was  previously 
conspicuous  in  the  tumult  is  not  recorded ;  but  the  wild, 
capricious  mob,  who  had  destroyed  what  they  had  no  con- 
ception how  to  rebuild,  suddenly  cried  out  that'Lando  should 
be  gonfalonier  or  seignior,  and  reform  the  city  at  his  pleasure. 

A  choice,  arising  probably  from  wanton  folly,  could  not 
have  been  better  made  by  wisdom.  Lando  was  a  man  of 
courage,  moderation,  and  integrity.  He  gave  immediate 
proofs  of  these  qualities  by  causing  his  office  to  be  respect- 
ed.    The  eight  commissioners  of  the  war,  who,  though  not 


198  CxOVERNMENT  OF  FLORENCE.     Chap.  III.  Fart  II . 

instigators  of  the  sedition,  were  well  pleased  to  see  the 
Guelf  party  so  entirely  prostrated,  now  fancied  themselves 
masters,  and  began  to  nominate  priors.  But  Lando  sent  a 
message  to  them  that  he  was  elected  by  the  people,  and 
that  he  could  dispense  with  their  assistance.  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  choice  of  priors.  Three  were  taken  from  the 
greater  arts ;  three  from  the  lesser ;  and  three  from  the  two 
new  arts  and  the  lower  people.  This  eccentric  college  lost 
no  time  in  restoring  tranquillity,  and  compelled  the  popu- 
lace, by  threat  of  punishment,  to  return  to  their  occupations. 
But  the  ciompi  were  not  disposed  to  give  up  the  pleasures 
of  anarchy  so  readily.  They  were  dissatisfied  at  the  small 
share  allotted  to  them  in  the  new  distribution  of  offices,  and 
murmured  at  their  gonfalonier  as  a  traitor  to  the  popular 
cause.  Lando  was  aware  that  an  insurrection  was  project- 
ed ;  he  took  measures  with  the  most  respectable  citizens ; 
the  insurgents,  when  they  showed  themselves,  were  quelled 
by  force,  and  the  gonfalonier  retired  from  office  with  an  ap- 
probation which  all  historians  of  Florence  have  agreed  to 
perpetuate.  The  ciompi,  once  checked,  were  soon  defeated. 
The  next  gonfalonier  was,  like  Lando,  a  wool-comber ;  but, 
wanting  the  intrinsic  merit  of  Lando,  his  mean  station  ex- 
cited universal  contempt.  None  of  the  arts  could  endure 
their  low  coadjutors  ;  a  short  struggle  was  made  by  the  pop- 
ulace, but  they  were  entirely  overpowered  with  considera- 
ble slauijhter,  and  the  government  was  divided  between  the 
seven  greater  and  sixteen  lesser  arts  in  nearly  equal  pro- 
portions. 

The  party  of  the  lesser  arts,  or  inferior  tradesmen,  which 
had  begun  this  confusion,  were  left  winners  when  it  ceased. 
But  at  the  end  of  three  years  the  aristocratical  party  re- 
gained its  ascendency.  They  did  not  revive  the  severity 
practised  towards  the  Ammoniti ;  but  the  two  new  arts, 
created  for  the  small  trades,  were  abolished,  and  the  lesser 
arts  reduced  to  a  third  part,  instead  of  something  more  than 
one-half,  of  public  offices.  For  half  a  century  after  this  time 
no  revolution  took  place  at  Florence.  The  Guelf  aristocracy, 
strong  in  oj^ulence  and  antiquity,  and  rendered  prudent  by 
experience,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Albizi  family,  main- 
tained a  preponderating  influence  without  much  departing, 
the  times  considered,  from  moderation  and  respect  for  the 
laws. 

§  14.  Though  fertile  and  populous,  the  proper  district  of 
Florence  was  by  no  means  extensive.  The  republic  made 
no  acquisition  of  territory  till  1351,  when  she  annexed  the 


1TA..Y.  PISA.  199 

small  city  of  Prato,  not  ten  miles  from  her  walls.  Pistoja, 
though  still  nominally  independent,  received  a  Florentine 
garrison  about  the  same  time.  Several  additions  were  made 
to  the  district  by  fair  purchase  from  the  nobility  of  the 
Apennines,  and  a  few  by  main  force.  The  territory  was 
still  very  little  proportioned  to  the  frame  and  power  of  Flor- 
ence. The  latter  was  founded  upon  her  vast  commercial 
opulence.  Every  Italian  state  employed  mercenary  troops, 
and  the  richest  was,  of  course,  the  most  powerful.  In  1336 
the  revenues  of  Florence  are  reckoned  by  Villani  at  300,000 
florins,  which,  as  he  observes,  is  more  than  the  king  of  Na- 
ples or  Aragon  possesses.^  The  expenditure  went  at  that 
time  very  much  beyond  the  receipt,  and  was  defrayed  by 
loans  from  the  principal  mercantile  firms,  which  were  se- 
cured by  public  funds — the  earliest  instance,  I  believe,  of 
that  financial  resource.  Her  population  was  computed  at 
innety  thousand  souls.  Villani  reckons  the  district  at  eighty 
thousand  men,  I  suppose  those  only  of  military  age ;  but 
this  calculation  must  have  been  too  large,  even  though  he 
included,  as  we  may  presume,  the  city  in  his  estimate.  Tus- 
cany, though  well  cultivated  and  flourishing,  does  not  con- 
tain by  any  means  so  great  a  number  of  inhabitants  in  that 
space  at  present. 

§  15.  The  first  eminent  conquest  made  by  Florence  was 
that  of  Pisa,  early  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Pisa  had  been 
distinguished  as  a  commercial  city  ever  since  the  age  of  the 
Othos.  From  her  ports,  and  those  of  Genoa,  the  earliest 
naval  armaments  of  the  Western  nations  were  fitted  out 
against  the  Saracen  corsairs  who  infested  the  Mediterranean 
coasts.  In  the  eleventh  century  she  undertook,  and,  after  a 
pretty  long  struggle,  completed,  the  important,  or  at  least 
the  splendid,  conquest  of  Sardinia,  an  island  long  subject  to 
a  Moorish  chieftain.  Her  naval  prowess  was  supported  by 
her  commerce.  A  writer  of  the  twelfth  century  reproaches 
her  with  the  Jews,  the  Arabians,  and  other  "  monsters  of  the 
sea,"  who  thronged  in  her  streets.  The  crusades  poured 
fresh  wealth  into  the  lap  of  the  maritime  Italian  cities.  In 
some  of  those  expeditions  a  great  portion  of  the  armament 
was  conveyed  by  sea  to  Palestine,  and  freighted  the  vessels 
of  Pisa,  Genoa,  and  Venice.  When  the  Christians  had  bought 
with  their  blood  the  sea-coast  of  Syria,  these  republics  pro- 
cured the  most  extensive  privileges  in  the  new  states  that 
were  formed  out  of  their  slender  conquests,  and  became  the 

3  The  gold  florin  was  worth  abont  ten  shillings  of  our  money.    The  district  of 
Florence  was  not  then  much  larger  than  Middlesex. 


200  PISA.  Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

conduits  through  which  the  produce  of  the  East  flowed  in 
upon  the  ruder  nations  of  Europe.  Pisa  maintained  a  large 
share  of  this  commerce,  as  well  as  of  maritime  greatness,  till 
near  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  In  1282  she  was  in 
great  power,  possessing  Sardinia,  Corsica,  and  Elba,  from 
whence  the  republic,  as  well  as  private  persons,  derived 
large  revenues,  and  almost  ruled  the  sea  with  their  ships 
and  merchandise,  and  beyond  sea  were  very  powerful  in  the 
city  of  Acre,  and  much  connected  with  its  principal  citizens. 
The  prosperous  era  of  Pisa  is  marked  by  her  public  edifices. 
She  was  the  first  Italian  city  that  took  a  pride  in  architect- 
ural magnificence.  Her  cathedral  is  of  the  eleventh  centu- 
ry ;  the  baptistery,  the  famous  inclined  tower,  or  belfry,  the 
arcades  that  surround  the  Campo  Santo,  or  cemetery  of  Pisa, 
are  of  the  twelfth,  or,  at  latest,  of  the  thirteenth. 

It  would  have  been  no  slight  anomaly  in  the  annals  of 
Italy,  or,  we  might  say,  of  mankind,  if  two  neighboring 
cities,  competitors  in  every  naval  enterprise,  had  not  been 
perpetual  enemies  to  each  other.  One  is  more  surprised,  if 
the  fact  be  true,  that  no  war  broke  out  between  Pisa  and 
Genoa  till  1119.  From  this  time,  at  least,  they  continually 
recurred.  An  equality  ol  forces  and  of  courage  kept  the 
conflict  uncertain  for  the  greater  part  of  two  centuries. 
Their  battles  were  numerous,  and  sometimes,  taken  sepa- 
rately, decisive ;  but  the  public  spirit  and  resources  of  each 
city  were  called  out  by  defeat,  and  we  generally  find  a  new 
armament  replace  the  losses  of  an  unsuccessful  combat.  In 
this  respect  the  naval  contest  between  Pisa  and  Genoa, 
though  much  longer  protracted,  resembles  that  of  Rome 
and  Carthage  in  the  first  Punic  war.  But  Pisa  was  re- 
served for  her  ^gades.  In  one  fatal  battle,  off*  the  little 
isle  of  Meloria,  in  1284,  her  whole  navy  was  destroyed. 
Several  unfortunate  and  expensive  armaments  had  almost 
exhausted  the  state,  and  this  was  the  last  effort,  by  private 
sacrifices,  to  equip  one  more  fleet.  After  this  defeat  it  was 
in  vain  to  contend  for  empire.  Eleven  thousand  Pisans  lan- 
guished for  many  years  in  prison  ;  it  was  a  current  saying 
that  whoever  would  see  Pisa  should  seek  her  at  Genoa.  A 
treacherous  chief,  that  Count  Ugolino  whose  guilt  was  so  ter- 
ribly avenged,  is  said  to  have  purposely  lost  the  battle,  and 
prevented  the  ransom  of  the  captives,  to  secure  his  power ; 
accusations  that  obtain  easy  credit  with  an  unsuccessful 
people. 

From  the  epoch  of  the  battle  of  Meloria,  Pisa  ceased  to  be 
a  maritime  power.     Forty  years  afterwards  she  was  strip* 


Ital^.  GENOA.  201 

ped  of  her  ancient  colony,  the  island  of  Sardinia,  which  was 
annexed  to  the  crown  of  Aragon.  Her  commerce  now  dwin- 
dled with  her  greatness.  During  the  fourteenth  century 
Pisa  almost  renounced  the  ocean,  and  directed  her  main  at- 
tention to  the  politics  of  Tuscany.  Ghibelin  by  invariable 
predilection,  she  was  in  constant  opposition  to  the  Guelf 
cities  which  looked  up  to  Florence.  But  in  the  fourteenth 
century  the  names  of  freeman  and  Ghibelin  were  not  easily 
united ;  and  a  city  in  that  interest  stood  insulated  between 
the  republics  of  an  opposite  faction  and  the  tyrants  of  her 
own.  Pisa  fell  several  times  under  the  yoke  of  usurpers ; 
she  was  included  in  the  wide-spreading  acquisitions  of  Gian 
Galeazzo  Yisconti.  At  his  death  one  of  his  family  seized 
the  dominion,  and  finally  the  Florentines  purchased  for 
400,000  florins  a  rival  and  once  equal  city.  The  Pisans 
made  a  resistance  more  according  to  what  they  had  been 
than  what  they  were. 

§  16.  The  early  history  of  Genoa,  in  all  her  foreign  rela-  ^ 
tionSjis  involved  in  that  of  Pisa.  As  allies  against  the  Sara-  ly^ 
cens  of  Africa,  Spain,  and  the  Mediterranean  islands,  as  co-  '^ 
rivals  in  commerce  with  these  very  Saracens  or  with  the 
Christians  of  the  East,  as  co-operators  in  the  great  expedi- 
tions under  the  banner  of  the  cross,  or  as  engaged  in  deadly 
warfare  with  each  other,  the  two  republics  stand  in  con- 
tinual parallel.  From  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury Genoa  was,  I  think,  the  more  prominent  and  flourishing 
fii  the  two.  She  had  conquered  the  island  of  Corsica  at  the 
same  time  that  Pisa  reduced  Sardinia  ;  and  her  acquisition, 
though  less  considerable,  was  longer  preserved.  Her  terri- 
tory at  home,  the  ancient  Liguria,  was  much  more  extensive, 
and,  what  was  most  important,  contained  a  greater  range  of 
sea-coast  than  that  of  Pisa.  But  the  commercial  and  mari-' 
time  prosperity  of  Genoa  may  be  dated  from  the  recovery 
of  Constantinople  by  the  Greeks  in  1261.  Jealous  of  the 
Venetians,  by  whose  arms  the  Latin  emperors  had  been 
placed,  and  were  still  maintained,  on  their  throne,  the  Genoese 
assisted  Palieologus  in  overturning  that  usurpation.  They 
obtained  in  consequence  the  suburb  of  Pera  or  Galata,  over 
against  Constantinople,  as  an  exclusive  settlement,  where 
their  colony  was  ruled  by  a  magistrate  sent  from  home,  and 
frequently  defied  the  Greek  capital  with  its  armed  galleys 
and  intrepid  seamen.  From  this  convenient  station  Genoa 
extended  her  commerce  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  established 
her  principal  factory  at  Caffa,  in  the  Crimean  peninsula. 
This  commercial  monopoly,  for  such  she  endeavored  to  ren- 


202  WARS  OF  GENOA.         Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

der  it,  aggravated  the  animosity  of  Venice.  As  Pisa  retired 
from  the  field  of  waters,  a  new  enemy  appeared  upon  the 
horizon  to  dispute  the  maritime  dominion  of  Genoa.  Her 
first  war  with  Venice  was  in  1258.  The  second  was  not  till 
after  the  victory  of  Meloria  had  crushed  her  more  ancient 
enemy.  It  broke  out  in  1293,  and  was  prosecuted  with  de- 
termined fury  and  a  great  display  of  naval  strength  on  both 
sides.  One  Genoese  armament  consisted  of  155  galleys,  each 
manned  with  from  220  to  300  sailors.  It  was,  however,  be- 
yond any  other  exertion.  The  usual  fleets  of  Genoa  and 
V  enice  were  of  seventy  to  ninety  galleys. 

But  the  most  remarkable  war,  and  that  productive  of  the 
greatest  consequences,  was  one  that  commenced  in  1378, 
after  several  acts  of  hostility  in  the  Levant.  Genoa  did  not 
stand  alone  in  this  war.  A  formidable  confederacy  was 
raised  against  Venice,  who  had  given  provocation  to  many 
enemies.  Of  this  Francis  Carrara,  seignior  of  Padua,  and  the 
King  of  Hungary  were  the  leaders.  But  the  principal  strug- 
gle was,  as  usual,  upon  the  waves.  During  the  winter  of 
1378  a  Genoese  fleet  kept  the  sea,  and  ravaged  the  shores  of 
Dalmatia.  The  Venetian  armament  had  been  weakened  by 
an  epidemic  disease,  and  when  Vittor  Pisani,  their  admiral, 
gave  battle  to  the  enemy,  he  was  compelled  to  fight  with  a 
hasty  conscription  of  landsmen  against  the  best  sailors  in  the 
world.  Entirely  defeated,  and  taking  refuge  at  Venice  with 
only  seven  galleys,  Pisani  was  cast  into  prison,  as  if  his  ill- 
fortune  had  been  his  crime.  Meanwhile  the  Genoese  fleet, 
augmented  by  a  strong  reinforcement,  rode  before  the  long 
natural  ramparts  that  separate  the  lagunes  of  Venice  from 
the  Adriatic.  Six  passages  intersect  the  islands  which  con- 
stitute this  barrier,  besides  the  broader  outlets  of  Brondolo 
and  Fossone,  through  which  the  waters  of  the  Brenta  and 
the  Adige  are  discharged.  The  lagune  itself,  as  is  well 
known,  consists  of  extreniely  shallow  water,  unnavigable  for 
any  vessel  except  along  the  course  of  artificial  and  intricate 
passages.  Notwithstanding  the  apparent  difficulties  of  such 
an  enterprise,  Pietro  Doria,  the  Genoese  admiral,  determined 
to  reduce  the  city.  His  first  successes  gave  him  reason  to 
hope.  He  forced  the  passage,  and  stormed  the  little  town  of 
Chioggia,  built  upon  the  inside  of  the  isle  bearing  that  name, 
about  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Venice.  Nearly  four  thou- 
sand prisoners  fell  here  into  his  hands — an  augury,  as  it 
seemed,  of  a  more  splendid  triumph.  In  the  consternation 
this  misfortune  inspired  at  Venice,  the  first  impulse  was  to 
ask  for  peace.     The  ambassadors  carried  with  them  se\en 


Italy.  WARS  OF  GENOA.  203 

Genoese  prisoners,  as  a  sort  of  peace-offering  to  the  admiral, 
and  were  empowered  to  make  large  and  humiliating  conces- 
sions, reserving  nothing  but  the  liberty  of  Venice.  Francis 
Carrara  strongly  urged  his  allies  to  treat  for  peace.  But  the 
Genoese  were  stimulated  by  long  hatred,  and  intoxicated  by 
this  unexpected  opportunity  of  revenge.  Doria,  calling  the 
ambassadors  into  council,  thus  addressed  them :  "  Ye  shall 
obtain  no  peace  from  us,  I  swear  to  you,  nor  from  the  lord  of 
Padua,  till  first  we  have  put  a  curb  in  the  mouths  of  those 
wild  horses  that  stand  upon  the  place  of  St.  Mark.  When 
they  are  bridled  you  shall  have  enough  of  peace.  Take  back 
with  you  your  Genoese  captives,  for  I  am  coming  within  a 
few  days  to  release  both  them  and  their  companions  from 
your  prisons."  When  this  answer  was  reported  to  the  Sen- 
ate, they  prepared  to  defend  themselves  with  the  character- 
istic firmness  of  their  Government.  Every  eye  was  turned 
towards  a  great  man  unjustly  punished,  their  admiral  Vittor 
Pisani.  He  was  called  out  of  prison  to  defend  his  country 
amidst  general  acclamations.  Under  his  vigorous  command 
the  canals  were  fortified  or  occupied  by  large  vessels  armed 
with  artillery ;  thirty-four  galleys  were  equipped ;  every 
citizen  contributed  according  to  his  power ;  in  the  entire 
want  of  commercial  resources  (for  Venice  had  not  a  mer- 
chant-ship during  this  war)  private  plate  was  melted  ;  and 
the  Senate  held  out  the  promise  of  ennobling  thirty  families 
who  should  be  most  forward  in  this  strife  of  patriotism. 

The  new  fleet  was  so  ill  provided  with  seamen  that  for 
some  months  the  admiral  employed  them  only  in  manoeuvring 
along  the  canals.  From  some  unaccountable  supineness,  or 
more  probably  from  the  insuperable  difficulties  of  the  under- 
taking, the  Genoese  made  no  assault  upon  the  city.  They 
had,  indeed,  fair  grounds  to  hope  its  reduction  by  famine  or 
despair.  Every  access  to  the  continent  was  cut  off  by  the 
troops  of  Padua  ;  and  the  King  of  Hungary  had  mastered  al- 
most all  the  Venetian  towns  in  Istria  and  along  the  Dalma- 
tian coast.  The  Doge  Contarini,  taking  the  chief  command, 
appeared  at  length  with  his  fleet  near  Chioggia,  before  the 
Genoese  were  aware.  They  were  still  less  aware  of  his  se- 
cret design.  He  pushed  one  of  the  large  round  vessels,  then 
called  cocche,  into  the  narrow  passage  of  Chioggia  which 
connects  the  lagune  with  the  sea,  and,  mooring  her  athwart 
the  channel,  interrupted  that  communication.  Attacked 
with  fury  by  the  enemy,  this  vessel  went  down  on  the  spot, 
and  the  doge  improved  his  advantage  by  sinking  loads  of 
stones  until  the  passage  became  absolutely  un navigable      It 


204  WARS  OF  GENOA.  Chap.  III.  Part  li 

was  still  possible  for  the  Genoese  fleet  to  follow  the  principal 
canal  of  the  lagune  towards  Venice  and  the  northern  pas- 
sages, or  to  sail  out  of  it  by  the  harbor  of  Brondolo ;  but, 
whether  from  confusion  or  from  miscalculating  the  dangers 
of  their  position,  they  suffered  the  Venetians  to  close  the  ca- 
nal upon  them  by  the  same  means  they  had  used  at  Chiog- 
gia,  and  even  to  place  their  fleet  in  the  entrance  of  Brondolo 
so  near  to  the  lagune  that  the  Genoese  could  not  form  their 
ships  in  line  of  battle.  The  circumstances  of  the  two  com- 
batants were  thus  entirely  changed.  But  the  Genoese  fleet, 
though  besieged  in  Chioggia,  was  impregnable,  and  their 
command  of  the  land  secured  them  from  famine.  Venice, 
notwithstanding  her  unexpected  success,  was  still  very  far 
from  secure :  it  was  diflicult  for  the  doge  to  keep  his  position 
through  the  winter ;  and  if  the  enemy  could  appear  in  open 
sea,  the  risks  of  combat  were  extremely  hazardous.  It  is 
said  that  the  Senate  deliberated  upon  transporting  the  seat 
of  their  liberty  to  Candia,  and  that  the  doge  had  announced 
his  intention  to  raise  the  siege  of  Chioggia,  if  expected  suc- 
cors did  not  arrive  by  the  1st  of  January,  1380.  On  that 
very  day  Carlo  Zeno,  an  admiral  who,  ignorant  of  the  dan- 
gers of  his  country,  had  been  supporting  the  honor  of  her 
flag  in  the  Levant  and  on  the  coast  of  Liguria,  appeared  with 
a  reinforcement  of  eighteen  galleys  and  a  store  of  provisions. 
From  that  moment  the  confidence  of  Venice  revived.  The 
fleet,  now  superior  in  strength  to  the  enemy,  began  to  at- 
tack them  with  vivacity.  After  several  months  of  obstinate 
resistance,  the  Genoese — whom  their  republic  had  ineflect- 
ually  attempted  to  relieve  by  a  fresh  armament — blocked  up 
in  the  town  of  Chioggia,  and  pressed  by  hunger,  were  obliged 
to  surrender.  Nineteen  galleys  only,  out  of  forty-eight,  were 
in  good  condition ;  and  the  crews  were  equally  diminished 
in  the  ten  months  of  their  occupation  of  Chioggia.  The  pride 
of  Genoa  was  deemed  to  be  justly  humbled;  and  even  her 
own  historian  confesses  that  God  would  not  suffer  so  noble  a 
city  as  Venice  to  become  the  spoil  of  a  conqueror. 

Though  the  capture  of  Chioggia  did  not  terminate  the 
war,  both  parties  were  exhausted,  and  willing,  next  year,  to 
accept  the  mediation  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  By  the  peace 
of  Turin,  Venice  surrendered  most  of  her  territorial  posses- 
sions to  the  King  of  Hungary.  That  prince  and  Francis 
Carrara  were  the  only  gainers.  Genoa  obtained  the  isle 
of  Tenedos,  one  of  the  original  subjects  of  dispute — a  poor 
indemnity  for  her  losses.  Though,  upon  a  hasty  view,  the 
result  of  this  war  appears  more  unfavorable  to  Venice,  yet 


Italy.  HER  GOVERNMENT.  205 

in  fact  it  is  the  epoch  of  the  decline  of  Genoa.  From  this 
time  she  never  commanded  the  ocean  with  such  navies  as 
before;  her  commerce  gradually  went  into  decay ;  and  the 
fifteenth  century — the  most  splendid  in  the  annals  of  Ven- 
ice— is,  till  recent  times,  the  most  ignominious  in  those  of 
Genoa.  But  this  was  partly  owing  to  internal  dissensions, 
by  which  her  liberty,  as  well  as  glory,  was  for  a  while  sus- 
pended. 

§  17.  At  Genoa,  as  in  other  cities  of  Lombardy,  the  prin- 
cipal magistrates  of  the  republic  were  originally  styled  con- 
suls. Their  number  varied  from  four  to  six,  annually  elected 
by  the  people  in  their  full  Parliament.  These  consuls  pre- 
sided over  the  republic,  and  commanded  the  forces  by  land 
and  sea ;  while  another  class  of  magistrates,  bearing  the 
same  title,  were  annually  elected  by  the  several  companies 
into  which  the  people  were  divided,  for  the  administration 
of  civil  justice.  This  was  the  regimen  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury;  but  in  the  next  Genoa  fell  into  the  fashion  of  intrust- 
ing the  executive  power  to  a  foreign  podesta.  The  podesta 
was  assisted  by  a  council  of  eight,  chosen  by  the  eight  com- 
panies of  nobility.  This  institution  gave  not  only  an  aristo- 
cratic, but  almost  an  oligarchical  character  to  the  constitu- 
tion, since  many  of  the  nobility  were  not  members  of  these 
eight  societies.  Of  the  Senate  or  Councils  we  hardly  know 
more  than  their  existence ;  they  are  very  little  mentioned 
by  historians.  Every  thing  of  a  general  nature,  every  thing 
that  required  the  expression  of  public  will,  was  reserved  for 
the  entire  and  unrepresented  sovereignty  of  the  people.  In 
no  city  was  the  Parliament  so  often  convened — for  war,  for 
peace,  for  alliance,  for  change  of  government.  These  very 
dissonant  elements  were  not  likely  to  harmonize.  The  peo- 
ple, sufficiently  accustomed  to  the  forms  of  democracy  to 
imbibe  its  spirit,  repined  at  the  practical  influence  which 
was  thrown  into  the  scale  of  the  nobles.  Among  the  nobil- 
ity themselves,  four  houses  were  distinguished  beyond  all 
the  rest — the  Grimaldi,  the  Fieschi,  the  Doria,  the  Spinola ; 
the  two  former  of  Guelf  politics,  the  latter  adherents  of  the 
Empire.  Perhaps  their  equality  of  forces,  and  a  jealously 
which  even  the  families  of  the  same  faction  entertained  of 
each  other,  prevented  any  one  from  usurping  the  seigniory 
at  Genoa.  Neither  the  Guelf  nor  Ghibelin  party  obtaining  a 
decided  preponderance,  continual  revolutions  occurred  in  the 
city.  The  most  celebrated  was  in  1339,  which  led  to  the 
election  of  the  first  doge.  A  large  fleet  in  want  of  pay 
broke  out  in  open  insurrection.     Savona  and  the  neighbor 


206  KEVOLUTION  OF  GENOA.     Chai-.  111.  Part  II. 

ing  towns  took  arms  avowedly  against  the  aristocratical  tyr- 
anny; and  the  capital  was  itself  on  the  point  of  joining  the 
insurgents.  There  was,  by  the  Genoese  constitution,  a  mag- 
istrate named  the  abbot  of  the  people,  acting  as  a  kind  of 
tribune  for  their  protection  against  the  oppression  of  the  no- 
bility. This  office  had  been  abolished  by  the  present  gov- 
ernment^ and  it  was  the  first  demand  of  the  malcontents  that 
it  should  be  restored.  This  was  acceded  to,  and  twenty 
delegates  were  appointed  to  make  the  choice.  While  they 
delayed,  and  the  populace  was  grown  weary  with  waiting,  a 
nameless  artisan  called  out  from  an  elevated  station  that  he 
could  direct  them  to  a  fit  person.  When  the  people,  in  jest, 
bade  him  speak  on,  he  uttered  the  name  of  Simon  Boccane- 
gra.  This  was  a  man  of  noble  birth,  and  well  esteemed,  who 
was  then  present  among  the  crowd.  The  word  was  sudden- 
ly taken  up  ;  a  cry  was  heard  that  Boccanegra  should  be  ab- 
bot:  he  was  instantly  brought  forward,  and  the  sword  of 
justice  forced  into  his  hand.  As  soon  as  silence  could  be 
obtained  he  modestly  thanked  them  for  their  favor,  but  de- 
clined an  office  which  his  nobility  disqualified  him  from  ex- 
ercising. At  this  a  single  voice  out  of  the  crowd  exclaimed, 
''^ Seignior  r''  and  this  title  was  reverberated  from  every  side. 
Fearful  of  worse  consequences,  the  actual  magistrates  urged 
him  to  comply  with  the  people  and  accept  the  office  of  abbot. 
But  Boccanegra,  addressing  the  assembly,  declared  his  readi- 
ness to  become  their  abbot,  seignior,  or  whatever  they  would. 
The  cry  of  "  Seignior !"  was  now  louder  than  before  ;  Avhile 
others  cried  out,  "  Let  him  be  duke  V  Tlie  latter  title  was 
received  with  greater  approbation  ;  and  Boccanegra  was 
conducted  to  the  palace,  the  first  duke,  or  doge,  of  Genoa. 

Caprice  alone,  or  an  idea  of  more  pomp  and  dignity,  led 
the  populace,  we  may  conjecture,  to  prefer  this  title  to  that 
of  seignior ;  but  it  produced  important  and  highly  beneficial 
consequences.  In  all  neighboring  cities  an  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment had  been  already  established  under  their  respective 
seigniors;  the  name  was  associated  with  indefinite  power, 
while  that  of  doge  had  only  been  taken  by  the  elective  and 
very  limited  chief  magistrate  of  another  maritime  republic. 
Neither  Boccanegra  nor  his  successors  ever  rendered  their 
authority  unlimited  or  hereditary.  The  constitution  of 
Genoa,  from  an  oppressive  aristocracy,  became  a  mixture  of 
the  two  other  forms,  with  an  exclusion  of  the  nobles  from 
power.  Those  four  great  families  who  had  domineered  al- 
ternately for  almost  a  century  lost  their  influence  at  home 
after   the   revolution    of  1339.      Yet,  what    is    remarkable 


Italy.  VENICE.  207 

enough,  they  were  still  selected  in  preference  for  the  high- 
est of  trusts :  their  names  are  still  identified  with  the  glory 
of  Genoa ;  her  fleets  hardly  sailed  but  under  a  Doria,  a  Spi- 
nola,  or  a  Grimalda — such  confidence  could  the  republic  be- 
stow upon  their  patriotism,  or  that  of  those  whom  they  com- 
manded. Meanwhile  two  or  three  new  families,  a  plebeian 
oligarchy,  filled  their  place  in  domestic  honors ;  the  Adorni, 
the  Fregosi,  the  Montalti,  contended  for  the  ascendant. 
From  their  competition  ensued  revolutions  too  numerous  al- 
most for  a  separate  history;  in  four  years,  from  1390  to  1394, 
the  doge  was  ten  times  changed — swept  away  or  brought 
back  in  the  fluctuations  of  popular  tumult.  Antoniotto 
Adorno,  four  times  doge  of  Genoa,  had  sought  the  friend- 
ship of  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti ;  but  that  crafty  tyrant  medi- 
tated the  subjugation  of  the  republic,  and  played  her  factions 
against  one  another  to  render  her  fall  secure.  Adorno  per- 
ceived that  there  was  no  hope  for  ultimate  independence  but 
by  making  a  temporary  sacrifice  of  it.  His  own  power,  am- 
bitious as  he  had  been, he  voluntarily  resigned;  and  placed 
the  republic  under  the  protection  or  seigniory  of  the  King 
of  France.  Terms  were  stipulated  very  favorable  to  her  lib- 
erties ;  but,  with  a  French  garrison  once  received  into  the  city, 
they  w^ere  not  always  sure  of  observance. 

§  18.  While  Genoa  lost  even  her  political  independence, 
Venice  became  more  conspicuous  and  powerful  than  before. 
That  famous  republic  deduces  its  original,  and  even  its  lib- 
erty, from  an  era  beyond  the  commencement  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  Venetians  boast  of  a  perpetual  emancipation 
from  the  yoke  of  barbarians.  From  that  ignominious  servi- 
tude some  natives  of  Aquileia  and  neighboring  towns  fled  to 
the  small  cluster  of  islands  that  rise  amidst  the  shoals  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Brenta.  Here  they  built  the  town  of  Rivo- 
alto,  the  modern  Venice,  in  421 ;  but  their  chief  settlement 
was,  till  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  at  Malamocco. 
Both  the  Western  and  the  Eastern  empire  alternately  pre- 
tended to  exercise  dominion  over  her ;  she  was  conquered 
by  Pepin,  son  of  Charlemagne,  and  restored  by  him,  as  the 
chroniclers  say,  to  the  Greek  emperor,  Nicephorus.  There 
is  every  appearance  that  the  Venetians  had  always  consid- 
ered themselves  as  subject  to  the  Eastern  Empire.  And  this 
connection  was  not  broken  in  the  early  part,  at  least,  of  the 
tenth  century.  But,  for  every  essential  purpose,  Venice 
might  long  before  be  deemed  an  independent  state.  Her 
doge  was  not  confirmed  at  Constantinople  ;  she  paid  no 
tribute,  and  lent  no  assistance  in  war.     Her  ow^n  navies,  in 


208  ACQUISITIONS  OF  VENICE.     Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

the  ninth  century,  encountered  the  Normans,  the  Saracens, 
and  the  Sclavonians  in  the  Adriatic  Sea.  TJpon  the  coast 
of  Dalmatia  were  several  Greek  cities,  which  the  Empire  had 
ceased  to  protect,  and  which,  like  Venice  itself,  became  re- 
publics for  want  of  a  master.  Ragusa  was  one  of  these,  and, 
more  fortunate  than  the  rest,  survived  as  an  independent 
city  till  our  own  age.  In  return  for  the  assistance  of  Ven- 
ice,  these  little  sea-ports  put  themselves  under  her  govern- 
ment ;  The  Sclavonian  pirates  were  repressed ;  and  after  ac- 
quiring, partly  by  consent,  partly  by  arms,  a  large  tract  of 
maritime  territory,  the  doge  took  the  title  of  Duke  of  Dalma- 
tia. Three  or  four  centuries,  however,  elapsed  before  the 
republic  became  secure  of  these  conquests,  which  'were  fre- 
quently wrested  from  her  by  rebellions  of  the  inhabitants, 
or  by  her  powerful  neighbor,  the  King  of  Hungary. 

A  more  important  source  of  Venetian  greatness  was  com- 
merce. In  the  darkest  and  most  barbarous  period,  before 
Genoa  or  even  Pisa  had  entered  into  mercantile  pursuits, 
Venice  carried  on  an  extensive  traffic  both  with  the  Greek 
and  Saracen  regions  of  the  Levant.  The  Crusades  enriched 
and  aggrandized  Venice  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  city. 
Her  splendor  may,  however,  be  dated  from  the  taking  of 
Constantinople  by  the  Latins  in  1204.  In  this  famous  enter- 
prise, which  diverted  a  great  armament  destined  for  the  re- 
covery of  Jerusalem,  the  French  and  Venetian  nations  were 
alone  engaged  ;  but  the  former  only  as  private  adventurers, 
the  latter  with  the  whole  strength  of  their  republic  under  its 
doge,  Henry  Dandolo.  Three-eighths  of  the  city  of  Constan- 
tinople, and  an  equal  proportion  of  the  provinces,  were  allot- 
ted to  them  in  the  partition  of  the  spoil,  and  the  doge  took 
the  singular  but  accurate  title,  Duke  of  three-eighths  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  Their  share  was  increased  by  purchases 
from  less  opulent  crusaders,  especially  one  of  much  impor- 
tance, the  island  of  Candia,  which  they  retained  till  the  mid- 
dle of  the  seventeenth  century.  These  foreign  acquisitions 
were  generally  granted  out  in  fief  to  private  Venetian  nobles 
under  the  supremacy  of  the  republic.  It  was  thus  that  the 
Ionian  islands,  to  adopt  the  vocabulary  of  our  day,  came  un- 
der the  dominion  of  Venice,  and  guaranteed  that  sovereignty 
which  she  now  began  to  affect  over  the  Adriatic.  Those  of 
the  Archipelago  were  lost  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Thia 
political  greatness  was  sustained  by  an  increasing  commerce. 
No  Christian  state  preserved  so  considerable  an  intercourse 
with  the  Mohammedans.  While  Genoa  kept  the  keys  of  the 
Black  Sea  by  her  colonies  of  Pera  and  Caffa,Venice  directed 


Italy.  HER  GOVERNMENT.  209 

her  vessels  to  Acre  and  Alexandria.  These  connections,  as 
is  the  natural  effect  of  trade,  deadened  the  sense  of  religious 
antipathy  ;  and  the  Venetians  were  sometimes  charged  with 
obstructing  all  eflbrts  towards  a  new  crusade,  or  even  any 
partial  attacks  upon  the  Mohammedan  nations. 

§  19.  The  earliest  form  of  government  at  Venice,  as  we 
collect  from  an  epistle  of  Cassiodorus  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, was  by  twelve  annual  tribunes.  Perhaps  the  union  of 
the  different  islanders  was  merely  federative.  However,  in 
697,  they  resolved  to  elect  a  chief  magistrate  by  name  of 
duke,  or,  in  their  dialect.  Doge  of  Venice.  No  councils  ap- 
pear to  have  limited  his  power,  or  represented  the  national 
will.  The  doge  was  general  and  judge ;  he  was  sometimes 
permitted  to  associate  his  son  with  him,  and  thus  to  prepare 
the  road  foi-  hereditary  power ;  his  government  had  all  the 
prerogatives,  and,  as  far  as  in  such  a  state  of  manners  was 
possible,  the  pomp,  of  a  monarchy.  But  he  acted  in  impor- 
tant matters  with  the  concurrence  of  a  general  assembly, 
though,  from  the  want  of  positive  restraints,  his  executive 
government  might  be  considered  as  nearly  absolute.  Time, 
however,  demonstrated  to  the  Venetians  the  imperfections 
of  such  a  constitution.  Limitations  were  accordingly  im- 
posed on  the  doge,  and  at  length,  in  1172,  the  Gi^eat  Council 
was  established.  It  was  at  first  elective,  and  annually  re- 
newed ;  but  it  became  gradually,  by  snccessive  changes,  an 
exclusive  hereditary  aristocracy,  and,  m  1319,  all  elective 
forms  were  abolished.  By  the  constitution  of  Venice  as  it 
was  then  settled,  every  descendant  of  a  member  of  the  Great 
Council,  on  attaining  twenty-five  years  of  age,  entered  as  of 
right  into  that  body,  which,  of  course,  became  unlimited  in 
its  numbers. 

But  an  assembly  so  numerous  as  the  Great  Council  could 
never  have  conducted  the  public  affairs  with  that  secrecy 
and  steadiness  which  were  characteristic  of  Venice;  and 
without  an  intermediary  power  between  the  doge  and  the 
patrician  multitude  the  constitution  would  have  gained  noth- 
ing in  stability  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of  popular  free- 
dom. The  executive  government  w^as  committed  to  a  Seri- 
ate, consisting  of  sixty  members,  in  which  the  doge  presided, 
and  to  which  the  care  of  the  state  in  all  domestic  and  for- 
eign relations,  and  the  previous  deliberation  upon  proposals 
submitted  to  the  Great  Council,  was  confided.  It  was  en- 
larged in  the  fourteenth  century  by  sixty  additional  mem- 
bers; and  as  a  great  part  of  the  magistrates  had  also  seats 
in  it,  the  whole  number  amounted  to  between  two  and  three 


210  GOVERNMENT  OF  VENICE.    Chap.  III.  Part  II 

hundred.  Though  the  legislative  power,  properly  speaking, 
remained  with  the  Great  Council,  the  Senate  \ised  to  impose 
taxes,  and  had  the  exclusive  right  of  making  peace  and  war. 
It  was  annually  renewed,  like  almost  all  other  councils  at  Ven- 
ice, by  the  Great  Council.  But  since  even  this  body  was  too 
numerous  for  the  preliminary  discussion  of  business,  six  coun- 
cillors, forming,  along  with  the  doge,  the  Seigniory^  or  visible 
representative  of  the  republic,  were  empowered  to  dispatch 
orders,  to  correspond  with  ambassadors,  to  treat  with  foreign 
states,  to  convoke  and  preside  in  the  councils,  and  perform 
other  duties  of  an  administration. 

It  might  be  imagined  that  a  dignity  so  shorn  of  its  lustre 
as  that  of  doge  would  not  excite  an  overweening  ambition. 
But  the  Venetians  were  still  jealous  of  extinguished  power  ; 
and  while  their  constitution  was  yet  immature  the  Great 
Council  planned  new  methods  of  restricting  their  chief  mag- 
istrate. An  oath  was  taken  by  tlie  doge  on  his  election,  so 
comprehensive  as  to  embrace  every  possible  check  upon  un- 
due influence.  He  was  bound  not  to  correspond  with  for- 
eign states,  or  to  open  their  letters,  except  in  the  presence  of 
the  seigniory ;  to  acquire  no  property  beyond  the  Venetian 
dominions,  and  to  resign  what  he  might  already  possess  ;  to 
interpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  no  judicial  process;  and 
not  to  permit  any  citizen  to  use  tokens  of  subjection  in  salut- 
ing him.  As  a  further  security,  they  devised  a  i-emarkably 
complicated  mode  of  supplying  the  vacancy  of  his  office.  As 
many  balls  as  there  were  members  of  the  Great  Council  pres- 
ent were  placed  in  an  urn.  Thirty  of  these  were  gilt.  The 
holders  of  gilt  balls  were  reduced  by  a  second  ballot  to  nine. 
The  nine  elected  forty,  whom  lot  reduced  to  twelve.  The 
twelve  chose  twenty -five  by  separate  nomination.  The 
twenty-five  were  reduced  by  lot  to  nine ;  and  each  of  the 
nine  chose  five.  These  forty-five  were  reduced  to  eleven,  as 
before;  the  eleven  elected  forty-one,  who  were  the  ultimate 
voters  for  a  doge.  This  intricacy  appears  useless,  and  con- 
sequently absurd  ;  but  the  original  principle  of  a  Venetian 
election  (for  something  of  the  same  kind  was  applied  to  all 
their  councils  and  magistrates)  may  not  always  be  unworthy 
of  imitation. 

An  hereditary  prince  could  never  have  remained  quiet  in 
such  trammels  as  were  imposed  upon  the  Doge  of  Venice. 
But  early  prejudice  aqcustoms  men  to  consider  restraint, 
even  upon  themselves,  as  advantageous  ;  and  the  limitation? 
of  ducal  power  appeared  to  every  Venetian  as  fundamental 
as  the  great  laws  of  the  English  constitution  do  to  oirselves. 


iiALT,  GOVERNMENT  OF  VENICE.  211 

For  life  the  chief  magistrates  of  their  country,  her  noble  citi- 
zens forever,  they  might  thank  her  in  their  own  name  for 
what  she  gave,  and  in  that  of  their  posterity  for  what  she 
withheld.  Once  only  a  doge  of  Venice  was  tempted  to  be- 
tray the  freedom  of  the  republic.  Marin  Falieri,  a  man  fai' 
advanced  in  life,  engaged,  for  some  petty  resentment,  in  a 
wild  intrigue  to  overturn  the  government.  The  conspiracy 
was  soon  discovered,  and  the  doge  avowed  his  guilt.  An 
aristocracy  so  firm  and  so  severe  did  not  hesitate  to  order 
his  execution  in  the  ducal  palace  (a.d.  1355). 

The  commonalty,  however,  did  not  quietly  acquiesce  in 
their  exclusion  from  the  Great  Council.  Several  commotions 
took  place  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
with  the  object  of  restoring  a  more  popular  regimen.  Upon 
the  suppression  of  the  last,  in  1310,  the  aristocracy  sacrificed 
their  own  individual  freedom  along  with  that  of  the  people, 
to  the  preservation  of  an  imaginary  privilege.  They  estab- 
lished the  famous  Council  of  Ten^  that  most  remarkable  part 
of  the  Venetian  constitution.  This  council,  it  should  be  ob- 
served, consisted  in  fact  of  seventeen,  comprising  the  seign- 
iory, or  the  doge  and  his  six  councillors,  as  well  as  the  ten 
properly  so  called.  The  Council  of  Ten  had  by  usage,  if  not 
by  right,  a  controlling  and  dictatorial  power  over  the  Senate 
and  other  magistrates,  rescinding  their  decisions,  and  treat- 
ing separately  with  foreign  princes.  Their  vast  influence 
strengthened  the  executive  government,  of  which  they  formed 
a  part,  and  gave  a  vigor  to  its  movements  which  the  jealousy 
of  the  councils  would  possibly  have  impeded.  But  they  are 
chiefly  known  as  an  arbitrary  and  inquisitorial  tribunal,  the 
standing  tyranny  of  Venice.  Excluding  the  old  council  of 
forty,  to  which  had  been  intrusted  the  exercise  of  crimi- 
nal justice,  not  only  from  the  investigation  of  treasonable 
charges,  but  of  several  other  crimes  of  magnitude,  they  in- 
quired, they  judged,  they  punished,  according  to  what  they 
called  reason  of  state.  The  public  eye  never  penetrated  the 
mystery  of  their  proceedings ;  the  accused  w^as  sometimes 
not  heard,  never  confronted  with  witnesses ;  the  condemna- 
tion was  secret  as  the  inquiry,  the  punishment  undivulged 
like  both.  The  terrible  and  odious  machinery  of  a  police, 
the  insidious  spy,  the  stipendiary  informer,  unknown  to  the 
carelessness  of  feudal  governments,  found  their  natural  soil 
in  the  republic  of  Venice.  Tumultuous  assemblies  were 
scarcely  possible  in  so  peculiar  a  city ;  and  private  conspira- 
cies never  failed  to  be  detected  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ten.     Compared  with  the  Tuscan  republics,  the  tran- 


212  GOVEKNMENT  OF  VENICE.    Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

quillity  of  Venice  is  truly  striking.  The  names  of  Guelf  and 
Ghibelin  hardly  raised  any  emotion  in  her  streets,  though 
the  Government  was  considered  in  the  first  part  of  the  four- 
teenth century  as  rather  inclined  towards  the  latter  party. 
But  the  wildest  excesses  of  faction  are  less  dishonoring  than 
the  stillness  and  moral  degradation  of  servitude. 

§  20.  Until  almost  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century 
Venice  had  been  content  without  any  territorial  possessions 
in  Italy ;  unless  we  reckon  a  very  narrow  strip  of  sea-coast, 
bordering  on  her  lagunes,  called  the  Dogato.  Neutral  in  the 
great  contests  between  the  Church  and  the  Empire,  between 
the  free  cities  and  their  sovereigns,  she  was  respected  by 
both  parties,  while  neither  ventured  to  claim  her  as  an  ally. 
But  the  rapid  progress  of  Mastino  della  Scala,  lord  of  Vero- 
na, with  some  particular  injuries,  led  the  Senate  to  form  a 
league  with  Florence  against  him.  The  result  of  this  com- 
bination was  to  annex  the  district  of  Treviso  to  the  Vene- 
tian dominions.  But  they  made  no  further  conquests  in 
that  age.  On  the  contrary,  they  lost  Treviso  in  the  unfor- 
tunate war  of  Chioggia,  and  did  not  regain  it  till  1389.  Nor 
did  they  seriously  attempt  to  withstand  the  progress  of  Gian 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  who,  after  overthrowing  the  family  of 
Scala,  stretched  almost  to  the  Adriatic,  and  altogether  sub- 
verted for  a  time  the  balance  of  power  in  Lombardy. 

But  upon  the  death  of  this  prince,  in  1404,  a  remarkable 
crisis  took  place  in  that  country.  He  left  two  sons,  Giovanni 
Maria  and  Filippo  Maria,  both  young,  and  under  the  care  of  a 
mother  who  was  little  fitted  for  her  situation.  Through  her 
misconduct  and  the  selfish  ambition  of  some  military  lead' 
ers,  who  had  commanded  Gian  Galeazzo's  mercenaries,  that 
extensive  dominion  was  soon  broken  into  fragments.  Ber- 
gamo, Como,  Lodi,  Cremona,  and  other  cities  revolted,  sub- 
mitting themselves  in  general  to  the  families  of  their  former 
princes,  the  earlier  race  of  usurpers,  who  had  for  nearly  a 
century  been  crushed  by  the  Visconti.  A  Guelf  faction  re- 
vived after  the  name  had  long  been  proscribed  in  Lombardy. 
Francesco  da  Carrara,  lord  of  Padua,  availed  himself  of  this 
revolution  to  get  possession  of  Verona,  and  seemed  likely  to 
unite  all  the  cities  beyond  the  Adige.  No  family  was  so 
odious  to  the  Venetians  as  that  of  Carrara.  Though  they 
had  seemed  indifferent  to  the  more  real  danger  in  Gian  Ga- 
leazzo's lifetime,  they  took  up  arms  against  this  inferior  en- 
emy. Both  Padua  and  Verona  were  reduced,  and,  the  Duke 
of  Milan  ceding  Vicenza,  the  republic  of  Venice  came  sud- 
denly into  the  possession  of  an  extensive  territory.     Fran- 


Italy.  WARS  OF  MILAN  AND  VENICE.  213 

cesco  da  Carrara,  who  had  surrendered  in  his  capital,  wa^J^ 
put  to  death  in  prison  at  Venice.  I 

Notwithstanding  the  deranged  condition  of  the  Milanese,  \ 
no  further  attempts  were  made  by  the  Senate  of  Venice  for 
twenty  years.  They  had  not  yet  acquired  that  decided  love 
of  war  and  conquest  which  soon  began  to  influence  them 
against  all  the  rules  of  their  ancient  policy.  Meantime  the 
dukes  of  Milan  had  recovered  a  great  part  of  their  dommions 
as  rapidly  as  they  had  lost  them.  Giovanni  Maria,  the  elder 
brother,  a  monster  of  guilt  even  among  the  Visconti,  having 
been  assassinated,  Filippo  Maria  assumed  the  government  of 
Milan  and  Pavia,  almost  his  only  possessions.  But  though 
weak  and  unwarlike  himself,  he  had  the  good-fortune  to  era- 
ploy  Carmagnola,  one  of  the  greatest  generals  of  that  mili- 
tary age.  Most  of  the  revolted  cities  were  tired  of  their 
new  masters,  and,  their  inclinations  conspiring  with  Carma- 
gnola's  eminent  talents  and  activity,  the  house  of  Visconti 
reassumed  its  former  ascendency  from  the  Sessia  to  the 
Adige.  Its  fortunes  might  have  been  still  more  prosperous 
if  Filippo  Maria  had  not  rashly  as  well  as  ungratefully  of- 
fended Carmagnola.  That  great  captain  retired  to  Venice, 
and  inflamed  a  disposition  towards  war  which  the  Floren- 
tines and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had  already  excited.  The  Ve- 
netians had  previously  gained  some  important  advantages  in 
another  quarter,  by  reducing  the  country  of  Friuli,  with  part 
of  Istria,  which  had  for  many  centuries  depended  on  the  tem- 
poral authority  of  a  neighboring  prelate,  the  patriarch  of 
Aquileia.  They  entered  into  this  new  alliance.  No  under- 
taking of  the  republic  had  been  more  successful.  Carma- 
gnola led  on  their  armies,  and  in  about  two  years  Venice  ac- 
quired Brescia  and  Bergamo,  and  extended  her  boundary  to 
the  river  Adda,  which  she  was  destined  never  to  pass  (a.d. 
1426). 

§  21.  Such  conquests  could  only  be  made  by  a  city  so  pe- 
culiarly maritime  as  Venice  through  the  help  of  mercenary 
troops.  But,  in  employing  them,  she  merely  conformed  to 
a  fashion  which  states  to  whom  it  was  less  indispensable  had 
long  since  established.  A  great  revolution  had  taken  place 
in  the  system  of  military  service  through  most  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, but  especially  in  Italy.  During  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries,  whether  the  Italian  cities  were  engaged  in 
their  contest  with  the  emperors  or  in  less  arduous  and  gen- 
eral hostilities  among  each  other,  they  seem  to  have  poured 
out  almost  their  whole  population  as  an  armed  and  loosely 
organized  militia.     This  militia  was  of  course  principally 


214  MILITARY  SYSTEM  OF  ITALY.    Chap.  III.  Part  1L 

composed  of  infantry.  Gentlemen,  however,  were  always 
mounted  ;  and  the  superiority  of  a  heavy  cavalry  must  have 
been  prodigiously  great  over  an  undisciplined  and  ill-armed 
populace.  In  the  thirteenth  and  following  centuries  armies 
seem  to  have  been  considered  as  formidable  nearly  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  men-at-arms  or  lancers.  A  charge 
of  cavalry  was  irresistible;  battles  were  continually  won  by 
inferior  numbers,  and  vast  slaughter  was  made  among  the 
fugitives. 

As  the  comparative  inefficiency  of  foot-soldiers  became 
evident,  a  greater  proportion  of  cavalry  was  employed,  and 
armies,  though  better  equipped  and  disciplined,  were  less 
numerous.  This  we  find  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  The  main  point  for  a  state  at  war  was  to  obtain  a 
sufficient  force  of  men-at-arms.  As  few  Italian  cities  could 
muster  a  large  body  of  cavalry  from  their  own  population, 
the  obvious  resource  was  to  hire  mercenary  troops.  Many 
soldiers  of  fortune  from  Germany,  France,  and  Hungary  en- 
gaged in  the  service  of  the  Italian  states.  Their  services 
were  anxiously  solicited  and  abundantly  repaid.  An  unfor- 
tunate prejudice  in  favor  of  strangers  prevailed  among  the 
Italians  of  that  age.  They  ceded  to  them,  one  knows  not 
why,  certainly  without  having  been  vanquished,  the  palm  of 
military  skill  and  valor.  The  word  Transalpine  (Oltramon- 
tani)  is  frequently  applied  to  hired  cavalry  by  the  two  Vil- 
lani  as  an  epithet  of  excellence. 

The  experience  of  every  fresh  campaign  now  told  more 
and  more  against  the  ordinary  militia.  It  has  been  usual 
for  modern  writers  to  lament  the  degeneracy  of  martial 
spirit  among  the  Italians  of  that  age.  But  the  contest  was 
too  unequal  betvveen  an  absolutely  invulnerable  body  of 
cuirassiers  and  an  infantry  of  peasants  or  citizens.  The  cav- 
alry had  about  this  time  laid  aside  the  hauberk,  or  coat  of 
mail,  their  ancient  distinction  from  the  unprotected  popu- 
lace ;  which,  though  incapable  of  being  cut  through  by  the 
sabre,  afforded  no  defense  against  the  pointed  sword  intro- 
duced in  the  thirteenth  century,  nor  repelled  the  impulse  of 
a  lance  or  the  crushing  blow  of  a  battle-axe.  Plate-armor 
was  substituted  in  its  place ;  and  the  man-at-arms,  cased 
in  entire  steel,  the  several  pieces  firmly  riveted,  and  proof 
against  every  stroke,  his  charger  protected  on  the  face,  chest, 
and  shoulders,  or,  as  it  was  called,  barded  with  plates  of 
steel,  fought  with  a  security  of  success  against  enemies  in- 
ferior perhaps  only  in  these  adventitious  sources  of  courage 
to  himself. 


Italy.  COMPANIES  OF  ADVENTURERS.  215 

§  22.  It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  stipendiary  troops, 
chiefly  composed  of  Germans,  would  conduct  themselves 
without  insolence  and  contempt  of  the  effeminacy  which 
courted  their  services.  Indifferent  to  the  cause  they  sup- 
ported, the  highest  pay  and  the  richest  plunder  were  their 
constant  motives.  As  Italy  was  generally  the  theatre  of 
war  in  some  of  her  numerous  states,  a  soldier  of  fortune, 
with  his  lance  and  charger  for  an  inheritance,  passed  from 
one  service  to  another  without  regret  and  without  discredit. 
But  if  peace  happened  to  be  pretty  universal,  he  might  be 
thrown  out  of  his  only  occupation,  and  reduced  to  a  very  in- 
ferior condition,  in  a  country  of  which  he  was  not  a  native. 
It  naturally  occurred  to  men  of  their  feelings,  that,  if  money 
and  honor  could  only  be  had  while  they  retained  their  arms, 
it  was  their  own  fault  if  they  ever  relinquished  them.  Upon 
this  principle  they  first  acted  in  1343,.  when  the  republic  of 
Pisa  disbanded  a  large  body  of  German  cavalry  which  had 
been  employed  in  the  war  with  Florence.  A  partisan,  whom 
the  Italians  call  the  Duke  Guarnieri,  engaged  these  dissatis- 
fied mercenaries  to  remain  united  under  his  command.  His 
plan  was  to  levy  contributions  on  all  coimtries  which  he  en- 
tered with  his  company,  without  aiming  at  any  conquests. 
This  was  the  first  of  the  companies  of  adventure,  which  con- 
tinued for  many  years  to  be  the  scourge  and  disgrace  of 
Italy.  Guarnieri,  after  some  time,  withdrew  his  troops,  sa- 
tiated with  plunder,  into  Germany ;  but  he  served  in  the  in- 
vasion of  Naples  by  Louis,  king  of  Hungary,  in  1348,  and, 
forming  a  new  company,  ravaged  the  ecclesiastical  state. 
A  still  more  formidable  band  of  disciplined  robbers  appeared 
in  1353,  under  the  command  of  Fra  Moriale,  and  afterwards 
of  Conrad  Lando.  This  was  denominated  the  Great  Com- 
pany, and  consisted  of  several  thousand  regular  troops,  be- 
sides a  multitude  of  half- armed  ruffians,  who  assisted  as 
spies,  pioneers,  and  plunderers.  The  rich  cities  of  Tuscany 
and  Romagna  paid  large  sums  that  the  Great  Company, 
which  was  perpetually  in  motion,  might  not  march  through 
their  territory. 

None  of  the  foreign  partisans  who  entered  into  the  serv- 
ice of  Italian  states  acquired  such  renown  in  that  career  as 
an  Englishman  whom  contemporary  writers  call  Aucud  or 
Agutus,  but  to  whom  we  may  restore  his  national  appella- 
tion of  Sir  John  Hawkwood.  This  very  eminent  man  had 
served  in  the  war  of  Edward  III.,  and  obtained  his  knight- 
hood from  that  sovereign,  though  originally,  if  we  may  trust 
common  fame,  bred  to  the  trade  of  a  tailor.    After  the  peace 


216  SIR  JOHN  HAWKWOOD.    Chap.  III.  Part  XL 

of  Bretigni,  France  was  ravaged  by  the  disbanded  troops, 
whose  devastations  Edward  was  accused,  perhaps  unjustly, 
of  secretly  instigating.  A  large  body  of  these,  under  the 
name  of  the  White  Company,  passed  into  the  service  of  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat.  They  were  some  time  afterwards 
employed  by  the  Pisans  against  Florence ;  and  during  this 
latter  war  Hawkwood  appears  as  their  commander.  For 
thirty  years  he  was  continually  engaged  in  the  service  of 
the  Visconti,  of  the  pope,  or  of  the  Florentines,  to  whom  he 
devoted  himself  for  the  latter  part  of  his  life  with  more  fidel- 
ity and  steadiness  than  he  had  shown  in  his  first  campaigns. 
The  republic  testified  her  gratitude  by  a  public  funeral,  and 
by  a  monument  in  the  Duomo,  which  still  perpetuates  his 
memory. 

The  name  of  Sir  John  Hawkwood  is  worthy  to  be  remem- 
bered as  that  of  the  first  distinguished  commander  who  had 
appeared  in  Europe  since  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire. It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  any  of  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  military  genius  which  nature  furnishes 
to  energetic  characters  were  wanting  to  the  leaders  of  a  bar- 
barian or  feudal  army  :  untroubled  perspicacity  in  confusion, 
firm  decision,  rapid  execution,  providence  against  attack, 
fertility  of  resource  and  stratagem — these  are  in  quality  as 
much  required  from  the  chief  of  an  Indian  tribe  as  from  the 
accomplished  commander.  But  we  do  not  find  them  in  any 
instance  so  consummated  by  habitual  skill  as  to  challenge 
the  name  of  generalship.  Hawkwood  appears  to  me  the 
first  real  general  of  modern  times — the  earliest  master,  how- 
ever imperfect,  in  the  science  of  Turenne  and  Wellington. 
Every  contemporary  Italian  historian  speaks  with  admira- 
tion of  his  skillful  tactics  in  battle,  his  stratagems,  his  well- 
conducted  retreats.  Praise  of  this  description  is  hardly  be- 
stowed, certainly  not  so  continually,  on  any  former  captain. 

Hawkwood  was  not  only  the  greatest  but  the  last  of  the 
foreign  condottieri,  or  captains  of  mercenary  bands.  While 
he  was  yet  living,  a  new  military  school  had  been  formed  in 
Italy,  which  not  only  superseded,  but  eclipsed,  all  the  stran- 
gers. This  important  reform  was  ascribed  to  Alberic  di 
Barbiano,  lord  of  some  petty  territories  near  Bologna.  He 
formed  a  company  altogether  of  Italians  about  the  year 
1379.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  natives  of  Italy  had  be- 
fore been  absolutely  excluded  from  service.  But  this  was 
the  first  trading  company,  if  I  may  borrow  the  analogy,  the 
first  regular  body  of  Italian  mercenaries,  attached  only  to 
their  commander  without  any  consideration  of  party,  like 


Italy.  FRANCESCO  SFORZA.  217 

the  Germans  and  English  of  Lando  and  Hawkwood.  Al- 
beric  di  Barbiano,  though  himself  no  doubt  a  man  of  mili- 
tary talents,  is  principally  distinguished  by  the  school  of 
great  generals  which  the  company  of  St.  George  under  his 
command  produced,  and  which  may  be  deduced,  by  regular 
succession,  to  the  sixteenth  century. 

Two  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  this  school 
were  Braccio  di  Montone,  a  noble  Perugian,  and  Sforza  At- 
tendolo,  originally  a  peasant  in  the  village  of  Cotignuola. 
Nearly  equal  in  reputation,  unless  perhaps  Braccio  may  be 
reckoned  the  more  consummate  general,  they  were  divided 
by  a  long  rivalry,  which  descended  to  the  next  generation, 
and  involved  all  the  distinguished  leaders  of  Italy.  The 
distractions  of  IN'aples,  and  the  anarchy  of  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  gave  scope  not  only  to  their  military  but  political  am- 
bition. Sforza  was  invested  with  extensive  fiefs  in  the  king- 
dom of  Naples,  and  with  the  office  of  Great  Constable. 
Braccio  aimed  at  independent  acquisitions,  and  formed  a 
sort  of  principality  around  Perugia.  This,  however,  was 
entirely  dissipated  at  his  death.  When  Sforza  and  Braccio 
were  no  more,  their  respective  parties  were  headed  by  the 
son  of  the  former,  Francesco  Sforza,  and  by  Nicolas  Picci- 
nino,  who  for  more  than  twenty  years  fought,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, under  opposite  banners.  Piccinino  was  constantly 
in  the  service  of  Milan.  Sforza  married  Bianca,  the  natural 
daughter  and  only  child  of  Filippo  Maria,  duke  of  Milan, 
and  last  of  his  family.  But  upon  the  death  of  Filippo  Maria 
in  1447,  the  citizens  of  Milan  revived  their  republican  gov- 
ernment. A  republic  in  that  part  of  Lombardy  might,  with 
the  help  of  Venice  and  Florence,  have  withstood  any  domes- 
tic or  foreign  usurpation.  But  Venice  was  hostile,  and  Flor- 
ence indifferent.  Sforza  became  the  general  of  this  new 
state,  aware  that  such  would  be  the  probable  means  of  be- 
coming its  master.  No  politician  of  that  age  scrupled  any 
breach  of  faith  for  his  interest.  Sforza,  with  his  army,  de- 
serted to  the  Venetians ;  and  the  republic  of  Milan,  being 
both  incapable  of  defending  itself  and  distracted  by  civil 
dissensions,  soon  fell  a  prey  to  his  ambition.  In  1450  he 
was  proclaimed  duke,  rather  by  right  of  election,  or  of  con- 
quest, than  in  virtue  of  his  marriage  with  Bianca,  whose 
sex,  as  well  as  illegitimacy,  seemed  to  preclude  her  from  in- 
heriting. 

§  23.  Whatever  evils  might  be  derived,  and  they  were 
not  trifling,  from  the  employment  of  foreign  or  native  mer- 
cenaries, it  was  impossible  to  discontinue  the  system  with- 

10 


218  DEFENSIVE  ARMS.  Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

out  general  consent ;  and  too  many  states  found  their  own 
advantage  in  it  for  such  an  agreement.  The  condottieri 
were,  indeed,  all  notorious  for  contempt  of  engagements. 
Theii'  rapacity  was  equal  to  their  bad  faith.  Besides  an 
enormous  pay,  for  every  private  cuirassier  received  much 
more  in  value  than  a  subaltern  officer  at  present,  they  ex- 
acted gratifications  for  every  success.  But  every  thing  was 
endured  by  ambitious  governments  who  wanted  their  aid.  • 
Florence  and  Venice  were  the  two  states  which  owed  most 
to  the  companies  of  adventure.  The  one  loved  war  without 
its  perils ;  the  other  could  never  have  obtained  an  inch  of 
territory  with  a  population  of  sailors.  But  they  were  both 
almost  inexhaustibly  rich  by  commercial  industry ;  and  as 
the  surest  pay-masters,  were  best  served  by  those  they  em- 
ployed. 

The  Italian  armies  of  the  fifteenth  century  have  been  re- 
marked for  one  striking  peculiarity.  War  has  never  been 
conducted  at  so  little  personal  hazard  to  the  soldier.  Com- 
bats frequently  occur,  in  the  annals  of  that  age,  wherein  suc- 
cess, though  warmly  contested,  cost  very  few  lives  even  to 
the  vanquished.  This  innocence  of  blood,  which  some  his- 
torians turn  into  ridicule,  was  no  doubt  owing  in  a  great  de- 
gree to  the  rapacity  of  the  companies  of  adventure,  who,  in 
expectation  of  enriching  themselves  by  the  ransom  of  prison- 
ers, were  anxious  to  save  their  lives.  But  it  was  rendered 
more  practicable  by  the  nature  of  their  arms.  For  once, 
and  for  once  only,  in  the  history  of  mankind,  the  art  of  de- 
fense had  outstripped  that  of  destruction.  In  a  charge  of 
lancers  many  fell,  unhorsed  by  the  shock,  and  might  be  suf- 
focated or  bruised  to  death  by  the  pressure  of  their  own  ar- 
mor; but  the  lance's  point  could  not  penetrate  the  breast- 
plate, the  sword  fell  harmless  on  the  helmet,  the  conqueror, 
in  the  first  impulse  of  passion,  could  not  assail  any  vital  part 
of  a  prostrate  but  not  exposed  enemy.  Still  less  was  to  be 
dreaded  from  the  archers  or  cross-bowmen,  who  composed  a 
large  part  of  the  infantry.  The  bow  indeed,  as  drawn  by  an 
English  foot-soldier,  was  the  most  formidable  of  arms  before 
the  invention  of  gunpowder.  It  was  a  peculiarly  English 
weapon,  and  none  of  the  other  principal  nations  adopted 
it  so  generally  or  so  successfully.  The  cross-bow,  which 
brought  the  strong  and  w^eak  to  a  level,  was  more  in  favor 
upon  the  Continent.  But  both  the  arrow  and  the  quarrel 
glanced  away  from  piate-armor,  such  as  it  became  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  impervious  in  every  point,  except  when  the 
vizor  was  raised  from  the  face,  or  some  part  of  the  body  ac- 


Italy.  INVENTION  OF  GUNPOWDER.  219 

cidentally  exposed.     The  horse,  indeed,  /vras  less  completely 
protected. 

Meanwhile  a  discovery  accidentally  made  had  prepared 
the  way  not  only  for  a  change  in  her  military  system,  but 
for  political  eifects  still  more  extensive.  There  seems  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  gunpowder  was  introduced  through  the 
means  of  the  Saracens  into  Europe.  Its  use  in  engines  of 
war,  though  they  may  seem  to  have  been  rather  like  our 
fire-works  than  artillery,  is  mentioned  by  an  Arabic  writer  in 
the  Escurial  collection  about  the  year  1249.  It  was  known 
not  long  afterwards  to  our  philosopher  Roger  Bacon,  though 
he  concealed,  iu  some  degree,  the  secret  of  its  composition. 
In  the  first  part  of  the  fourteenth,  century,  cannon,  or  rather 
mortars,  were  invented,  and  the  applicability  of  gunpowder 
to  purposes  of  war  was  understood.  Edward  III.  employed 
some  pieces  of  artillery  with  considerable  efiect  at  Crecy. 
But  its  use  was  still  not  very  frequent;  a  circumstance 
which  will  surprise  us  less  when  we  consider  the  unscientific 
construction  of  artillery ;  the  slowness  with  which  it  could 
be  loaded;  its  stone  balls,  of  uncertain  aim  and  imperfect 
force,  being  commonly  fired  at  a  considerable  elevation ;  and 
especially  the  difficulty  of  removing  it  from  place  to  place 
during  an  action.  In  sieges  and  in  naval  engagements,  as 
for  example,  in  the  war  of  Chioggia,  it  was  more  frequently 
employed.  Gradually,  however,  the  new  artifice  of  evil 
gained  ground.  The  French  made  the  principal  improve- 
ments. They  cast  theh-  cannon  smaller,  placed  them  on 
lighter  carriages,  and  used  balls  of  iron.  They  invented  port- 
able arms  for  a  single  soldier,  which,  though  clumsy  in  com- 
parison with  their  present  state,  gave  an  augury  of  a  prodig- 
ious revolution  in  the  military  art.  John,  duke  of  Burgun- 
dy, in  1411,  had  4000  hand-cannons,  as  they  were  called,  in 
his  army.  They  are  found,  under  different  names  and  modi- 
fications of  form,  in  most  of  the  wars  that  historians  of  the 
fifteenth  century  record,  but  less  in  Italy  than  beyond  the 
Alps.  The  Milanese,  in  1449,  are  said  to  have  armed  their 
militia  with  20,000  muskets,  which  struck  terror  into  the 
old  generals.  But  these  muskets,  supported  on  a  rest,  nnd 
charged  with  great  delay,  did  less  execution  than  our  san- 
guinary science  would  require;  and,  uncombined  Avith  the 
admirable  invention  of  the  bayonet,  could  not  in  any  degree 
resist  a  charge  of  cavalry.  The  pike  had  a  greater  tenden- 
cy to  subvert  the  military  system  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
to  demonstrate  the  efficiency. of  disciplined  infantry.  Two 
free  nations  liad  already  discomfited,  by  the  help  of  such  in- 


220 


KINGS  OF  NAPLES. 


Chap.  III.  Part  II. 


fantry,  those  arrogant  knights  on  whom  the  fate  of  battles 
had  depended — the  Bohemians,  instructed  in  the  art  of  war 
by  their  great  master,  John  Zisca  ;  and  the  Swiss,  who,  after 
winning  their  independence  inch  by  inch  from  the  house  of 
Austria,  had  lately  established  their  renown  by  a  splendid 
victory  over  Charles  of  Burgundy.  Louis  XL  took  a  body 
of  mercenaries  from  the  United  Cantons  into  pay.  Maximil- 
ian had  recourse  to  the  same  assistance.  And  though  the 
importance  of  infantry  was  not,  perhaps,  decidedly  establish- 
ed till  the  Milanese  wars  of  Louis  XII.  and  Francis  L,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  yet  the  last  years  of  the  Middle  Ages,  ac- 
cording to  our  division,  indicated  the  commencement  of  that 
military  revolution  in  the  general  employment  of  pikemen 
and  musketeers. 

§  24.  I  have  not  alluded  for  some  time  to  the  domestic 
history  of  a  kingdom  which  bore  a  considerable  part,  during 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  in  the  general  combi- 

KINGS  OF  NAPLES  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  ANJOU. 

Chaeles  I.  of  Anjou,  eon  of  Louis  VIII.,  king  of  France,  and  brother  of 

Loais  IX.,  king  of  France,  becomes  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily, 

A.1).  1265.    Loses  Sicily  1283,  d.  1285. 

Chableb  IL, 
"  m.  daughter  of  King  of  Hangary, 

1286-1305. 


Charles  Martel, 

king  of  Hangary, 

d.  1296. 

Carobert, 

king  of 
Hungary, 

d.  1342. 

I 


ROBEET, 

1305-1343. 

1 


John, 
duke  of  Durazzo. 

I 


Louis,         Andrew, 
king  of     m.  Joanna  I. 
Hungary       strangled 
1346. 


Charles, 

duke  of 

Calabria, 

d.  1328. 

Joanna  I., 
m.  Andrew  of 
Hungary 
and  other 
husbands, 
1343-1378. 


Charles, 
duke  of 
Durazzo. 

Margaret, 

m.  Charles  III. 

king  of 

Naples. 


Louis. 

Chaeles  III., 

king 

13S2-13S6, 

m.  Margaret 

of  Durazzo. 


Ladislaus,        Joanna  II., 
king  of  Naples,      1414-1435. 
1386-1414. 

nations  of  Italian  policy,  not  wishing  to  interrupt  the  read- 
er's attention  by  too  frequent  transitions.  We  must  return 
again  to  a  more  remote  age  in  order  to  take  up  the  history 
of  Naples.  Charles  of  Anjou,  after  the  deaths  of  Manfred 
and  Conradin  had  left  him  without  a  competitor,  might  be 
ranked  in  the  first  class  of  European  sovereigns.  (See  p. 
180.)  Master  of  Provence  and  Naples,  and  at  the  head  of 
the  Guelf  faction  in  Italy,  he  had  already  prepared  a  formi- 
dable attack  on  the  Greek  empire,  when  a  memorable  revo- 


Italy.  KINGS  OF  SICILY.  221 

lution  in  Sicily  brought  humiliation  on  his  latter  years. 
John  of  Procida,  a  Neapolitan,  whose  patrimony  had  been 
confiscated  for  his  adherence  to  the  party  of  Manfred,  retain- 
ed, during  long  years  of  exile,  an  implacable  resentment 
against  the  house  of  Anjou.  From  the  dominions  of  Peter 
III.,  king  of  Aragon,  who  had  bestowed  estates  upon  him  in 
Valencia,  he  kept  his  eye  continually  fixed  on  Naples  and 
Sicily.  The  former  held  out  no  favorable  prospects;  the 
Ghibelin  party  had  been  entirely  subdued,  and  the  principal 
barons  were  of  French  extraction  or  inclinations.  But  the 
island  was  in  a  very  different  state.  Unused  to  any  strong 
government,  it  was  now  treated  as  a  conquered  country. 
A  large  body  of  French  soldiers  garrisoned  the  fortified 
towns,  and  the  systematic  oppression  was  aggravated  by 
those  insults  upon  the  honor  of  families  which  are  most  in- 
tolerable to  an  Italian  temperament.  John  of  Procida,  trav- 
elling in  disguise  through  the  island,  animated  the  barons 

KINGS  OF  SICILY  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  ARAGON. 

1.  Pkter  III.  (king  of  Aragon),  m.  Constance,  daughter  of  Conradin  of  Suabii 

[see  p.  180],  and  becomes  king  of  Sicily  after  the  Sicilian  Vespers, 

A.i>.  1283,  d.  1285. 


Alfonso  III., 

James  IL, 

Frederick  L, 

king  of  Aragon. 

king  of  Aragon 

elected  king  of 

and  king  of  Sicily, 

Sicily, 

abdicates  in  favor  of 

1296-1336. 

Charles  II.,  king  of 

1 

Naples,  1295. 

Peteb  IL, 

king  of  Sicily, 

1336-1342. 

1 

Louis, 

Frederick  [L, 

king  of  Sicily, 

king  of  Sicily, 

1342-1356. 

1355-13TT. 

Maria, 
queen  of  Sicily, 

137T-1402, 

m.  Martin,  princ* 

of  Aragon. 

with  a  hope  of  deliverance.  In  like  disguise  he  repaired  to 
the  pope,  Nicholas  III.,  who  was  jealous  of  the  new  Neapoh 
itan  dynasty,  and  obtained  his  sanction  to  the  projected  in^ 
surrection ;  to  the  Court  of  Constantinople,  from  which  he 
readily  obtained  money ;  and  to  the  King  of  Aragon,  who 
employed  that  money  in  fitting  out  an  armament,  that  hov- 
ered upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  under  pretext  of  attacking  the 
Moors.  It  is,  however,  difficult  at  this  time  to  distinguish 
the  effects  of  preconcerted  conspiracy  from  those  of  casual 
resentment.     Before  the  intrigues   so   skillfully   conducted 


222      WAR  BETWEEN  FllANCE  AND  AKAGON.    Ch.  III.  Ft.  II. 

had  taken  effect,  yet  after  they  were  ripe  for  development, 
an  outrage  committed  upon  a  lady  at  Palermo,  during  a  pro- 
cession on  the  vigil  of  Easter,  provoked  the  people  to  that 
terrible  massacre  of  all  the  French  in  their  island  which  lias 
obtained  tlie  name  of  Sicilian  Vespers.  Unpremeditated  as 
such  an  ebullition  of  popular  fury  must  appear,  it  fell  in,  by 
the  happiest  coincidence,  with  the  previous  conspiracy.  The 
King  of  Aragon's  fleet  was  at  hand ;  the  Sicilians  soon  called 
in  his  assistance ;  he  sailed  to  Palermo,  and  accepted  the 
crown  (a.d,  1283). 

§  25.  The  long  war  that  ensued  upon  this  revolution  in- 
volved or  interested  the  greater  part  of  civilized  Europe. 
Philip  III.  of  France  adhered  to  his  uncle,  and  the  King  of 
Ara^on  was  compelled  to  fight  for  Sicily  within  his  native 
dominions.  This,  indeed,  was  the  more  vulnerable  point  of 
attack.  Upon  the  sea  he  was  lord  of  the  ascendant.  His 
Catalans,  the  most  intrepid  of  Mediterranean  sailors,  were 
led  to  victory  by  a  Calabrian  refugee,  Roger  di  Loria,  the 
most  illustrious  and  successful  admiral  whom  Europe  pro- 
duced till  the  age  of  Blake  and  De  Ruyter.  In  one  of  Lo- 
ria's  battles  the  eldest  son  of  the  King  of  liaples  Avas  made 
prisoner,  and  the  first  years  of  his  own  reign  were  spent  in 
confinement.  But  notwithstanding  these  advantages,  it  was 
found  impracticable  for  Aragon  to  contend  against  the  arms 
of  France,  and  latterly  of  Castile,  sustained  by  the  rolling 
thunders  of  the  Vatican.  Peter  III.  had  bequeathed  Sicily 
to  his  second  son,  James  ;  Alfonso,  the  eldest,  king  of  Ara- 
gon, could  not  fairly  be  expected  to  ruin  his  inheritance  for 
his  brother's  cause  ;  nor  were  the  barons  of  that  free  coun- 
try disposed  to  carry  on  a  war  without  national  objects.  He 
made  peace,  accordingly,  in  1295,  and  engaged  to  withdraw 
all  his  subjects  from  the  Sicilian  service.  Upon  his  own 
death,  which  followed  very  soon,  James  succeeded  to  the 
kingdom  of  Aragon,  and  ratified  the  renunciation  of  Sicily. 
But  the  natives  of  that  island  had  received  too  deeply  the 
spirit  of  independence  to  be  thus  assigned  over  by  the  letter 
of  a  treaty.  After  solemnly  abjuring,  by  their  ambassadors, 
their  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Aragon,  they  placed  the  crown 
upon  the  head  of  his  brother,  Frexierick.  They  maintained 
the  war  against  Charles  11.  of  Naples,  against  James  of  Ara- 
gon, their  former  king,  who  had  bound  himself  to  enforce 
their  submission,  and  even  against  the  great  Roger  di  Loria, 
Avho,  upon  some  discontent  with  Frederick,  deserted  their 
banner,  and  entered  into  the  Neapolitan  service.  Peace  was 
at  length  made  in  1300,  upon  condition  that  Frederick  should 


Italy.  l.OBERT. ^JOANNA.  223 

retain  during  his  life  the  kingdom,  which  was  afterwards  to 
revert  to  the  crown  of  Naples :  a  condition  not  likely  to  be 
fulfilled. 

Upon  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  king  of  Naples,  in  1305,  a 
question  arose  as  to  the  succession.  His  eldest  son,  Charles 
Martel,  had  been  called  by  maternal  inheritance  to  the  throne 
of  Hungary,  and  had  left  at  his  decease  a  son,  Carobert,  the 
reigning  sovereign  of  that  country.  According  to  the  laws 
of  representative  succession,  which  were  at  this  time  tolera- 
bly settled  in  private  inheritance,  the  crown  of  Naples  ought 
to  have  regularly  devolved  upon  that  prince.  But  it  was 
contested  by  his  uncle,  Robert,  the  eldest  living  son  of 
Charles  II.,  and  the  cause  was  pleaded  by  civilians  at  Avig- 
non before  Pope  Clement  V.,the  feudal  superior  of  the  Nea- 
politan kingdom.  Reasons  of  public  utility,  rather  than  of 
legal  analogy,  seems  to  have  prevailed  in  the  decision  which 
was  made  in  favor  of  Robert.  The  course  of  his  reign 
evinced  the  wisdom  of  this  determination.  Robert,  a  wise 
and  active,  though  not  personally  a  martial  prince,  main- 
tained the  ascendency  of  the  Guelf  faction,  and  the  papal 
influence  connected  with  it,  against  the  formidable  combina- 
tion of  Ghibelin  usurpers  in  Lombardy,  and  the  two  emper- 
ors Henry  VII,  and  Louis  of  Bavaria.  No  male  issue  sur- 
vived Robert,  whose  crown  descended  to  his  granddaughter 
JoANXA.  She  had  been  espoused,  while  a  child,  to  her  cous- 
in Andrew,  son  of  Carobert,  king  of  Hungary,  who  was  edu- 
cated with  her  in  the  court  of  Naples.  Auspiciously  con- 
trived as  this  union  might  seem  to  silence  a  subsisting  claim 
upon  the  kingdom,  it  proved  eventually  the  source  of  civil 
war  and  calamity  for  150  years.  Andrew's  manners  were 
barbarous,  more  worthy  of  his  native  country  than  of  that 
polished  court  wherein  he  had  been  bred.  He  gave  himSelf 
up  to  the  society  of  Hungarians,  who  taught  him  to  believe 
that  a  matrimonial  crown  and  derivative  royalty  were  derog- 
atory to  a  prince  who  claimed  by  a  paramount  hereditary 
right.  In  fact,  he  was  pressing  the  Court  of  Avignon  to  per- 
mit his  own  coronation,  which  would  have  placed  in  a  very 
hazardous  condition  the  rights  of  the  queen,  with  whom  he 
was  living  on  ill  terms,  when  one  night  he  was  seized,  stran- 
gled, and  thrown  out  of  a  window.  Public  rumor,  in  the 
absence  of  notorious  proof,  imputed  the  guilt  of  this  myste- 
rious assassination  to  Joanna.  Whether  historians  are  au- 
thorized to  assume  her  participation  in  it  so  confidently  as 
they  have  generally  done,  may  perhaps  be  doubted  ;  but  the 
circumstances  of  Andrew's  death  were  undoubtedly  preg- 


224  HOUSE  OF  ANJOU.  Chap.  III.  PAiix  II. 

nant  with  strong  suspicion.  Louis,  king  of  Hungary,  his 
brother,  a  just  and  stern  prince,  invaded  Naples,  partly  as  an 
avenger,  partly  as  a  conqueror.  The  queen  and  her  second 
husband,  Louis  of  Tarento,  fled  to  Provence,  where  her  ac- 
quittal, after  a  solemn,  if  not  an  impartial,  investigation,  was 
pronounced  by  Clement  VL  Louis,  meanwhile,  found  it 
more  difficult  to  retain  than  to  acquire  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples ;  his  own  dominion  required  his  presence ;  and  Joanna 
soon  recovered  her  crown.  She  reigned  for  thirty  years 
more  without  the  attack  of  any  enemy,  but  not  intermed- 
dling, like  her  progenitors,  in  the  general  concerns  of  Italy. 
Childless  by  four  husbands,  the  succession  of  Joanna  began 
to  excite  ambitious  speculations.  Of  all  the  male  descend- 
ants of  Charles  L  none  remained  but  the  King  of  Hungary, 
and  Charles,  duke  of  Durazzo,  who  had  married  the  queen's 
niece,  and  was  regarded  by  her  as  the  presumptive  heir  to 
the  crown.  But,  offended  by  her  marriage  with  Otho  of 
Brunswick,  he  procured  the  assistance  of  a  Hungarian  army 
to  invade  the  kingdom,  and,  getting  the  queen  into  his  pow- 
er, took  possession  of  the  throne.  In  this  enterprise  he  was 
seconded  by  Urban  VL,  against  whom  Joanna  had  unfortu- 
nately declared  in  the  great  schism  of  the  Church.  She  was 
smothered  with  a  pillow,  in  prison,  by  the  order  of  Charles. 

TITULAR  KINGS  OF  NAPLES  OF  THE  SECOND  HOUSE  OF  ANJOU. 

Louis  I.,  duke  of  Anjou,  son  of  John,  king  of  France, 

and  uncle  of  Charles  VI.,  king  of  France,  was  adopted  by  Joanna  I.  aa 

king  of  Naples,  d.  1384. 

Lotris  IT., 

titular  king  of  Naples, 

1384-1417. 

I 

Louis  m.,  Regniee, 

titular  king  of  Naples,  titular  king  of  Naples, 

1417-1434.  1484-1480. 

§  26.  In  the  extremity  of  Joanna's  distress  she  had  sought 
assistance  from  a  quarter  too  remote  to  afford  it  in  time  for 
her  relief  She  adopted  Louis,  duke  of  Anjou,  eldest  uncle 
of  the  young  king  of  France,  Charles  VL,  as  her  heir  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  and  county  of  Provence.  This  bequest 
took  effect  without  difficulty  in  the  latter  country.  Naples 
was  entirely  in  the  possession  of  Charles  of  Durazzo.  Louis, 
however,  entered  Italy  with  a  very  large  army,  consisting  at 
least  of  30,000  cavalry,  and,  according  to  some  writers,  more 
than  double  that  number.  He  was  joined  by  many  Nea- 
politan barons  attached  to  the  late  queen.  But,  by  a  fate 
not  unusual  in  so  imperfect  a  state  of  military  science,  their 


Italy.  LADISLAUS.  225 

armament  produced  no  adequate  effect,  and  mouldered  away 
through  disease  and  want  of  provisions.  Louis  himself  dy- 
ing not  long  afterwards,  the  government  of  Charles  III.  ap- 
peared secure,  and  he  was  tempted  to  accept  an  offer  of  the 
crown  of  Hungary.  This  enterprise,  equally  unjust  and  in- 
judicious, terminated  in  his  assassination.  Ladislaus,  his 
son,  a  child  ten  years  old,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Naples, 
under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  Margaret,  whose  ex- 
actions of  money  producing  discontent,  the  party  which  had 
supported  the  late  Duke  of  Anjou  became  powerful  enough 
to  call  in  his  son.  Louis  IL,  as  he  w^as  called,  reigned  at 
Naples,  and  possessed  most  part  of  the  kingdom,  for  several 
years  ;  the  young  king  Ladislaus,  who  retained  some  of  the 
northern  provinces,  fixing  his  residence  at  Gaeta.  If  Louis 
had  prosecuted  the  war  with  activity,  it  seems  probable  that 
he  would  have  subdued  his  adversary.  But  his  character 
was  not  very  energetic ;  and  Ladislaus,  as  he  advanced  to 
manhood,  displaying  much  superior  qualities,  gained  ground 
by  degrees,  till  the  Angevin  barons,  perceiving  the  turn  of 
the  tide,  came  over  to  his  banner,  and  he  recovered  his  whole 
dominions. 

The  kingdom  of  Naples,  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, was  still  altogether  a  feudal  government.  This  had 
been  introduced  by  the  first  Norman  kings,  and  the  system 
had  rather  been  strengthened  than  impaired  under  the  An- 
gevin line.  The  princes  of  the  blood,  Avho  were  at  one  time 
numerous,  obtained  extensive  domains  by  way  of  appan- 
age. The  principality  of  Tarento  was  a  large  portion  of  the 
kingdom.  The  rest  was  occupied  by  some  great  families, 
whose  strength,  as  well  as  pride,  was  shown  in  the  number 
of  men-at-arms  whom  they  could  muster  under  their  banner. 
At  the  coronation  of  Louis  IL,  the  Sanseverini  appeared  with 
1800  cavalry  completely  equipped.  This  illustrious  house, 
which  had  filled  all  the  high  offices  of  state,  and  changed 
kings  at  its  pleasure,  was  crushed  by  Ladislaus,  whose  bold 
and  unrelenting  spirit  well  fitted  him  to  bruise  the  heads  of 
the  aristocratic  hydra.  After  thoroughly  establishing  his 
government  at  home,  this  ambitious  monarch  directed  his 
pow^erful  resources  tow^ards  foreign  conquests.  The  ecclesi- 
astical territories  had  never  been  secure  from  rebellion  or 
usurpation  ;  but  legitimate  sovereigns  had  hitherto  respect- 
ed the  patrimony  of  the  head  of  the  Church.  It  was  reserved 
for  Ladislaus,  a  feudal  vassal  of  the  Holy  See,  to  seize  upon 
Rome  itself  as  his  spoil.  For  several  years,  while  the  disor- 
dered state  of  the  Church,  in  consequence  of  the  schism  and 

10* 


226  JOANNA  II.  Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

the  means  taken  to  extinguish  it,  gave  nim  an  oppoi-tmiity, 
the  King  of  Naples  occupied  great  part  of  the  papal  territo- 
lies.  He  was  disposed  to  have  carried  his  arms  farther  north, 
and  attacked  the  republic  of  Florence,  if  not  the  states  of 
Lombardy,  when  his  death  relieved  Italy  from  the  danger  of 
this  new  tyranny. 

§  27.  An  elder  sister,  Joanna  II.,  reigned  at  Naples  after 
Ladislaus.  Under  this  queen,  destitute  of  courage  and  im- 
derstanding,  and  the  slave  of  appetites  which  her  age  ren- 
dered doubly  disgraceful,  the  kingdom  relapsed  into  that 
state  of  anarchy  from  which  its  late  sovereign  had  rescued 
it.  She  adopted  first,  as  her  heir  and  successor,  Alfonso,  king 
of  Aragon  and  Sicily,  but  subsequently  revoked  her  adoption, 
and  substituted  in  his  room  another,  Louis  of  Anjou,  third 
in  descent  of  that  unsuccessful  dynasty.  Upon  his  death, 
the  queen,  who  did  not  long  survive  him,  settled  the  king- 
dom on  his  brother  Regnier.  The  Neapolitans  were  gener- 
ally disposed  to  execute  this  bequest.  But  Regnier  was  un- 
luckily at  that  time  a  prisoner  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy ; 
and  though  his  wife  maintained  the  cause  with  great  spirit, 
it  was  difficult  for  her,  or  even  for  himself,  to  contend  against 
the  King  of  Aragon,  who  immediately  laid  claim  to  the  king- 
dom. After  a  contest  of  several  years,  Regnier,  having  ex- 
perienced the  treacherous  and  selfish  abandonment  of  his 
friends,  yielded  the  game  to  his  adversary;  and  Alfonso 
founded  the  Aragonese  line  of  sovereigns  at  Naples,  deriv^ 
ing  pretensions  more  splendid  than  just  from  Manfred,  from 
the  house  of  Suabia,  and  from  Roger  Guiscard. 

§  28.  Sicily,  after  the  reign  of  its  deliverer,  Frederick  I., 
had  unfortunately  devolved  upon  weak  or  infant  princes. 
The  marriage  of  Maria,  queen  of  Sicily,  with  Martin,  son  of 
the  King  of  Aragon,  put  an  end  to  the  national  independence 
of  her  country.  (See  Genealogical  Table,  p.  221.)  Dying 
without  issue,  she  left  the  crown  to  her  husband.  This  was 
consonant,  perhaps,  to  the  received  law  of  some  European 
kingdoms.  But,  upon  the  death  of  Martin,  in  1409,  his  fa- 
ther, also  named  Martin,  king  of  Aragon,  took  possession  as 
heir  to  his  son,  without  any  election  by  the  Sicilian  Parlia- 
ment. Thus  was  Sicily  united  to  the  crown  of  Aragon.  Al- 
fonso now  enjoyed  the  three  crowns  of  Aragon,  Sicily,  and 
Naples. 

In  the  first  year  of  Alfonso's  Neapolitan  war,  he  was  de- 
feated and  takea  prisoner  by  a  fleet  of  the  Genoese,  who,  as 
constant  enemies  of  the  Catalans  in  all  the  naval  warfare  of 
the  Mediterranean,  had  willingly  lent  their  aid  to  the  Ange- 


Italy.  ALFONSO.  227 

vin  party.  Genoa  was  at  this  time  subject  to  Filippo  Maria, 
duke  of  Milan,  and  her  royal  captive  was  transmitted  to  his 
court.  But  here  the  brilliant  graces  of  Alfonso's  character 
won  over  his  conqueror,  who  had  no  reason  to  consider  the 
war  as  his  own  concern.  The  king  persuaded  him,  on  the 
contrary,  that  a  strict  alliance  with  an  Aragonese  dynasty 
in  Naples  against  the  pretensions  of  any  French  claimant 
would  be  the  true  policy  and  best  security  of  Milan.  That 
city,  which  he  had  entered  as  a  prisoner,  he  left  as  a  friend 
and  ally.  From  this  time  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  and  Al- 
fonso were  firmly  united  in  their  Italian  politics,  and  formed 
one  weight  of  the  balance  which  the  republics  of  Venice  and 
Florence  kept  in  equipoise.  After  the  succession  of  Slbrza 
to  the  duchy  of  Milan  the  same  alliance  was  generally  pre- 
served. Sforza  had  still  more  powerful  reasons  than  his  pred- 
ecessors for  excludmg  the  French  from  Italy,  his  own  title 
being  contested  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  derived  a  claim 
from  his  mother  Valentine,  a  daughter  of  Gian  Galeazzo  Vis- 
conti. But  the  two  republics  were  no  longer  disposed  to- 
wards war.  Florence  had  spent  a  great  deal  without  any 
advantage  in  her  contest  with  Filippo  Maria ;  and  the  new 
duke  of  Milan  had  been  the  constant  personal  friend  of  Cos- 
mo de'  Medici,  who  altogether  influenced  that  republic.  At 
Venice,  indeed,  he  had  been  at  first  regarded  with  very  differ- 
ent sentiments  ;  the  Senate  had  prolonged  their  war  against 
Milan  with  redoubled  animosity  after  his  elevation,  deeming 
him  a  not  less  ambitious  and  more  formidable  neighbor  than 
the  Visconti.  But  they  were  deceived  in  the  character  of 
Sforza.  Conscious  that  he  had  reached  an  eminence  beyond 
his  early  hopes,  he  had  no  care  but  to  secure  for  his  family 
the  possession  of  Milan,  without  disturbing  the  balance  of 
Lombardy.  Venice  had  little  reason  to  expect  further  con- 
quests in  Lombardy ;  and  if  her  ambition  had  inspired  the 
hope  of  them,  she  was  summoned  by  a  stronger  call,  that  of 
self-preservation,  to  defend  her  numerous  and  dispersed  pos- 
sessions in  the  Levant  against  the  arms  of  Mohammed  II. 
All  Italy,  indeed,  felt  the  peril  that  impended  from  that  side ; 
and  these  various  motions  occasioned  a  quadruple  league  in 
1455,  between  the  King  of  Naples,  the  Duke  of  Milan,  and 
the  two  republics,  for  the  preservation  of  peace  in  Italy. 
One  object  of  this  alliance,  and  the  prevailing  object  with 
Alfonso,  was  the  implied  guaranty  of  his  succession  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  to  his  illegitimate  son  Ferdinand.  He 
had  no  lawful  issue  ;  and  there  seemed  no  reason  why  an  ac- 
quisition of  his  own  valor  should  pass  against  his  will  to  col- 


228  ALFONSO.  Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

lateral  heirs.  The  pope,  as  feudal  superior  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  Neapolitan  Parliament,  the  sole  competent  tribunal, 
confirmed  the  inheritance  of  Ferdinand. 

Alfonso,  surnamed  the  Magnanimous,  was  by  far  the  most 
accomplished  sovereign  whom  the  fifteenth  century  produced. 
The  virtues  of  chivalry  were  combined  in  him  with  the  pa- 
tronage of  letters,  and  with  move  than  their  patronage,  a 
real  enthusiasm  for  learning,  seldom  found  in  a  king,  and  es- 
pecially in  one  so  active  and  ambitious.  This  devotion  to 
literature  was,  among  the  Italians  of  that  age,  almost  as  sure 
a  passport  to  general  admiration  as  his  more  chivalrous  per- 
fection. Magnificence  in  architecture  and  the  pageantry  of 
a  splendid  court  gave  fresh  lustre  to  his  reign.  The  Nea- 
politans perceived  with  grateful  pride  that  he  lived  almost 
entirely  among  them,  in  preference  to  his  patrimonial  king- 
dom, and  forgave  the  heavy  taxes  which  faults  nearly  allied 
to  his  virtues,  profuseness  and  ambition,  compelled  him  to 
impose.  But  they  remarked  a  very  different  character  in 
his  son.  Ferdinand  was  as  dark  and  vindictive  as  his  father 
was  affable  and  generous.  The  barons,  who  had  many  op- 
portunities of  ascertaining  his  disposition,  began,  immediate- 
ly upon  Alfonso's  death,  to  cabal  against  his  succession,  turn- 
ing their  eyes  first  to  the  legitimate  branch  of  the  family, 
and,  on  finding  that  prospect  not  favorable,  to  John,  titular 
duke  of  Calabria,  son  of  Regnier  of  Anjou,  who  survived 
to  protest  against  the  revolution  that  had  dethroned  him. 
John  was  easily  prevailed  upon  to  undertake  an  invasion  of 
Naples,  but  he  underwent  the  fate  that  had  always  attended 
his  family  in  their  long  competition  for  that  throne.  After 
some  brilliant  successes,  his  want  of  resources,  aggravated 
by  the  defection  of  Genoa,  on  whose  ancient  enmity  to  the 
house  of  Aragon  he  had  relied,  was  perceived  by  the  barons 
of  his  party,  who,  according  to  the  practice  of  their  ances- 
tors, returned  one  by  one  to  the  allegiance  of  Ferdinand. 

§  29.  The  peace  of  Italy  was  little  disturbed,  except  by  a 
few  domestic  revolutions,  for  several  years  after  this  Nea- 
politan war.  Even  the  most  short-sighted  politicians  were 
sometimes  withdrawn  from  selfish  objects  by  the  appalling 
progress  of  the  Turks,  though  there  was  not  energy  enough 
in  their  councils  to  form  any  concerted  plans  for  their  own 
security.  Venice  maintained  a  long  but  unsuccessful  contest 
with  Mohammed  11.  for  her  maritime  acquisitions  in  Greece 
and  Albania ;  and  it  was  not  till  after  his  death  relieved  Ita- 
ly from  its  immediate  terror  that  the  ambitious  republic  en- 
deavored to  extend  its  territories  by  encroaching  on  the 


Italy.  GENOA.— FLORENCE.  229 

house  of  Este.  Nor  had  Milan  shown  much  disposition  to- 
wards aggrandizement.  Francesco  Sforza  had  been  succeed- 
ed— such  is  the  condition  of  despotic  governments — by  his 
son  Galeazzo,  a  tyrant  more  execrable  than  the  worst  of  the 
Visconti.  His  extreme  cruelties,  and  the  insolence  of  a  de- 
bauchery that  gloried  in  the  public  dishonor  of  families,  ex- 
cited a  few  daring  spirits  to  assassinate  him.  The  Milanese 
profited  by  a  tyrannicide  the  perpetrators  of  which  they  had 
not  courage  or  gratitude  to  protect.  The  regency  of  Bonne 
of  Savoy,  mother  of  the  infant  duke  Gian  Galeazzo,  deserved 
the  praise  of  wisdom  and  moderation.  But  it  was  over- 
thrown in  a  few  years  by  Ludovico  Sforza,  surnamed  the 
Moor,  her  husband's  brother;  who,  while  he  proclaimed  his 
nephew's  majority,  and  affected  to  treat  him  as  a  sovereign, 
hardly  disguised  in  his  conduct  towards  foreign  states  that 
he  had  usurped  for  himself  the  sole  direction  of  government. 

The  annals  of  one  of  the  few  surviving  republics,  that  of 
Genoa,  present  to  us,  during  the  fifteenth  as  well  as  the  pre- 
ceding century,  an  unceasing  series  of  revolutions,  the  short- 
est enumeration  of  which  Avould  occupy  several  pages.  The 
latest  revolution  within  the  compass  of  this  work  was  in 
1488,  when  the  Duke  of  Milan  became  sovereign,  au  Adorno 
holding  the  office  of  doge  as  his  lieutenant. 

§  30.  Florence,  the  most  illustrious  and  fortunate  of  Italian 
republics,  was  now  rapidly  descending  from  her  rank  among 
free  commonwealths,  though  surrounded  with  mo-re  than  usu- 
al lustre  in  the  eyes  of  Europe.  We  must  take  up  the  story 
of  that  city  from  the  revolution  of  1382,  which  restored  the 
ancient  Guelf  aristocracy,  or  party  of  the  Albizi,  to  the 
ascendency  of  which  a  popular  insurrection  had  stripped 
them.  Fifty  years  elapsed  during  which  this  party  retained 
the  government  in  its  own  hands  with  few  attempts  at  dis- 
turbance. Their  principal  adversaries  had  been  exiled,  accord- 
ing to  the  invariable  and  perhaps  necessary  custom  of  a  re- 
public ;  the  populace  and  inferior  artisans  were  dispirited  by 
their  ill-success.  But,  while  crushing  with  deliberate  severi- 
ty their  avowed  adversaries,  the  ruling  party  had  left  one 
family  whose  prudence  gave  no  reasonable  excuse  for  perse- 
cuting themj  and  whose  popularity,  as  well  as  wealth,  ren- 
dered the  experiment  hazardous.  The  Medici  were  among 
the  most  considerable  of  the  new  or  plebeian  nobility.  From 
the  first  years  of  the  fourteenth  century  their  name  not  very 
unfrequently  occurs  in  the  domestic  and  military  annals  of 
Florence.  Throughout  the  long  depression  of  the  popular 
iaction  the  house  of  Medici  was  always  regarded  as  their 


230  RISE  OF  THE  MEDICI.      Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

consolation  and  their  hope.  That  house  was  now  represent- 
ed by  Giovanni,  whose  immense  wealth,  honorably  acquired 
by  commercial  dealings,  which  had  already  rendered  the 
name  celebrated  in  Europe,  was  expended  with  liberality 
and  magnificence.  Of  a  mild  temper,  and  averse  to  cabals, 
Giovanni  de'  Medici  did  not  attempt  to  set  up  a  party,  and 
contented  himself  with  repressing  some  fresh  encroachments 
on  the  popular  part  of  the  constitution  which  the  Albizi 
■were  disposed  to  make.  They,  in  their  turn,  freely  admitted 
him  to  that  share  in  public  councils  to  which  he  was  entitled 
by  his  eminence  and  virtues  ;  a  proof  that  the  spirit  of  their 
administration  was  not  illiberally  exclusive.  But,  on  the 
death  of  Giovanni,  his  son  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  inheriting  his 
father's  riches  and  estimation,  with  more  talents  and  more 
ambition,  thought  it  time  to  avail  himself  of  the  popularity 
belonging  to  his  name.  By  extensive  connections  with  the 
most  eminent  men  in  Italy,  especially  with  Sforza,  he  came 
to  be  considered  as  the  first  citizen  of  Florence.  The  oli- 
garchy were  more  than  ever  unpopular.  Their  administra- 
tion since  1382  had  indeed  been  in  general  eminently  success- 
ful; the  acquisition  of  Pisa  and  of  other  Tuscan  cities  had 
aggrandized  the  republic,  while  from  the  port  of  Leghorn  her 
ships  had  begun  to  trade  with  Alexandria,  and  sometimes  to 
contend  with  the  Genoese.  But  an  unprosperous  war  with 
Lucca  diminished  a  reputation  which  was  never  sustained  by 
public  affection.  Cosmo  and  his  friends  aggravated  the  er- 
rors of  the  government,  Avhich,  having  lost  its  wise  and  tem- 
perate leader,  Nicola  di  Uzzano,  had  fallen  into  the  rasher 
hands  of  Rinaldo  degl'  Albizi.  He  incurred  the  blame  of 
being  the  first  aggressor  in  a  struggle  which  had  become  in- 
evitable. Cosmo  was  arrested  by  command  of  a  gonfalonier 
devoted  to  the  Albizi,  and  condemned  to  banishment  (a.d. 
1433).  But  the  oligarchy  had  done  too  much  or  too  little. 
The  city  was  full  of  his  friends ;  the  honors  conferred  upon 
him  in  his  exile  attested  the  sentiments  of  Italy.  Next  year 
he  was  recalled  in  triumph  to  Florence,  and  the  Albizi  were 
completely  overthrown. 

It  is  vain  to  expect  that  a  victorious  faction  will  scruple 
to  retaliate  upon  its  enemies  a  still  greater  measure  of  injus- 
tice than  it  experienced  at  their  hands.  The  Albizi  had  in 
general  respected  the  legal  forms  of  their  free  republic,  which 
good  citizens,  and  perhaps  themselves,  might  hope  one  day 
to  see  more  effective.  The  Medici  made  all  their  govern- 
ment conducive  to  hereditary  monarchy.  A  multitude  of 
noble  citizens  were  driven  from  their  country ;  some  were 


Italy.  LORENZO  DE'  MEDICI.  231 

even  put  to  death.  A  Balia*  was  appointed  f«r  ten  years  to 
exclude  all  the  Albizi  from  magistracy,  and,  for  the  sake  of 
this  security  to  the  I'uling  faction,  to  supersede  the  legiti- 
mate institutions  of  the  republic.  After  the  expiration  of 
this  period,  the  dictatorial  power  was  renewed  on  pretense 
of  fresh  danger,  and  this  was  repeated  constantly.  Cosmo 
died  at  an  advanced  age,  in  1464.  His  son,  Piero  de'  Medici, 
though  not  deficient  either  in  virtues  or  abilities,  seemed  too 
infirm  in  health  for  the  administration  of  public  aifairs.  A 
strong  opposition  was  raised  to  the  family  pretensions  of  the 
Medici.  Like  all  Florentine  factions,  it  trusted  to  violence ; 
and  the  chance  of  arms  was  not  in  its  favor.  From  this  rev- 
olution in  1466,  when  some  of  the  most  considerable  citizens 
were  banished,  we  may  date  an  acknowledged  supremacy  in 
the  house  of  Medici,  the  chief  of  which  nominated  the  regu- 
lar magistrates,  and  drew  to  himself  the  whole  conduct  of 
the  republic. 

§  31.  The  two  sons  of  Piero,  Lorenzo  and  Julian,  especially 
the  former,  though  young  at  their  father's  death,  assumed, 
by  the  request  of  their  friends,  the  reins  of  government  (a.d. 
1469).  It  was  impossible  that,  among  a  people  who  had  so 
many  recollections  to  attach  to  the  name  of  liberty,  among 
so  many  citizens  whom  their  ancient  constitution  invited  to 
public  trust,  the  control  of  a  single  family  should  excite  no 
dissatisfaction.  But,  if  the  people's  wish  to  resign  their 
freedom  gives  a  title  to  accept  the  government  of  a  country, 
the  Medici  were  no  usurpers.  That  family  never  lost  the 
affections  of  the  populace.  The  cry  of  Palle,  Palle  (their  ar- 
morial distinction),  would  at  any  time  rouse  the  Florentines 
to  defend  the  chosen  patrons  of  the  republic.  If  their  sub- 
stantial influence  could  before  be  questioned,  the  conspiracy 
of  the  Pazzi,  wherein  Julian  perished,  excited  an  enthusiasm 
for  the  surviving  brother  that  never  ceased  during  his  life. 
Nor  was  this  any  thing  unnatural,  or  any  severe  reproach 
to  Florence.  All  around,  in  Lombardy  and  Romagna,  the 
lamp  of  liberty  had  long  since  been  extinguished  in  blood. 
The  freedom  of  Siena  and  Genoa  was  dearly  purchased  by 
revolutionary  proscriptions;  that  of  Venice  was  only  a 
name.  The  republic  which  had  preserved  longest,  and  with 
greatest  purity,  that  vestal  fire,  had  at  least  no  relative  deg- 
radation to  fear  in  surrendering  herself  to  Lorenzo  de'  Me- 
dici.    I  need  not  in  this  place  expatiate  upon  what  the  name 

■*  A  Balia  was  a  temporary  delegation  of  sovereignty  to  a  number,  generally  a  c6ii- 
siderable  number,  of  citizens,  who  during  the  period  of  their  dictatorship  named  the 
magistrates,  instead  of  drawing  them  by  lot,  and  banished  suspected  individuals. 


232  LORENZO  DE'  MEDICI.      Chap.  III.  Part  II. 

instantly  suggests — the  patronage  of  science  and  art,  and  the 
constellation  of  scholars  and  poets,  of  architects  and  painters, 
whose  reflected  beams  cast  their  radiance  around  his  head. 
His  political  reputation,  though  far  less  durable,  was  in  his 
own  age  as  conspicuous  as  that  which  he  acquired  in  the 
history  of  letters.  Equally  active  and  sagacious,  he  held  his 
way  through  the  varying  combinations  of  Italian  policy,  al- 
ways with  credit,  and  generally  with  success.  Florence,  if 
not  enriched,  was,  upon  the  whole,  aggrandized  during  his 
administration,  which  was  exposed  to  some  severe  storms 
from  the  unscrupulous  adversaries,  Sixtus  IV.  and  Ferdinand 
of  Naples,  whom  he  was  compelled  to  resist.  As  a  patriot, 
indeed,  we  never  can  bestow  upon  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  the 
meed  of  disinterested  virtue.  He  completed  that  subversion 
of  the  Florentine  republic  which  his  two  immediate  ances- 
tors had  so  well  prepared.  The  two  councils,  her  regular 
legislature,  he  superseded  by  a  permanent  Senate  of  seventy 
persons ;  while  the  gonfalonier  and  priors,  become  a  mockery 
and  pageant  to  keep  up  the  illusion  of  liberty,  were  taught 
that  in  exercising  a  legitimate  authority  without  the  sanc- 
tion of  their  prince — a  name  now  first  heard  at  Florence — 
they  incurred  the  risk  of  punishment  for  their  audacity. 
Even  the  total  dilapidation  of  his  commercial  wealth  was  re- 
paired at  the  cost  of  the  state ;  and  the  republic  disgraceful- 
ly screened  the  bankruptcy  of  the  Medici  by  her  own.  But, 
compared  with  the  statesmen  of  his  age,  we  can  reproach  Lo- 
renzo with  no  heinous  crime.  He  had  many  enemies;  his 
descendants  had  many  more ;  but  no  unequivocal  charge  of 
treachery  or  assassination  has  been  substantiated  against  his 
memory.  So  much  was  Lorenzo  esteemed  by  his  contempo- 
raries, that  his  premature  death  has  frequently  been  consid- 
ered as  the  cause  of  those  unhappy  revolutions  that  speedily 
ensued,  and  which  his  foresight  would,  it  is  imagined,  have 
been  able  to  prevent ;  an  opinion  which,  whether  founded  in 
probability  or  otherwise,  attests  the  common  sentiment  about 
his  character  (a.d.  1492). 

§  32.  If,  indeed,  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  could  not  have  changed 
the  destinies  of  Ital}^  however  premature  his  death  may  ap- 
pear if  we  consider  the  ordinary  duration  of  human  exist- 
ence, it  must  be  admitted  that  for  his  own  welfare,  perhaps 
for  his  glory,  he  had  lived  out  the  full  measure  of  his  time. 
An  age  of  new  and  uncommon  revolutions  was  about  to 
arise,  among  the  earliest  of  which  the  temporary  downfall 
of  his  family  was  to  be  reckoned.  The  long-contested  suc- 
cession of  Naples  >i'as  again  to  involve  Italy  in  war.     The 


Italy.  FRANCE  LAYS  CLAIM  TO  NAPLES.  233 

ambition  of  strangers  was  once  more  to  desolate  her  plains. 
Ferdinand,  king  of  Naples,  bad  reigned  for  tbirty  years  after 
tbe  discomfiture  of  bis  competitor  witb  success  and  ability, 
but  witb  a  degree  of  ill  faith  as  well  as  tyranny  towards  bis 
subjects  that  rendered  bis  government  deservedly  odious. 
His  son  Alfonso,  whose  succession  seemed  now  near  at  band, 
was  still  more  marked  by  these  vices  than  himself.  Mean- 
while, the  pretensions  of  tbe  house  of  Anjou  had  legally  de- 
scended, after  the  death  of  old  Regnier,  to  Regnier,  duke  of 
Lorraine,  his  grandson  by  a  daughter ;  whose  marriage  into 
the  bouse  of  Lorraine  bad,  however,  so  displeased  her  father, 
that  be  bequeathed  his  Neapolitan  title,  along  witb  his  real 
patrimony,  the  county  of  Provence,  to  a  count  of  Maine  ;  by 
whose  testament  they  became  vested  in  tbe  crown  of  France. 
Louis  XL,  while  he  took  possession  of  Provence,  gave  him- 
self no  trouble  about  Naples.  But  Charles  VIIL,  inheriting 
bis  father's  ambition  without  that  cool  sagacity  which  re- 
strained it  in  general  from  impracticable  attempts,  and  far 
better  circumstanced  at  home  than  Louis  bad  ever  been,  was 
ripe  for  an  expedition  to  vindicate  his  pretension  upon  Na- 
ples, or  even  for  more  extensive  projects.  It  was  now  two 
centuries  since  tbe  kings  of  France  bad  begun  to  aim,  by 
intervals,  at  conquests  in  Italy.  Tbe  long  English  wars 
changed  all  views  of  the  court  of  France  to  self-defense. 
But  in  tbe  fifteenth  century  its  plans  of  aggrandizement  be- 
yond tbe  Alps  began  to  revive.  Several  times,  as  I  have 
mentioned,  the  republic  of  Genoa  put  itself  under  the  do- 
minion of  France.  Tbe  dukes  of  Savoy,  possessing  most 
part  of  Piedmont,  and  masters  of  the  mountain-passes,  were, 
by  birth,  intermarriage,  and  habitual  policy,  completely  ded- 
icated to  the  French  interests.  Ludovico  Sforza,  who  had 
usurped  tbe  guardianship  of  his  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Milan, 
found,  as  that  young  man  advanced  to  maturity,  that  one 
crime  required  to  be  completed  by  another.  To  depose  and 
murder  bis  ward  was,  however,  a  scheme  that  prudence, 
though  not  conscience,  bade  him  hesitate  to  execute.  He 
bad  rendered  Ferdinand  of  Naples  and  Piero  de'  Medici, 
Lorenzo's  heir,  his  decided  enemies.  A  revolution  at  Milan 
would  be  tbe  probable  result  of  his  continuing  in  usurpation. 
In  these  circumstances  Ludovico  Sforza  excited  tbe  King  of 
France  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  Naples  (a.d.  1439). 
But  in  relieving  himself  from  an  immediate  danger,  Ludo- 
vico Sforza  overlooked  tbe  consideration  that  the  presump- 
tive heir  of  tbe  King  of  France  claimed  by  an  ancient  title 
that  principality  of  Milan  which  he  was  compassing  by  usur- 


234 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  III.    Chai-.  III.  Part  II. 


pation  and  murder.  But  neither  Milan  nor  Naples  was  free 
from  other  claimants  than  France,  nor  was  she  reserved  to 
enjoy  unmolested  the  spoil  of  Italy.  A  louder  and  a  louder 
strain  of  warlike  dissonance  will  be  heard  from  the  banks  of 
the  Danube,  and  from  the  Mediterranean  Gulf  The  dark 
and  wily  Ferdinand,  the  rash  and  lively  Maximilian,  are  pre- 
paring to  hasten  into  the  lists ;  the  schemes  of  ambition  are 
assuming  a  more  comprehensive  aspect;  and  the  controversy 
of  Neapolitan  succession  is  to  expand  into  the  long  rivalry 
between  the  houses  of  France  and  Austria.  But  here,  while 
Italy  is  still  untouched,  and  before  as  yet  the  first  lances  of 
France  gleam  along  the  defiles  of  the  Alps,  we  close  the  his- 
tory of  the  Middle  Ages. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  III. 


AUTHORITIES  FOR  ITALIAN  HISTORY, 

The  authorities  upon  which  the  preced- 
ing chapter  is  founded  are  chiefly  the 
following:  1.  Muratori's  Annals  of  Italy 
(twelve  volumes  in  4to,  or  eighteen  in 
8vo)  comprehend  a  summary  of  its  history 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era 
to  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The 
volumes  relating  to  the  Middle  Ages,  iuto 
which  he  has  digested  the  original  writers 
contained  in  his  great  collection,  "  Scrip- 
tores  Rerum  Italicarum,"  are  by  much  the 
best ;  and  of  these,  the  part  which  extends 
from  the  seventh  or  eighth  to  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century  is  the  fullest  and  most 
useful.  Muratori's  accuracy  is  in  general 
almost  implicitly  to  be  trusted,  and  his 
plain  integrity  speaks  in  all  his  writings ; 
but  his  mind  was  not  philosophical  enough 
to  discriminate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff, 
an4  his  habits  of  life  induced  him  to  annex 
an  imaginary  importance  to  the  dates  of 
diplomas  and  other  inconsiderable  mat- 
ters. His  narrative  presents  a  mere  skel- 
eton, devoid  of  juices;  and  besides  its  in- 
tolerable aridity,  it  labors  under  that  con- 
fusion which  a  merely  chronological  ar- 
rangement of  concurrent  and  independent 
events  must  always  produce.  2.  The  Dis- 
sertations on  Italian  Antiquities,  by  the 
same  writer,  may  be  considered  either  as 
one  or  two  works.  In  Latin  they  form  six 
volumes  in  folio,  enriched  with  a  great 
number  of  original  documents.  In  Italian 
they  are  freely  translated  by  Muratori  him- 
self, abridged,  no  doubt,  and  without  most 
of  the  original  instruments,  but  well  fur- 


nished with  quotations,  and  abundantly 
sufficient  for  most  purposes.  They  form 
three  volumes  in  quarto.  3.  St.  Marc,  a 
learned  and  laborious  Frenchman,  has 
written  a  chronological  abridgment  of 
Italian  history,  somewhat  in  the  manner 
of  Ilenault,  but  so  strangely  divided  by 
several  parallel  columns  in  every  page, 
that  I  could  hardly  name  a  book  more  in- 
convenient to  the  reader.  His  knowledge, 
like  Muratori's,  lay  a  good  deal  in  points 
of  minute  inquiry  ;  and  he  is  chiefly  to  be 
valued  in  ecclesiastical  history.  The  work 
descends  only  to  the  thirteenth  centur}'. 
4.  Deniua's  "Rivoluzioni  d'ltalia,"  origin- 
ally published  in  1T6J),  is  a  perspicuous  and 
lively  book,  in  which  the  principal  circum- 
stances are  well  selected.  It  is  not,  per- 
haps, free  from  errors  in  fact,  and  still  less 
from  those  of  opinion ;  but,  till  lately,  I  do 
not  know  from  what  source  a  general  ac- 
quaintance with  the  history  of  Italy  could 
have  been  so  easily  derived.  5.  The  pub- 
lication of  M.  Sismoudi's  "  Histoire  des  Re- 
publiques  Italiennes"  has  thrown  a  blaze 
of  light  around  the  most  interesting^,  at 
least,  in  many  respects,  of  European  coun- 
tries during  the  Middle  Ages.  I  am  hap- 
py to  bear  witness,  so  far  as  my  own  stud- 
ies have  enabled  me,  to  the  learning  and 
diligence  of  this  writer,  qualities  which 
the  world  is  sometimes  apt  not  to  suppose 
where  they  perceive  so  much  eloquence 
and  philosophy.  I  can  not  express  my 
opinion  of  M.  Sismondi  in  this  respect 
more  strongly  than  by  saying  that  his 
work  has  almost  superseded  the  Anuala 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  III. 


235 


of  Muratori ;  I  mean  from  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, before  which  period  his  labor  hardly 
begins.  Though  doubtless  not  more  ac- 
curate than  Muratori,  he  has  consulted  a 
much  more  extensive  list  of  authors  ;  and, 
considered  as  a  register  of  facts  alone, 
his  history  is  incomparably  more  useful. 
These  are  combined  in  so  skillful  a  man- 
ner as  to  diminish,  in  a  great  degree,  that 
inevitable  confusion  which  arises  from 
frequency  of  transition  and  want  of  gen- 
eral unity.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that,  from  too  redundant  details  of  unnec- 
essary circumstances,  and  sometimes,  if  I 
may  take  the  liberty  of  saying  so,  from 
unnecessary  reflections,  M.  Sismondi  has 


run  into  a  prolixity  which  will  probably 
intimidate  the  languid  students  of  our 
age.  It  is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  be- 
cause the  History  of  Italian  Republics  is 
calculated  to  produce  a  good  far  more  im- 
portant than  storing  the  memory  with 
historical  f;icts— that  of  communicating  to 
the  reader's  bosom  some  sparks  of  the 
dignified  philosophy,  the  love  for  truth 
and  virtue,  which  lives  along  its  eloquent 
pages.  G.  To  Muratori's  collection  of  orig- 
inal writers,  the  "  Scriptores  Rerum  Itali- 
carum,"in  twenty-four  volumes  in  folio,  I 
have  paid  considerable  attention  ;  perhaps 
there  is  no  volume  of  it  which  1  havs  not 
more  or  less  consulted. 


236  HISTORY  OF  SPAIN.  Chap.  IV. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    HISTORY    OF   SPAIN   TO   THE    CONQUEST    OP   GEANADA. 

5  1.  Kingdom  of  the  Visigoths.  §  2.  Conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Moors.  Gradual  Re- 
vival of  the  Spanish  Nation.  §  3.  Kingdoms  of  Leon,  Aragon,  Navarre,  and  Cas- 
tile, successively  formed,  §  4.  Chartered  Towns  of  Castile.  §  5.  Military  Orders. 
§  C.  Conquests  of  Ferdinand  III.  and  James  of  Aragon.  §  7.  Causes  of  the  Delay 
in  expelling  the  Moors.  §  8.  History  of  Castile  continued.  Character  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Peter  the  Cruel.  §  9.  House  of  Trastamare.  John  H.  Henry  IV.  §10. 
Constitution  of  Castile.  National  Assemblies  or  Cortes.  Their  constituent  Parts. 
§  11.  Right  of  Taxation.  5  12.  Forms  of  the  Cortes.  §  13.  Legislation.  §  14.  Oth- 
er Rights  of  the  Cortes.  §  15.  Privy  Council  of  Castile.  §  IC.  Administration  of 
Justice.  §  IT.  Imperfections  of  the  Constitution.  §  18.  Aragon.  Its  history  in 
the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Centuries.  Disputed  Succession.  §19.  Constitution 
of  Aragon.  §  20.  Free  Spirit  of  its  Aristocracy.  Privilege  of  Union.  §  21.  Pow- 
ers of  the  Justiza.  Legal  Securities.  Illustrations.  §  22.  Other  Constitutional 
Laws.  Cortes  of  Aragon.  §  23.  Valencia  and  Catalonia.  5  24.  Union  of  two 
Crowns  by  the  Marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.    §  25.  Conquest  of  Granada. 

§  1.  The  history  of  Spain  during  the  Middle  Ages  ought 
to  commence  with  the  dynasty  of  the  Visigoths — a  nation 
among  the  first  that  assaulted  and  overthrew  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  whose  establishment  preceded  by  nearly  half  a 
century  the  invasion  of  Clovis.  Vanquished  by  that  con- 
queror in  the  battle  of  Poitiers,  the  Gothic  monarchs  lost 
their  extensive  dominions  in  Gaul,  and  transferred  their  resi- 
dence from  Toulouse  to  Toledo.  The  Visigothic  monarchy 
difiered  in  several  respects  from  that  of  the  Franks  during 
the  same  period.  The  crown  was  less  hereditary,  or  at  least 
the  regular  succession  was  more  frequently  disturbed.  The 
prelates  had  a  still  more  commanding  influence  in  temporal 
government.  The  distinction  of  Romans  and  barbarians 
was  less  marked,  the  laws  more  uniform,  and  approaching 
nearly  to  the  imperial  code.  The  power  of  the  sovereign 
was  perhaps  more  limited  by  an  aristocratical  council  than 
in  France,  but  it  never  yielded  to  the  dangerous  influence  of 
mayors  of  the  palace.  Civil  wars  and  disputed  successions 
were  very  frequent,  but  the  integrity  of  the  kingdom  was 
not  violated  by  the  custom  of  partition. 

§  2.  Spain,  after  remaining  for  nearly  three  centuries  in 
the  possession  of  the  Visigoths,  fell  under  the  yoke  of  the 
Saracens  in  712.  The  fervid  and  irresistible  enthusiasm 
which  distinguished  the  youthful  period  of  Mohammedanism 
might  sufficiently  account  for  this  conquest,  even  if  we  could 


Spain.  CONQUEST  BY  THE  SARACENS.  237 

not  assign  additional  causes — the  factions  Avhich  divided  the 
Goths,  the  resentment  of  disappointed  pretenders  to  the 
throne,  the  provocations,  as  has  been  generally  believed,  of 
Count  Julian,^  and  the  temerity  that  risked  the  fate  of  an 
empire  on  the  chances  of  a  single  battle.  It  is  more  surpris- 
ing that  a  remnant  of  this  ancient  monarchy  should  not 
only  have  preserved  its  national  liberty  and  name  in  the 
northern  mountains,  but  waged  for  some  centuries  a  success- 
ful, and  generally  an  offensive  warfare  against  the  conquer- 
ors, till  the  balance  was  completely  turned  in  its  favor,  and 
the  Moors  were  compelled  to  maintain  almost  as  obstinate 
and  protracted  a  contest  for  a  small  portion  of  the  peninsula. 
But  the  Arabian  monarchs  of  Cordova  found  in  their  success 
and  imagined  security  a  pretext  for  indolence :  even  in  the 
cultivation  of  science  and  contemplation  of  the  magnificent 
architecture  of  their  mosques  and  palaces  they  forgot  their 
poor  but  daring  enemies  in  the  Asturias ;  while,  according  to 
the  nature  of  despotism,  the  fruits  of  wisdom  or  bravery  in 
one  generation  were  lost  in  the  follies  and  effeminacy  of  the 
next.  Their  kingdom  was  dismembered  by  successful  reb- 
els, who  formed  the  states  of  Toledo,  Huesca,  Saragossa,  and 
others  less  eminent ;  and  these,  in  their  own  mutual  contests, 
not  only  relaxed  their  natural  enmity  towards  the  Christian 
princes,  but  sometimes  sought  their  alliance. 

§  3.  The  last  attack  which  seemed  to  endanger  the  reviv- 
ing monarchy  of  Spain  was  that  of  Almanzor,  the  illustrious 
vizier  of  Haccham  IT.,  tOAvards  the  end  of  the  tenth  century, 
wherein  the  city  of  Leon,  and  even  the  shrine  of  Compostel- 
la,  were  burned  to  the  ground.  For  some  ages  before  this 
transient  reflux,  gradual  encroachments  had  been  made  upon 
the  Saracens,  and  the  kingdom  originally  styled  of  Oviedo, 

1  The  story  of  Cava,  daughter  of  Count  Julian,  whose  seduction  by  Roderic,  the 
last  Gothic  king,  impelled  her  father  to  invite  the  Moors  into  Spain,  enters  largely 
into  the  cycle  of  Castilian  romance  and  into  the  grave  narratives  of  every  historian. 
It  can  not,  however,  be  traced  in  extant  writings  higher  than  the  eleventh  century, 
when  it  appears  in  the  Chronicle  of  the  Monk  of  Silos.  The  most  critical  investi- 
gators of  history,  therefore,  have  treated  the  story  as  too  apocryphal  to  be  stated  as 
a  fact.  Gayangos  ("  History  of  the  Mohammedan  Dynasties  in  Spain  ")  points  out 
that  the  account  of  Jnlian,  in  the  "  Chronicon  Silense,"  is  borrowed  from  some  Arabian 
authority;  and  this  he  proves  by  several  writers  from  the  ninth  century  downward, 
"  all  of  whom  mention,  more  or  less  explicitly,  the  existence  of  a  man  living  in 
Africa,  and  named  Ilyan,  who  helped  the  Arabs  to  make  a  conquest  of  Spain ;  to 
which  I  ought  to  add  that  the  rape  of  Ilyau's  daughter,  and  the  circumstances  at- 
tending it,  may  also  be  read  in  detail  in  the  Mohammedan  authors  who  preceded 
the  monk  of  Silos."  The  result  of  this  learned  Avriter's  investigation  is  that  Ilyan 
really  existed,  that  he  Avas  a  Christian  chief,  settled,  not  in  Spain,  but  on  the  African 
coast,  and  that  he  betrayed,  not  his  country  (except,  indeed,  as  he  was  probably  of 
Spanish  descent),  but  the  interests  of  his  religion,  by  assisting  the  Saracens  to  Bub- 
j  agate  the  Gothic  kingdom. 


238  CASTILE.  Chap.  IV. 

the  seat  of  which  was  removed  to  Leon  in  914,  had  extended 
its  boundary  to  the  Douro,  and  even  to  the  mountainous 
chain  of  the  Guadarrama.  The  province  of  Old  Castile,  thus 
denominated,  as  is  generally  supposed,  from  the  castles  erect- 
ed while  it  remained  a  march  or  frontier  against  the  Moors, 
was  governed  by  hereditary  counts,  elected  originally  by 
the  provincial  aristocracy,  and  virtually  independent,  it  seems 
probable,  of  the  kings  of  Leon,  though  commonly  serving 
them  in  war  as  brethren  of  the  same  faith  and  nation. 

While  the  kings  of  Leon  were  thus  occupied  in  recovering 
the  western  provinces,  another  race  of  Christian  princes  grew 
up  silently  under  the  shadow  of  the  Pyrenean  mountains. 
Nothing  can  be  more  obscure  than  the  beginnings  of  those 
little  states  which  were  formed  in  Navarre  and  the  country 
of  Soprarbe.  They  might,  perhaps,  be  almost  contemporane- 
ous with  the  Moorish  conquests.  On  both  sides  of  the  Pyr- 
enees dwelt  an  aboriginal  people,  the  last  to  undergo  the 
yoke,  and  who  had  never  acquired  the  language,  of  Rome. 
We  know  little  of  these  intrepid  mountaineers  in  the  dark 
period  which  elapsed  under  the  Gothic  and  Frank  dynasties, 
till  we  find  them  cutting  off  the  rear-guard  of  Charlemagne 
in  Roncesvalles,  and  maintaining  at  least  their  independence, 
though  seldom,  like  the  kings  of  Asturias,  waging  offensive 
war  against  the  Saracens.  The  town  of  Jaca,  situated  among 
long  narrow  valleys  that  intersect  the  southern  ridges  of  the 
Pyrenees,  was  the  capital  of  a  little  free  state,  which  after- 
wards expanded  into  the  monarchy  of  Aragon.^  A  territo- 
ry rather  more  extensive  belonged  to  Navarre,  the  kings  of 
which  fixed  their  seas  at  Pampelona.  Biscay  seems  to  have 
been  divided  between  this  kingdom  and  that  of  Leon.  The 
connection  of  Aragon  or  Soprarbe  and  Navarre  was  very  in- 
timate, and  they  were  often  united  under  a  single  chief. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  Sancho  the 
Great,  king  of  Navarre  and  Aragon,  was  enabled  to  render 
his  second  son  Ferdinand  count,  or,  as  he  assumed  the  title, 
king  of  Castile.  This  effectually  dismembered  that  province 
from  the  kingdom  of  Leon ;  but  their  union  soon  became 
more  complete  than  ever,  though  with  a  reversed  supremacy. 
Bermudo  IIL,  king  of  Leon,  fell  in  an  engagement  with  the 
new  king  of  Castile,  who  had  married  his  sister;  and  Ferdi- 
nand, in  her  right,  or  in  that  of  conquest,  became  master  of  the 

2  The  Fncros,  or  written  laws  of  Jaca,  M'ere  perhaps  more  ancient  than  anf  local 
cnstomary  in  Europe.  Alfonso  III.  confirms  them  by  name  of  "  the  ancient  usages 
of  Jaca."  They  prescribe  the  descent  of  lands  and  movables,  as  well  as  the  election 
of  municipal  magistrates. 


Spain.  MODE  OF  SETTLING  CONQUESTS.  239 

united  monarchy.  This  cessation  of  hostilities  between  the 
Christian  states  enabled  them  to  direct  a  more  unremitting 
energy  against  their  ancient  enemies,  who  were  now  sensi- 
bly weakened  by  the  various  causes  of  decline  to  which  I 
have  already  alluded.  During  the  eleventh  century  the 
Spaniards  were  almost  always  superior  in  the  field;  the 
towns  which  they  began  by  pillaging,  they  gradually  possess- 
ed ;  their  valor  was  heightened  by  the  customs  of  chivalry, 
and  inspired  by  the  example  of  the  Cid;  and  before  the  end 
of  this  age  Alfonso  YI.  recovered  the  ancient  metropolis  of 
the  monarchy,  the  city  of  Toledo.  This  was  the  severest 
blow  which  the  Moors  had  endured,  and  an  unequivocal  symp- 
tom of  that  change  in  their  relative  strength,  which,  from 
being  so  gradual,  was  the  more  irretrievable.  Calamities 
scarcely  inferior  fell  upon  them  in  a  difi*erent  quarter.  The 
kings  of  Aragon  (a  title  belonging  originally  to  a  little  dis- 
trict upon  the  river  of  that  name)  had  been  cooped  up  al- 
most in  the  mountains  by  the  small  Moorish  states  north  of 
the  Ebro,  especially  that  of  Huesca.  About  the  middle  of 
the  eleventh  century,  they  began  to  attack  their  neighbors 
with  success ;  the  Moors  lost  one  town  after  another,  till,  in 
1118,  exposed  and  weakened  by  the  reduction  of  all  these 
places,  the  city  of  Saragossa,  in  which  a  line  of  Mohammedan 
princes  had  flourished  for  several  ages,  became  the  prize  of 
Alfonso  I.  and  the  capital  of  his  kingdom.  The  southern 
parts  of  what  is  now  the  province  of  Aragon  were  suc- 
cessively reduced  during  the  twelfth  century ;  while  all 
New  Castile  and  Estremadura  became  annexed  in  the  same 
gradual  manner  to  the  dominion  of  the  descendants  of  Al- 
fonso VI. 

Although  the  feudal  system  can  not  be  said  to  have  ob- 
tained in  the  kingdoms  of  Leon  and  Castile,  their  peculiar  situ- 
ation gave  the  aristocracy  a  great  deal  of  the  same  power  and 
independence  which  resulted  in  France  and  Germany  from 
that  institution.  The  territory  successively  recovered  from 
the  Moors,  like  waste  lands  reclaimed,  could  have  no  propri- 
etor but  the  conquerors,  and  the  prospect  of  such  acquisitions 
was  a  constant  incitement  to  the  nobility  of  Spain,  especially 
to  those  who  had  settled  themselves  on  the  Castilian  front- 
ier. In  their  new  conquests  they  built  towns,  and  invited 
Christian  settlers,  the  Saracen  inhabitants  being  commonly 
expelled,  or  voluntarily  retreating  to  the  safer  provinces  of 
the  South.  Thus  Burgos  was  settled  by  a  count  of  Castile 
about  880 ;  another  fixed  his  seat  at  Osma ;  a  third  at  Sepul- 
veda;  a  fourth  at  Salamanca.     These  cities  were  not  free 


240  CHARTERED  TOWNS.  Chap.  IV. 

from  incessant  peril  of  a  sudden  attack  till  the  union  of  the 
two  kingdoms  uhder  Ferdinand  I.,  and  consequently  the  ne- 
cessity of  keeping  in  exercise  a  numerous  and  armed  popula- 
tion gave  a  character  of  personal  freedom  and  privilege  to 
the  inferior  classes  which  they  hardly  possessed  at  so  early 
a  period  in  any  other  monarchy.  Villenage  seems  never  to 
have  been  established  in  the  Hispano-Gothic  kingdoms,  Leon 
and  Castile  ;  though  I  confess  it  was  far  from  being  unknown 
in  that  of  Aragon,  which  had  formed  its  institutions  on  a  dif- 
ferent pattern.  Since  nothing  makes  us  forget  the  arbitrary 
distinctions  of  rank  so  much  as  participation  in  any  common 
calamity,  every  man  who  had  escaped  the  great  shipwreck 
of  liberty  and  religion  in  the  mountains  of  Asturias  was  in- 
vested with  a  personal  dignity,  which  gave  him  value  in  his 
own  eyes  and  those  of  his  country.  It  is  probably  this  sen- 
timent transmitted  to  posterity,  and  gradually  fixing  the  na- 
tional character,  that  has  produced  the  elevation  of  manner 
remarked  by  travellers  in  the  Castilian  peasant.  But  while 
these  acquisitions  of  the  nobility  promoted  the  grand  object 
of  winning  back  the  peninsula  from  its  invaders,  they  by  no 
means  invigorated  the  government  or  tended  to  domestic 
tranquillity. 

§  4.  A  more  interesting  method  of  securing  the  public  de- 
fense was  by  the  institution  of  chartered  towns  or  commu- 
nities. These  were  established  at  an  earlier  period  than  in 
France  and  England,  and  were,  in  some  degree,  of  a  peculiar 
description.  Instead  of  purchasing  their  immunities,  and  al- 
most their  personal  freedom,  at  the  hands  of  a  master,  the 
burgesses  of  Castilian  towns  were  invested  with  civil  rights 
and  extensive  property  on  the  more  liberal  condition  of  pro- 
tecting their  country.  The  fuero,  or  original  charter  of  a 
Spanish  community,  was  properly  a  compact,  by  which  the 
king  or  lord  granted  a  town  and  adjacent  district  to  the  bur- 
gesses, with  various  privileges,  and  especially  that  of  choosing 
magistrates  and  a  common  council,  who  were  bound  to  con- 
form themselves  to  the  laws  prescribed  by  the  founder. 
These  laws,  civil  as  well  as  criminal,  though  essentially  de- 
rived from  the  ancient  code  of  the  Visigoths,  w^hich  contin- 
ued to  be  the  common  law  of  Castile  till  the  fourteenth  or 
fifteenth  century,  varied  from  each  other  in  particular  usages, 
which  had  probably  grown  up  and  been  established  in  these 
districts  before  their  "legal  confirmation.  The  territory  held 
by  chartered  towns  was  frequently  very  extensive,  far  be- 
yond any  comparison  with  corporations  in  our  own  country 
or  in  France ;  including  the  estates  of  private  land-holders. 


Spain.  MILITARY  ORDERS.  241 

subject  to  the  jurisdiction  and  control  of  the  municipality  as 
well  as  its  inalienable  demesnes,  allotted  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  magistrates  and  other  public  expenses.  In  every 
town  the  king  appointed  a  governor  to  receive  the  usual 
tributes,  and  watch  over  the  police  and  the  fortified  places 
within  the  district ;  but  the  administration  of  justice  was 
exclusively  reserved  to  the  inhabitants  and  their  elected 
judges.  Even  the  executive  power  of  the  royal  officer  was 
regarded  with  jealousy;  he  was  forbidden  to  use  violence 
towards  any  one  without  legal  process ;  and,  by  the  fuero 
of  Logrono,  if  he  attempted  to  enter  forcibly  into  a  private 
house  he  might  be  killed  with  impunity. 

In  recompense  for  such  liberal  concessions,  the  incorpo- 
rated towns  were  bound  to  certain  money  payments  and  to 
military  service.  This  was  absolutely  due  from  every  in- 
habitant, without  dispensation  or  substitution,  unless  in  case 
of  infirmity.  The  royal  governor  and  the  magistrates,  as  in 
the  simple  times  of  primitive  Rome,  raised  and  commanded 
the  militia.  Every  man  of  a  certain  property  was  bound  to 
serve  on  horseback,  and  was  exempted  in  return  from  the 
payment  of  taxes.  This  produced  a  distinction  between  the 
eaballeros,  or  noble  class,  and  the  pecheros,  or  payers  of  trib- 
ute. But  the  distinction  appears  to  have  been  founded  only 
upon  wealth,  as  in  the  Roman  equites,  and  not  upon  heredi- 
tary rank,  though  it  most  likely  prepared  the  way  for  the 
latter.  The  horses  of  these  caballeros  could  not  be  seized 
for  debt;  in  some  cases  they  were  exclusively  eligible  to 
magistracy;  and  their  honor  was  protected  by  laws  which 
rendered  it  highly  penal  to  insult  or  molest  them.  But  the 
civil  rights  of  rich  and  poor  in  court*  of  justice  were  as  equal 
as  in  England. 

§  5.  The  progress  of  the  Christian  arms  in  Spain  may  in  part 
be  ascribed  to  another  remarkable  feature  in  the  constitution 
of  that  country,  the  military  orders.  These  had  already 
been  tried  with  signal  effect  in  Palestine ;  and  the  similar 
circumstances  of  Spain  easily  led  to  an  adoption  of  the  same 
policy.  In  a  very  few  years  after  the  first  institution  of  the 
Knights  Templars,  they  were  endowed  with  great  estates,  or 
rather  districts,  won  from  the  Moors,  on  condition  of  defend- 
ing their  own  and  the  national  territory.  These  lay  chiefly 
in  the  parts  of  Aragon  beyond  the  Ebro,  the  conquest  of 
which  was  then  recent  and  insecure.  So  extraordinary  was 
the  respect  for  this  order  and  that  of  St.  John,  and  so  pow- 
erful the  conviction  that  the  hope  of  Christendom  rested 
upon  their  valor,  that  Alfonso  the  First,  king  of  Aragon,  dy- 

11 


242  EXPULSION  OF  THE  MOORS.  Chap.  IV. 

ing  childless,  bequeathed  to  them  his  whole  kingdom.  The 
states  of  Aragon  annulled,  as  may  be  supposed,  this  strange 
testament ;  but  the  successor  of  Alfonso  was  obliged  to  pac- 
ify the  ambitious  knights  by  immense  concessions  of  money 
and  territory ;  stipulating  even  not  to  make  peace  with  the 
Moors  against  their  will.  In  imitation  of  these  great  milita- 
ry orders  common  to  all  Christendom,  there  arose  three 
Spanish  institutions  of  a  similar  kind,  the  orders  of  Calatra- 
va,  Santiago,  and  Alcantara.  The  first  of  these  was  estab- 
lished in  1158;  the  second  and  most  famous  had  its  charter 
from  the  pope  in  1175,  though  it  seems  to  have  existed  pre- 
viously ;  the  third  branched  off  from  that  of  Calatrava  at  a 
subsequent  time.  These  were  military  colleges,  having  their 
walled  towns  in  different  parts  of  Castile,  and  governed  by 
an  elective  grand  master,  whose  influence  in  the  state  was  at 
least  equal  to  that  of  any  of  the  nobility.  In  the  civil  dis- 
sensions of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  the  chiefs 
of  these  incorporated  knights  were  often  very  prominent. 

§  6.  The  kingdoms  of  Leon  and  Castile  were  unwisely  di- 
vided anew  by  Alfonso  VII.  between  his  sons  Sancho  and 
{Ferdinand,  and  this  produced  not  only  a  separation  but  a 
revival  of  the  ancient  jealousj^  with  frequent  wars  for  near 
a  century.  At  length,  in  1238,  Ferdinand  III.,  king  of  Cas- 
tile, reunited  forever  the  two  branches  of  the  Gothic  mon- 
archy. He  employed  their  joint  strength  against  the  Moors, 
whose  dominion,  though  it  still  embraced  the  finest  provinces 
of  the  peninsula,  was  sinking  by  internal  weakness,  and  had 
never  recovered  a  tremendous  defeat  at  Banos  di  Toloso,  a 
few  miles  from  Baylen,  in  1210.  Ferdinand,  bursting  into 
Andalusia,  took  its  great  capital,  the  city  of  Cordova,  not  less 
ennobled  by  the  cultivation  of  Arabian  science,  and  by  the 
names  of  Avicenna  and  Averroes  than  by  the  splendid 
works  of  a  rich  and  munificent  dynasty.  (a.t>.  1236.)  In  a 
few  years  more  Seville  was  added  to  his  conquests,  and  the 
Moors  lost  their  favorite  regions  on  the  banks  of  the  Guadal- 
quivir. James  I.  of  Aragon,  the  victories  of  whose  long 
reign  gave  him  the  surname  of  Conqueror,  reduced  the  city 
and  kingdom  of  Valencia,  the  Balearic  isles,  and  the  kingdom 
of  Murcia  ;  but  the  last  was  annexed,  according  to  compact, 
to  the  crown  of  Castile. 

§  7.  It  could  hardly  have  been  expected  about  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  splendid  conquests  of 
Ferdinand  and  James  had  planted  the  Christian  banner  on 
the  three  principal  Moorish  cities,  that  250  years  were  yet  to 
elapse  before  the  rescue  of  Spain  from  their  yoke  should  be 


Spain.  EXPULSION  OF  THE  MOORS.  243 

completed.  Ambition,  religious  zeal,  national  enmity,  could 
not  be  supposed  to  pause  in  a  career  which  now  seemed  to 
be  obstructed  by  such  moderate  difficulties  ;  yet  we  find,  on 
the  contrary,  the  exertions  of  the  Spaniards  begin  from  this 
time  to  relax,  and  their  acquisitions  of  territory  to  become 
more  slow.  One  of  the  causes,  undoubtedly,  that  produced 
this  unexpected  protraction  of  the  contest  was  the  superior 
means  of  resistance  which  the  Moors  found  in  retreating. 
Their  population,  spread  originally  over  the  whole  of  Spain, 
was  now  condensed,  and,  if  I  may  so  say,  become  no  further 
compressible,  in  a  single  province.  It  had  been  mingled,  in 
the  northern  and  central  parts,  with  the  T\Iozarabic  Chris- 
tians, their  subjects  and  tributaries,  not  perhaps  treated  with 
much  injustice,  yet  naturally  and  irremediably  their  enemies. 
Toledo  and  Saragossa,  when  they  fell  under  a  Christian  sov- 
ereign, were  full  of  these  inferior  Christians,  whose  long  in- 
tercourse with  their  masters  has  infused  the  tones  and  dia- 
lect of  Arabia  into  the  language  of  Castile.  But  in  the 
twelfth  century  the  Moors,  exasperated  by  defeat  and  jeal- 
ous of  secret  disaffection,  began  to  persecute  their  Christian 
subjects,  till  they  renounced  or  fled  for  their  religion ;  so  that 
in  the  southern  provinces  scarcely  any  professors  of  Chris- 
tianity were  left  at  the  time  of  Ferdinand's  invasion.  An 
equally  severe  policy  was  adopted  on  the  other  side.  The 
Moors  had  been  permitted  to  dwell  in  Saragossa  as  the 
Christians  had  dwelt  before, subjects,  not  slaves;  but  on  the 
capture  of  Seville  they  were  entirely  expelled,  and  new  set- 
tlers invited  from  every  part  of  Spain.  The  strong  fortified 
towns  of  Andalusia,  such  as  Gibraltar,  Algeciras,  Tariffa, 
maintained  also  a  more  formidable  resistance  than  had  been 
experienced  in  Castile ;  they  cost  tedious  sieges,  were  some- 
times recovered  by  the  enemy,  and  were  always  liable  to  his 
attacks.  But  the  great  protection  of  the  Spanish  Moham- 
medans was  found  in  the  alliance  and  ready  aid  of  their  kin- 
dred beyond  the  Straits.  Accustomed  to  hear  of  the  Afri- 
can Moors  only  as  pirates,  we  can  not  easily  conceive  the 
powerful  dynasties,  the  w^arlike  chiefs,  the  vast  armies,  which 
for  seven  or  eight  centuries  illustrate  the  annals  of  that  peo- 
ple. Their  assistance  was  always  afforded  to  the  true  be- 
lievers in  Spain,  though  their  ambition  was  generally  dread- 
ed by  those  who  stood  in  need  of  their  valor. 

Probably,  however,  the  kings  of  Granada  were  most  in- 
debted to  the  indolence  which  gradually  became  character- 
istic of  their  enemies.  By  the  cession  of  Murcia  to  Castile, 
the  kingdom  of  Aragon  shut  itself  out  from  the  possibility 


244  EXPULSION  OF  THE  MOORS.  Chap.  IV. 

of  extending  those  conquests  which  had  ennobled  her  earlier 
sovereigns  ;  and  their  successors,  not  less  ambitious  and  en- 
terprising, diverted  their  attention  towards  objects  beyond 
the  peninsula.  The  Castilian,  patient  and  undesponding  in 
bad  success,  loses  his  energy  as  the  pressure  becomes  less 
heavy,  and  puts  no  ordinary  evil  in  comparison  with  the  ex- 
ertions by  which  it  must  be  removed.  The  greater  part  of 
his  country  freed  by  his  arms,  he  was  content  to  leave  the 
enemy  in  a  single  province  rather  than  undergo  the  labor  of 
making  his  triumph  complete. 

§  8.  If  a  similar  spirit  of  insubordination  had  not  been 
found  compatible  in  earlier  ages  with  the  aggrandizement 
of  the  Castilian  monarchy  (a.d.  1252),  we  might  ascribe  its 
want  of  splendid  successes  against  the  Moors  to  the  contin- 
ued rebellions  which  disturbed  that  Government  for  more 
than  a  century  after  the  death  of  Ferdinand  III.  His  son 
Alfonso  X.  might  justly  acquire  the  surname  of  Wise  for  his 
general  proficiency  in  learning,  and  especially  in  astronomic- 
al science,  if  these  attainments  deserve  praise  in  a  king  who 
was  incapable  of  preserving  his  subjects  in  their  duty.  As 
a  legislator,  Alfonso,  by  his  code  of  the  Siete  Partidas,  sacri- 
ficed the  ecclesiastical  rights  of  his  crown  to  the  usurpation 
of  Rome ;  and  his  philosophy  sunk  below  the  level  of  ordi- 
nary prudence  when  lie  permitted  the  phantom  of  an  impe- 
rial crown  in  Germany  to  seduce  his  hopes  for  almost  twen- 
ty years.  For  the  sake  of  such  an  illusion  he  would  even 
have  withdrawn  himself  from  Castile,  if  the  states  had  not 
remonstrated  against  an  expedition  that  would  probably 
have  cost  him  the  kingdom.  In  the  latter  years  of  his  tur- 
bulent reign,  Alfonso  had  to  contend  against  his  son.  The 
right  of  representation  was  hitherto  unknown  in  Castile, 
which  had  borrowed  little  from  the  customs  of  feudal  na- 
tions. By  the  received  law  of  succession  the  nearer  was  al- 
ways preferred  to  the  more  remote,  the  son  to  the  grandson. 
Alfonso  X.  had  established  the  different  maxim  of  represen- 
tation by  his  code  of  the  Siete  Partidas,  the  authority  of 
which,  however,  was  not  universally  acknowledged.  The 
question  soon  came  to  an  issue :  on  the  death  of  his  eldest 
son,  Ferdinand,  leaving  two  male  children,  Sancho,  their  un- 
cle, asserted  his  claim,  founded  upon  the  ancient  Castilian 
right  of  succession ;  and  this  chiefly,  no  doubt,  through  fear 
of  arms,  though  it  did  not  want  plausible  arguments,  was 
ratified  by  an  assembly  of  the  cortes,  and  secured,  notwith- 
standing the  king's  reluctance,  by  the  courage  of  Sancho. 
But  the  descendants  of  Ferdinand,  generally  called  the  in* 


Spain.  CIVIL  DISTURBANCES  OF  CASTILE.  245 

fants  of  la  Cerda,  by  the  protection  of  France,  to  whose  royal 
family  they  were  closely  allied,  and  of  Aragon,  always  prompt 
to  interfere  in  the  disputes  of  a  rival  people,  continued  to 
assert  their  pretensions  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and, 
though  they  were  not  very  successful,  did  not  fail  to  aggra- 
vate the  troubles  of  their  country. 

The  annals  of  Sancho  IV.  (a.d.  1284),  and  his  two  immedi- 
ate successors,  Ferdinand  IV.  (a.d.  1295)  and  Alfonso  XI. 
(a.d.  1132),  present  a  series  of  unhappy  and  dishonorable 
civil  dissensions  with  too  much  rapidity  to  be  remembered 
or  even  understood.  Although  the  Castilian  nobility  had  no 
pretense  to  the  original  independence  of  the  French  peers, 
or  to  the  liberties  of  feudal  tenure,  they  assumed  the  same 
privilege  of  rebelling  upon  any  provocation  from  their  sov- 
ereign. When  such  occurred,  they  seem  to  have  been  per- 
mitted, by  legal  custom,  to  renounce  their  allegiance  by  a 
solemn  instrument,  which  exempted  them  from  the  penalties 
of  treason.  A  very  few  families  composed  an  oligarchy,  the 
worst  and  most  ruinous  condition  of  political  society,  alter- 
nately the  favorites  and  ministers  of  the  prince,  or  in  arms 
against  him.  If  unable  to  protect  themselves  in  their  walled 
towns,  and  by  the  aid  of  their  faction,  these  Christian  patri- 
ots retired  to  Aragon  or  Granada,  and  excited  an  hostile 
power  against  their  country,  and  perhaps  their  religion. 
There  is  indeed  some  apology  for  the  conduct  of  the  nobles 
in  the  character  of  their  sovereigns,  who  had  but  one  favor- 
ite method  of  avenghig  a  dissembled  injury,  or  anticipating 
a  suspected  treason.  But  whatever  violence  and  arbitrary 
spirit  might  be  imputed  to  Sancho  and  Alfonso  was  forgot- 
ten in  the  unexampled  tyranny  of  Peter  the  Cruel  (a.d. 
1350).  The  history  of  his  reign  charges  him  with  the  mur- 
der of  his  wife,  Blanche  of  Bourbon,  most  of  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  with  Eleanor  Gusman,  their  mother,  many  Castilian 
nobles,  and  multitudes  of  the  commonalty  ;  besides  continu- 
al outrages  of  licentiousness,  and  especially  a  pretended  mar- 
riage with  a  noble  lady  of  the  Castrian  family.  At  length 
a  rebellion  was  headed  by  his  illegitimate  brother,  Henry, 
count  of  Trastamare,  wath  the  assistance  of  Aragon  and  Por- 
tugal. This,  how^ever,  would  probably  have  failed  of  de- 
throning Peter,  a  resolute  prince,  and  certainly  not  destitute 
of  many  faithful  supporters,  if  Henry  had  not  invoked  the 
more  powerful  succor  of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  and  the  com- 
panies of  adventure  who,  after  the  pacification  between 
France  and  England,  had  lost  the  occupation  of  war,  and  re- 
tained only  that  of  plunder.     With  mercenaries  so  disciplined 


246  HOUSE  OF  TRASTAMARE.  Chap.  i\ . 

it  was  in  vain  for  Peter  to  contend ;  but,  abandoning  Spain 
for  a  moment,  be  bad  recourse  to  a  more  powerful  weapon 
from  the  same  armory.  Edward  tbe  Black  Prince,  tben  resi- 
dent at  Bordeaux,  was  induced  by  the  promise  of  Biscay  to 
enter  Spain  as  the  ally  of  Castile ;  and  at  tbe  great  battle 
of  Navarette  be  continued  lord  of  tbe  ascendant  over  those 
who  had  so  often  already  been  foiled  by  his  prowess  (a.d. 
1367).  Du  Guesclin  was  made  prisoner  ;  Henry  fled  to  Ara- 
gon,  and  Peter  remounted  the  throne.  But  a  second  revolu- 
tion was  at  hand  :  the  Black  Prince,  whom  he  had  ungrate- 
fully offended,  withdrew  into  Guienne;  and  he  lost  his  king- 
dom and  life  in  a  second  short  contest  with  his  brother. 

§  9.  A  more  fortunate  period  began  with  the  accession  of 
Henry  H.  (a.d.  1368).  His  own  reign  was  hardly  disturbed 
by  any  rebellion ;  and  though  his  successors,  John  I.  (a.d. 
1379)  and  Henry  HI.  (a.d.  1390),  were  not  altogether  so  un- 
molested, especially  the  latter,  who  ascended  the  throne  in 
his  minority,  yet  the  troubles  of  their  time  were  slight  in 
comparison  with  those  formerly  excited  by  the  houses  of 
Lara  and  Haro,  both  of  which  were  now  happily  extinct. 
Though  Henry  II.'s  illegitimacy  left  him  no  title  but  popu- 
lar choice,  his  queen  was  sole  representative  of  the  Cerdas, 
the  offspring,  as  has  been  mentioned  above,  of  Sancho  IV. 's 
elder  brother,  and,  by  the  extinction  of  the  younger  branch, 
unquestioned  heiress  of  the  royal  line.  Some  years  after- 
wards, by  the  marriage  of  Henry  HI.  with  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter of  John  of  Gaunt  and  of  Constance,  an  illegitimate  child 
of  Peter  the  Cruel,  her  pretensions,  such  as  they  were,  be- 
came merged  in  the  crown. 

No  kingdom  could  be  worse  prepared  to  meet  the  disor- 
ders of  a  minority  than  Castile,  and  in  none  did  the  circum- 
stances so  frequently  recur.  John  II.  was  but  fourteen 
months  old  at  his  accession  (a.d.  1406),  and  but  for  the  dis- 
interestedness of  his  uncle  Ferdinand,  the  nobility  would 
have  been  inclined  to  avert  the  danger  by  placing  that 
prince  upon  the  throne.  In  this  instance,  however,  Castile 
suffered  less  from  faction  during  the  infancy  of  her  sovereign 
than  in  his  maturity.  The  queen  dowager,  at  first  jointly 
with  Ferdinand,  and  solely  after  his  accession  to  the  crown 
of  Aragon,  administered  the  government  with  credit.  Fifty 
years  had  elapsed  at  her  death,  in  1418,  since  the  elevation 
of  the  house  of  Trastamare,  who  had  entitled  themselves  to 
public  affection  by  conforming  themselves  more  strictly  than 
their  predecessors  to  the  constitutional  laws  of  Castile,  which 
were  never  so  well  established  as  during  this  period.     This 


Spain.  HOUSE  OF  TRASTAMARE.  247 

companitively  golden  period  ceases  at  the  majority  of  John 
II.  His  reign  was  filled  np  by  a  series  of  conspiracies  and 
civil  wars,  headed  by  his  cousins  John  and  Henry,  the  in- 
fants of  Aragon,  who  enjoyed  very  extensive  territories  in 
Castile,  by  the  testament  of  their  father  Ferdinand.  Their 
brother,  the  king  of  Aragon,  frequently  lent  the  assistance 
of  his  arms.  John  himself,  the  elder  of  these  two  princes, 
by  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  the  kingdom  of  Navarre, 
stood  in  a  double  relation  to  Castile,  as  a  neighboring  sover- 
eign, and  as  a  member  of  the  native  oligarchy.  These  con- 
spiracies were  all  ostensibly  directed  against  the  favorite  of 
John  H.,  Alvaro  de  Luna,  who  retained  for  five-and-thirty 
years  an  absolute  control  over  his  feeble  master.  The  ad- 
verse faction  naturally  ascribed  to  this  powerful  minister  ev- 
ery criminal  intention  and  all  public  mischiefs.  He  was  cer- 
tainly not  more  scrupulous  than  the  generality  of  statesmen, 
and  appears  to  have  been  rapacious  in  accumulating  wealth. 
But  there  was  an  energy  and  courage  about  Alvaro  de  Luna 
which  distinguishes  him  from  the  cowardly  sycophants  who 
usually  rise  by  the  favor  of  weak  princes  ;  and  Castile  prob- 
ably would  not  have  been  happier  under  the  administration 
of  his  enemies.  His  fate  is  among  the  memorable  lessons  of 
history.  After  a  life  of  troubles  endured  for  the  sake  of  this 
favorite,  sometimes  a  fugitive,  sometimes  a  prisoner,  his  son 
heading  rebellions  against  him,  John  H.  suddenly  yielded  to 
an  intrigue  of  the  palace,  and  adopted  sentiments  of  dislike 
towards  the  man  he  had  so  long  loved.  No  substantial 
charge  appears  to  have  been  brought  against  Alvaro  de 
Luna,  except  that  general  malversation  which  it  was  too  late 
for  the  king  to  object  to  him.  The  real  cause  of  John's 
change  of  affection  was,  most  probably,  the  insupportable  re- 
straint which  the  weak  are  apt  to  find  in  that  spell  of  a  com- 
manding understanding  which  they  dare  not  break — the  tor- 
ment of  living  subject  to  the  ascendant  of  an  inferior,  which 
has  produced  so  many  examples  of  fickleness  in  sovereigns. 
That  of  John  IL  is  not  the  least  conspicuous.  Alvaro  de 
Luna  was  brought  to  a  summary  trial  and  beheaded ;  his  es- 
tates were  confiscated.  He  met  his  death  with  the  intrepid- 
ity of  Strafford,  to  whom  he  seems  to  have  borne  some  re- 
semblance in  character. 

John  H.  did  not  long  survive  his  minister,  dying  in  1454, 
after  a  reign  that  may  be  considered  as  inglorious  compared 
with  any  except  that  of  his  successor.  If  the  father  was  not 
respected,  the  son  fell  completely  into  contempt.  A  power- 
ful confederacy  of  disaffected  nobles  was  formed  against  the 


248  NATIONAL  COUNCILS.  Cuav.  IV. 

royal  authority,  and  Henry  IV.  was  deposed  in  an  assembly 
of  their  faction  at  Avila  with  a  sort  of  theatrical  pageantry 
which  has  often  been  described  (a.d.  1465).  The  confeder- 
ates set  up  Alfonso,  the  king's  brother,  and  a  civil  war  of 
some  duration  ensued,  in  which  they  had  the  support  of  Ara- 
gon.  The  Queen  of  Castile  had  at  this  time  borne  a  daugh- 
ter, whom  the  enemies  of  Henry  IV.,  and  indeed  no  small 
part  of  his  adherents,  were  determined  to  treat  as  spurious. 
Accordingly,  after  the  death  of  Alfonso,  his  sister  Isabel  was 
considered  as  heiress  of  the  kingdom.  She  might  have  as- 
-pired,  with  the  assistance  of  the  confederates,  to  its  immedi- 
ate possession  ;  but,  avoiding  the  odium  of  a  contest  with  her 
brother,  Isabel  agreed  to  a  treaty,  by  which  the  succession 
was  absolutely  settled  upon  her  (a.d.  1469).  This  arrange- 
ment was  not  long  afterwards  followed  by  the  union  of  that 
princess  with  Ferdinand,  son  of  the  King  of  Aragon.  This 
marriage  Avas  by  no  means  acceptable  to  a  part  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  oligarchy,  who  had  preferred  a  connection  with  Portu- 
gal. And  as  Henry  had  never  lost  sight  of  the  interests  of 
one  whom  he  considered,  or  pretended  to  consider,  as  his 
daughter,  he  took  the  first  opportunity  of  revoking  his  forced 
disposition  of  the  crown  and  restoring  the  direct  line  of  suc- 
cession in  favor  of  the  Princess  Joanna.  Ui^on  his  death,  in 
1474,  the  right  was  to  be  decided  by  arms.  The  scale  be- 
tween the  two  parties  was  pretty  equally  balanced  till,  the 
King  of  Portugal  having  been  defeated  at  Toro  in  1476,  Jo- 
anna's party  discovered  their  inability  to  prosecute  the  war 
by  themselves,  and  successively  made  their  submission  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

§  10.  The  Castilians  always  considered  themselves  as  sub- 
ject to  a  legal  and  limited  monarchy.  For  several  ages  the 
crown  was  elective,  as  in  most  nations  of  German  origin, 
within  the  limits  of  one  royal  family.  In  general,  of  course, 
the  public  choice  fell  upon  the  nearest  heir ;  and  it  became 
a  prevailing  usage  to  elect  a  son  during  the  lifetime  of  his 
father,  till  about  the  eleventh  century  a  right  of  hereditary 
succession  was  clearly  established. 

In  the  original  Gothic  monarchy  of  Spain,  civil  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  affairs  were  decided  in  national  councils,  the 
acts  of  many  of  which  are  still  extant,  and  have  been  pub- 
lished in  ecclesiastical  collections.  To  these  assemblies  the 
dukes  and  other  provincial  governors,  and  in  general  the 
principal  individuals  of  the  realm,  were  summoned  along 
with  spiritual  persons.  This  double  aristocracy  of  Church 
and  State  continued  to  form  the  great  council  of  advice  and 


Spain.  NATIONAL  COUNCILS.  240 

consent  in  the  first  ages  of  the  new  kingdoms  of  Leon  and 
Castile.  The  prelates  and  nobility,  or  rather  some  of  the 
more  distinguished  nobility,  appear  to  have  concurred  in  all 
general  measures  of  legislation,  as  we  infer  from  the  pream- 
ble of  their  statutes.  It  would  be  against  analogy,  as  well 
as  without  evidence,  to  suppose  that  any  representation  of 
the  commons  had  been  formed  in  the  earlier  period  of  the 
monarchy.  In  the  preamble  of  laws  passed  in  1020,  and  at 
several  subsequent  times  during  that  and  the  ensuing  centu- 
ry, we  find  only  the  bishops  and  magnates  recited  as  present. 
But  in  1188,  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Alfonso  IX.,  depu- 
ties from  the  Castilian  towns  are  expressly  mentioned  ;  and 
from  that  era  were  constant  and  necessary  parts  of  those 
general  assemblies. 

Every  chief  town  of  a  concejo  or  corporation  ought  per- 
haps, by  the  constitution  of  Castile,  to  have  received  its  reg- 
ular writ  for  the  election  of  deputies  to  Cortes.  J^ut  there 
does  not  appear  to  have  been,  in  the  best  times,  any  uniform 
practice  in  this  respect.  We  find,  in  short,  a  good  deal  more 
irregularity  than  during  the  same  period  in  England,  where 
the  number  of  electing  boroughs  varied  pretty  considerably 
at  every  Parliament.  Yet  the  Cortes  of  Castile  did  not  cease 
to  be  a  numerous  body  and  a  fair  representation  of  the  peo- 
ple till  the  reign  of  John  II.  The  first  princes  of  the  house 
of  Trastamare  had  acted  in  all  points  with  the  advice  of  their 
Cortes.  But  John  R.,  and  still  more  his  son  Henry  IV.,  being 
conscious  of  their  own  unpopularity,  did  not  venture  to  meet 
a  full  assembly  of  the  nation.  Their  writs  were  directed 
only  to  certain  towns — an  abuse  for  which  the  looseness  of 
preceding  usage  had  given  a  pretense.  It  must  be  owned 
that  the  people  bore  it  in  general  very  patiently.  Many  of 
the  corporate  towns,  impoverished  by  civil  warfare  and  oth- 
er causes,  were  glad  to  save  the  cost  of  defraying  their  depu- 
ties' expenses.  Thus,  by  the  year  1480,  only  seventeen  cities 
had  retained  privilege  of  representation.  A  vote  was  after- 
wards added  for  Granada,  and  three  more  in  later  times  for 
Palencia,  and  the  provinces  of  Estremadura  and  Galicia.'  It 
might  have  been  easy,  perhaps,  to  redress  this  grievance  while 
the  exclusion  was  yet  fresh  and  recent.     But  the  privileged 

8  The  cities  which  retained  their  representation  in  Cortes  were  Burgos,  Toledo 
(there  was  a  constant  dispute  for  precedence  between  these  two),  Leon,  Granada, 
Cordova,  Murcia,  Jaen,  Zamora,  Toro,  Soria,  Valladolid,  Salamanca,  Segovia,  Avila, 
Madrid,,  Guadalaxara,  and  Cuenca.  The  representatives  of  these  were  supposed  to 
vote  not  only  for  their  immediate  constituents,  but  for  other  adjacent  towns.  Thus 
Toro  voted  for  Palencia  and  the  kingdom  of  Galicia,  before  they  obtained  separate 
votes;  Salamanca  for  most  of  Estremadura ;  Guadalaxara  for  Siguenza  and  four 
hundred  other  towns. 

11* 


250  CONSTITUTION  OF  CORTES.  Chap.  IV. 

towns,  with  a  mean  and  preposterous  selfishness,  although 
their  zeal  for  liberty  was  at  its  height,  could  not  endure  the 
only  means  of  effectually  securing  it,  by  a  restoration  of  elect- 
ive franchises  to  their  fellow-citizens.  The  Cortes  of  1506 
assert,  with  one  of  those  bold  falsifications  upon  which  a  pop- 
ular body  sometimes  ventures,  that  "  it  is  established  by 
some  laws,  and  by  immemorial  usage,  that  eighteen  cities  of 
these  kingdoms  have  the  right  of  sending  deputies  to  Cortes, 
and  no  more ;"  remonstrating  against  the  attempts  made  by 
some  otlier  towns  to  obtain  the  same  privilege,  which  they 
request  may  not  be  conceded.  This  remonstrance  is  repeat- 
ed in  1512. 

From  the  reign  of  Alfonso  XL,  who  restrained  the  govern- 
ment of  corporations  to  an  oligarchy  of  magistrates,  the 
right  of  electing  members  of  Cortes  was  confined  to  the  rul- 
ing body,  the  bailiffs  or  regidores,  whose  number  seldom  ex- 
ceeded twenty-four,  and  whose  succession  was  kept  up  by 
close  election  among  themselves.  The  people  therefore  had 
no  direct  share  in  the  choice  of  representatives.  Experience 
proved,  as  several  instances  in  these  pages  will  show,  that 
even  upon  this  narrow  basis  the  deputies  of  Castile  were  not 
deficient  in  zeal  for  their  country  and  its  liberties.  But  it 
must  be  confessed  that  a  small  body  of  electors  is  always 
liable  to  corrupt  influence  and  to  intimidation.  John  TI.  and 
Henry  IV.  often  invaded  the  freedom  of  election ;  the  latter 
even  named  some  of  the  deputies.  Several  energetic  re- 
monstrances v>'ere  made  in  Cortes  against  this  flagrant  griev- 
ance. Laws  were  enacted  and  other  precautions  devised  to 
secure  the  due  return  of  deputies.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
the  evil,  of  course,  was  aggravated.  Charles  and  Philip  cor- 
rupted the  members  by  bribery.  Even  in  1573  the  Cortes 
are  bold  enough  to  complain  that  creatures  of  government 
were  sent  thither, "  who  were  always  held  for  suspected  by 
the  other  deputies,  and  cause  disagreement  among  them." 

There  seems  to  be  a  considerable  obscurity  about  the 
constitution  of  the  Cortes,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  two  higher 
estates,  the  spiritual  and  temporal  nobility.  It  is  admitted 
that  down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
especially  before  the  introduction  of  representatives  from 
the  commons,  they  v/ere  summoned  in  considerable  num- 
bers. But  from  the  reign  of  Sancho  IV.  they  took  much  less 
share  and  retained  much  less  influence  in  the  deliberation  of 
Cortes.  In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  they  were 
more  and  more  excluded. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  king  exercised  very  freely  a  prerog 


Spain.  RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  251 

ative  of  calling  or  omitting  persons  of  both  the  higher  or- 
ders at  his  discretion.  The  bishops  were  numerous,  and 
many  of  their  sees  not  rich  ;  while  the  same  objections  of  in- 
convenience applied  perhaps  to  the  ricoshombres,  but  far 
more  forcibly  to  the  lower  nobility,  the  hijosdalgo  or  cabal- 
leros.  Castile  never  adopted  the  institution  of  deputies  from 
this  order,  as  in  the  States-General  of  France  and  some  other 
countries,  much  less  that  liberal  system  of  landed  representa- 
tion, which  forms  one  of  the  most  admirable  peculiarities  in 
our  own  constitution.  It  will  be  seen  hereafter  that  spiritu- 
al and  even  temporal  peers  were  summoned  by  our  kings 
with  much  irregularity ;  and  the  disordered  state  of  Castile 
through  almost  every  reign  was  likely  to  prevent  the  estab- 
lishment of  any  fixed  usage  in  this  and  most  other  points. 

§  11.  The  primary  and  most  essential  characteristic  of  a 
limited  monarchy  is  that  money  can  only  be  levied  upon  the 
people  through  the  consent  of  their  representatives.  This 
principle  was  thoroughly  established  in  Castile ;  and  the 
statutes  which  enforce  it,  the  remonstrances  which  protest 
against  its  violation,  bear  a  lively  analogy  to  corresponding 
circumstances  in  the  history  of  our  constitution.  The  lands 
of  the  nobility  and  clergy  were,  I  believe,  always  exempted 
from  direct  taxation — an  immunity  which  perhaps  rendered 
the  attendance  of  the  members  of  those  estates  in  the  Cortes 
less  regular.  The  corporate  districts  or  conjegos,  which,  as 
I  have  observed  already,  differed  from  the  communities  of 
France  and  England  by  possessing  a  large  extent  of  terri- 
tory subordinate  to  the  principal  town,  were  bound  by  their 
charter  to  a  stipulated  annual  payment,  the  price  of  their 
franchises,  called  moneda  forera.  Beyond  this  sum  nothing 
could  be  demanded  without  the  consent  of  the  Cortes.  De- 
mands of  money  do  not  seem  to  have  been  very  usual  before 
the  prodigal  reign  of  Alfonso  X.  That  prince  and  his  im- 
mediate successors  were  not  much  inclined  to  respect  the 
rights  of  their  subjects ;  but  they  encountered  a  steady  and 
insuperable  resistance.  An  explicit  law  was  enacted  by  Al- 
fonso XI.  in  1328,  who  bound  himself  not  to  exact  from  his 
people,  or  cause  them  to  pay  any  tax,  either  partial  or  gen* 
eral,  not  hitherto  established  by  law,  without  the  previous 
grant  of  all  the  deputies  convened  to  the  Cortes.  This  abo- 
lition of  illegal  impositions  was  several  times  confirmed  by 
the  same  prince,  and  his  successors.  The  Catholic  kings,  as 
they  are  eminently  called,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  never  vio- 
lated this  part  of  the  constitution.  In  the  Recopilacion,  or 
code  of  Castilian  law  published  by  Philip  II.,  we  read  a  posi' 


252  EIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  Chap.  IV 

tive  declaration  against  arbitrary  imposition  of  taxes,  which 
remained  unaltered  on  the  statute-book  till  the  present  age. 
The  law  was  indeed  frequently  broken  by  Philip  11.  ;  but  the 
Cortes,  who  retained  throughout  the  16th  century  a  degree 
of  steadiness  and  courage  truly  admirable  when  we  consider 
their  political  weakness,  did  not  cease  to  remonstrate  with 
that  suspicious  tyrant,  and  recorded  their  unavailing  appeal 
to  the  law  of  Alfonso  XL, "  so  ancient  and  just,  and  which  so 
long  time  has  been  used  and  observed." 

The  free  assent  of  the  people  by  their  representatives  to 
grants  of  money  was  by  no  means  a  mere  matter  of  form. 
It  was  connected  with  other  essential  rights  indispensable  to 
its  effectual  exercise ;  those  of  examining  public  accounts 
and  checking  the  expenditure.  The  Cortes,  in  the  best  times 
at  least,  were  careful  to  grant  no  money  until  they  were  as- 
sured that  what  had  been  already  levied  on  their  constitu- 
ents had  been  properly  employed. 

The  contributions  granted  by  Cortes  were  assessed  and 
collected  by  respectable  individuals  (hombres  buenos)  of  the 
several  towns  and  villages.  This  repartition^  as  the  French 
call  it,  of  direct  taxes  is  a  matter  of  the  highest  importance 
in  those  countries  where  they  are  imposed  by  means  of 
a  gross  assessment  on  a  district.  The  produce  was  paid 
to  the  royal  council.  It  could  not  be  applied  to  any  other 
purpose  than  that  to  which  the  tax  had  been  appropriated. 
Thus  the  Cortes  of  Segovia,  in  1407,  granted  a  subsidy  for 
the  war  against  Granada,  on  condition  "  that  it  should  not 
be  laid  out  on  any  other  service  except  this  war;"  which 
they  requested  the  queen  and  Ferdinand,  both  regents  in 
John  II.'s  minority,  to  confirm  by  oath.  Part,  however,  of 
the  money  remaining  unexpended,  Ferdinand  wished  to  apply 
it  to  his  own  object  of  procuring  the  ci'own  of  Aragon  ;  but 
the  queen  first  obtained  not  only  a  release  from  her  oath  by 
the  pope,  but  the  consent  of  the  Cortes. 

The  Cortes  did  not  consider  it  beyond  the  line  of  their 
duty,  notwithstanding  the  respectful  manner  in  which  they 
always  addressed  the  sovereign,  to  remonstrate  against  pro- 
fuse expenditure  even  in  his  own  household.  They  told  Al- 
fonso X.  in  1258,  in  the  homely  style  of  that  age,  that  they 
thought  it  fitting  that  the  king  and  his  wife  should  eat  at 
the  rate  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  maravedis  a  day,  and  no 
more ;  and  that  the  king  should  order  his  attendants  to  eat 
more  moderately  than  they  did.  Even  in  1559  they  spoke 
with  an  undaunted  Castilian  spirit  to  Philip  II :  "  Sir,  the 
expenses  of  your  royal   establishment  and   household    are 


Spain.  POWER  AND  FORMS  OF  THE  CORTES.  253 

much  increased  ;  and  we  conceive  it  would  much  redound 
to  the  good  of  these  kingdoms  that  your  majesty  should  di- 
rect them  to  be  lowered,  both  as  a  relief  to  your  wants,  and 
that  all  the  great  men  and  other  subjects  of  your  majesty 
may  take  example  therefrom  to  restrain  the  great  disorder 
and  excess  they  commit  in  that  respect." 

§  12.  The  forms  of  a  Castilian  Cortes  were  analogous  to 
those  of  an  English  Parliament  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
They  were  summoned  by  a  writ  almost  exactly  coincident  in 
"expression  with  that  in  use  among  us.  The  session  was 
opened  by  a  speech  from  the  chancellor  or  other  chief  officer 
of  the  court.  The  deputies  were  invited  to  consider  certain 
special  business,  and  commonly  to  grant  money.  After  the 
principal  aiFairs  were  dispatched  they  conferred  together, 
and,  having  examined  the  instructions  of  their  respective 
constituents,  drew  up  a  schedule  of  petitions.  These  were 
duly  answered  one  by  one ;  and  from  the  petition  and  an- 
swer, if  favorable,  laws  were  afterwards  drawn  up  where  the 
matter  required  a  new  law,  or  promises  of  redress  were  given 
if  the  petition  related  to  an  abuse  or  grievance.  In  the 
struggling  condition  of  Spanish  liberty  under  Charles  I.,  the 
crown  began  to  neglect  answering  the  petitions  of  Cortes,  or 
to  use  unsatisfactory  generalities  of  expression.  This  gave 
rise  to  many  remonstrances.  The  deputies  insisted  in  1523 
on  having  answers  before  they  granted  money.  They  re- 
peated the  same  contention  in  1525,  and  obtained  a  general 
law  inserted  in  the  Recopilacion  enacting  that  the  king 
should  answer  all  their  petitions  before  he  dissolved  the  as- 
sembly. This,  however,  was  disregarded  as  before  ;  but  the 
Cortes  whose  intrepid  honesty  under  Philip  II.  so  often  at- 
tracts our  admiration  continued  as  late  as  1586  to  af)peal  to 
the  written  statute  and  lament  its  violation. 

§  13.  According  to  the  ancient  fundamental  constitution 
of  Castile,  the  king  did  not  legislate  for  his  subjects  without 
their  consent.  This  consent  was  originally  given  only  by 
the  higher  estates,  who  might  be  considered,  in  a  large  sense, 
as  representing  the  nation,  though  not  chosen  by  it ;  but  from 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  by  the  elected  deputies  of  the 
commons  in  Cortes.  The  laws  of  the  Siete  Partidas,  compiled 
by  Alfonso  X.,  did  not  obtain  any  direct  sanction  till  the  fa- 
mous Cortes  of  Alcala,  in  1348,  when  they  were  confirmed 
along  with  several  others,  forming  altogether  the  basis  of 
the  statute-law^  of  Spain.  It  appears,  upon  the  whole,  to 
have  been  a  constitutional  principle,  that  laws  could  nei- 
ther be  made  nor  annulled  except  in  Cortes.     In  1506  this  is 


254  LEGISLATIVE  RIGHT.  Chap.  IV. 

claimed  by  the  deputies  as  an  established  right.  John  I. 
had  long  before  admitted  that  what  was  done  by  Cortes  and 
general  assemblies  could  not  be  undone  by  letters  missive, 
but  by  such  Cortes  and  assemblies  alone.  For  the  kings  of 
Castile  had  adopted  the  English  practice  of  dispensing  with 
statutes  by  a  non  obstante  clause  in  their  grants.  But  the 
Cortes  remonstrated  more  steadily  against  this  abuse  than 
our  Parliament,  who  suffered  it  to  remain  in  a  certain  degree 
till  the  Revolution.  It  was  several  times  enacted  upon  their 
petition,  especially  by  an  explicit  statute  of  Henry  II.,  that 
grants  and  letters  patent  dispensing  Avith  statutes  should  not 
be  obeyed.  Nevertheless,  John  II.,  trusting  to  force  or  the 
servility  of  the  judges,  had  the  assurance  to  dispense  explic- 
itly with  this  very  law.  The  Cortes  of  Valladolid,  in  1442, 
obtained  fresh  promises  and  enactments  against  such  an 
abuse.  Philij)  I.  and  Charles  I.  began  to  legislate  without 
asking  the  consent  of  Cortes ;  this  grew  much  worse  under 
Philip  IL,  and  reached  its  height  under  his  successors,  who 
entirely  abolished  all  constitutional  privileges.  In  1555  we 
find  a  petition  that  laws  made  in  Cortes  should  be  revoked 
nowhere  else.  The  reply  was  such  as  became  that  age :  "  To 
this  we  answer,  that  we  shall  do  what  best  suits  our  govern- 
ment." But  even  in  1619,  and  still  afterwards,  the  patriot 
representatives  of  Castile  continued  to  lift  an  unavailing 
voice  against  illegal  ordinances,  though  in  the  form  of  very 
humble  petition ;  perhaps  the  latest  testimonies  to  the  expir- 
ing liberties  of  their  country.  The  denial  of  exclusive  legis- 
lative authority  to  the  crown  must,  however,  be  understood 
to  admit  the  legality  of  particular  ordinances  designed  to 
strengthen  the  king's  executive  government.  These,  no 
doubt,  like  the  royal  proclamations  in  England,  extended 
sometimes  very  far,  and  subjected  the  people  to  a  sort  of  ar- 
bitrary coercion,  much  beyond  what  our  enlightened  notions 
of  freedom  would  consider  as  reconcilable  to  it.  But  in 
the  Middle  Ages  such  temporary  commands  and  prohibitions 
were  not  reckoned  strictly  legislative,  and  passed,  perhaps 
rightly,  for  inevitable  consequences  of  a  scanty  code  and 
short  session  of  the  national  council. 

The  kings  w^ere  obliged  to  swear  to  the  observance  of 
laws  enacted  in  Cortes,  besides  their  general  coronation  oath 
to  keep  the  laws  and  preserve  the  liberties  of  their  people. 

§  14.  It  w^as  customary  to  assemble  the  Cortes  of  Castile 
for  many  purposes  besides  those  of  granting  money  and  con- 
curring in  legislation.  They  were  summoned  in  every  reign 
to  acknowledge  and  confirm  the  succession  of  the  heir-appar- 


Spain.  COUNCIL  OF  CASTILE.  255 

ent;  and  upon  his  accession  to  swear  allegiance.  These  acts 
were,  however,  little  more  than  formal,  and  accordingly  have 
been  preserved  for  the  sake  of  parade  after  all  the  real  dig- 
nity of  the  Cortes  was  annihilated.  In  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  they  claimed  and  exercised  very  ample 
powers.  They  assumed  the  right,  when  questions  of  regency 
occurred,  to  limit  the  prerogative,  as  well  as  to  designate 
the  persons  who  were  to  use  it.  And  the  frequent  minori- 
ties of  Castilian  kings,  which  were  unfavorable  enough  to 
tranquillity  and  subordination,  served  to  confirm  these  par- 
liamentary privileges.  The  Cortes  were  usually  consulted 
upon  all  material  business.  A  law  of  Alfonso  XI.  in  1328, 
printed  in  the  liecopilacion  or  code  published  by  Philip  II., 
declares,  "  Since  in  the  arduous  affairs  of  our  kingdom  the 
counsel  of  our  natural  subjects  is  necessary,  especially  of  the 
deputies  from  our  cities  and  towns,  therefore  we  ordain  and 
command  that  on  such  great  occasions  the  Cortes  shall  be 
assembled,  and  counsel  shall  be  taken  of  the  three  estates  of 
our  kingdoms,  as  the  kings  our  forefathers  have  been  used 
to  do. 

§  15.  The  kings  of  Leon  and  Castile  acted,  during  the  in- 
terval of  the  Cortes,  by  the  advice  of  a  smaller  council,  an- 
swering, as  it  seems,  almost  exactly  to  the  king's  ordinary 
council  in  England.  In  early  ages,  before  the  introduction 
of  the  commons,  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  this 
body  from  the  general  council  of  the  nation  ;  being  com- 
posed, in  fact,  of  the  same  class  of  persons,  though  in  smaller 
numbers.  A  similar  difficulty  applies  to  the  English  history. 
The  nature  of  their  proceedings  seems  best  to  ascertain  the 
distinction.  All  executive  acts,  including  those  ordinances 
which  may  appear  rather  of  a  legislative  nature,  all  grants 
and  charters,  are  declared  to  be  with  the  assent  of  the  court 
(curia)  or  of  the  magnates  of  the  palace,  or  of  the  chiefs  or 
nobles.  This  privy  council  was  an  essential  part  of  all  Eu- 
ropean monarchies ;  and,  though  the  sovereign  might  be 
considered  as  free  to  call  in  the  advice  of  whomsoever  he 
pleased,  yet,  in  fact,  the  princes  of  the  blood  and  most  pow- 
erful nobility  had  anciently  a  constitutional  right  to  be  mem- 
bers of  such  a  council,  so  that  it  formed  a  very  material  check 
upon  his  personal  authority. 

The  council  underwent  several  changes  in  progress  of  time 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  enumerate.  It  was  justly  deemed 
an  important  member  of  the.  constitution,  and  the  Cortes 
showed  a  laudable  anxiety  to  procure  its  composition  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  form  a  guaranty  for  the  due  execution  ot* 


256  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE.  Chap.  IV. 

laws  after  their  own  dissolution.  Several  times,  especially 
in  minorities,  they  even  named  its  members,  or  a  part  of  theni; 
and  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  III.  and  John  II.  they  obtained 
the  privilege  of  adding  a  permanent  deputation,  consisting 
of  four  persons  elected  out  of  their  own  body,  annexed  as  it 
were  to  the  council,  who  were  to  continue  at  the  court  dur- 
ing the  interval  of  Cortes  and  watch  over  the  due  observance 
of  the  laws.  This  deputation  continued  as  an  empty  formal- 
ity in  the  sixteenth  century.  In  the  council  the  king  was 
bound  to  sit  personally  three  days  in  the  week.  Their  busi- 
ness, which  included  the  whole  executive  government,  was 
distributed  with  considerable  accuracy  into  what  might  be 
dispatched  by  the  council  alone,  under  their  own  seals  and 
signatures,  and  what  required  the  royal  seal.  The  consent 
of  this  body  was  necessary  for  almost  every  act  of  the  crown ; 
for  pensions  or  grants  of  money,  ecclesiastical  and  political 
promotions,  and  for  charters  of  pardon,  the  easy  concession 
of  which  was  a  great  encouragement  to  the  homicides  so 
usual  in  those  ages,  and  was  restrained  by  some  of  our  own 
laws.  But  the  council  did  not  exercise  any  judicial  au- 
thority, unlike  in  this  to  the  ordinary  council  of  the  kings 
of  England.  It  was  not  until  the  days  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  that  this,  among  other  innovations,  was  introduced. 

§  16.  Civil  and  criminal  justice  was  administered,  in  the 
first  instance,  by  the  alcaldes,  or  municipal  judges  of  towns; 
elected  within  themselves,  originally,  by  the  community  at 
large,  but,  in  subsequent  times,  by  the  governing  body.  In 
other  places  a  lord  possessed  the  right  of  jurisdiction  by 
grant  from  the  crown,  not,  what  we  find  in  countries  where 
the  feudal  system  was  more  thoroughly  established,  as  inci- 
dent to  his  own  territorial  superiority.  The  kings,  however, 
began  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  -appoint  judges  of  their 
own,  called  corregidores,  a  name  which  seems  to  express  con- 
current jurisdiction  with  the  regidores,  or  ordinary  magis- 
trates. The  Cortes  frequently  remonstrated  against  this  en- 
croachment. Even  where  the  king  appointed  magistrates  at 
a  city's  request,  he  was  bound  to  select  them  from  among  the 
citizens.  From  this  immediate  jurisdiction  an  appeal  lay  to 
the  adelantado  or  governor  of  the  province,  and  from  thence 
to  the  tribunal  of  royal  alcaldes.  As  a  court  of  appeal,  the 
royal  alcaldes  had  the  supreme  jurisdiction.  The  king  could 
only  cause  their  sentence  to  be  revised,  but  neither  alter  nor 
revoke  it. 

§  17.  Castile  bore  a  closer  analogy  to  England  in  its  form 
of  civil  polity  than  France  or  even  Aragon.     But  the  frequent 


Sixain.  AFFAIRS  OF  ARAGON.  257 

disorders  of  its  government  and  a  barbarous  state  of  manners 
rendered  violations  of  law  much  more  continual  and  flagrant 
than  they  were  in  England  under  the  Plantagenet  dynasty. 
And  besides  these  practical  mischiefs,  there  were  two  essen- 
tial defects  in  the  constitution  of  Castile,  through  which, 
perhaps,  it  was  ultimately  subverted.  It  wanted  those  two 
brilliants  in  the  coronet  of  British  liberty,  the  representa- 
tion of  freeholders  among  the  commons,  and  trial  by  jury. 
The  Cortes  of  Castile  became  a  congress  of  deputies  from  a 
few  cities,  public-spirited  indeed  and  intrepid,  as  we  find 
them  in  bad  times,  to  an  eminent  degree,  but  too  much  lim- 
ited* in  number,  and  too  unconnected  with  the  territorial 
aristocracy,  to  maintain  a  just  balance  against  the  crown. 
Yet,  with  every  disadvantage,  that  country  possessed  a  lib- 
eral form  of  government,  and  was  animated  with  a  noble 
spirit  for  its  defense. 

§  18.  Though  the  kingdom  of  Aragon  was  very  inferior  in 
extent  to  that  of  Castile,  yet  the  advantages  of  a  better  form 
of  government  and  wiser  sovereigns,  with  those  of  industry 
and  commerce  along  a  line  of  sea-coast,  rendered  it  almost 
equal  in  importance.  Castile  rarely  intermeddled  in  the 
civil  dissensions  of  Aragon ;  the  kings  of  Aragon  frequently 
carried  their  arms  into  the  heart  of  Castile.  During  the 
sanguinary  outrages  of  Peter  the  Cruel,  and  the  stormy  rev- 
olutions which  ended  in  establishing  the  house  of  Trastamare, 
Aragon  was  not  indeed  at  peace,  nor  altogether  well  gov- 
erned;  but  her  political  consequence  rose  in  the  eyes  of  Eu- 
rope through  the  long  reign  of  the  ambitious  and  wily  Peter 
IV.,  whose  sagacity  and  good-fortune  redeemed,  according 
to  the  common  notions  of  mankind,  the  iniquity  with  which 
he  stripped  his  relation,  the  King  of  Majorca,  of  the  Belearic 
Islands,  and  the  constant  perfidiousness  of  his  character.  I 
have  mentioned  in  another  place  the  Sicilian  war,  prosecuted 
with  so  much  eagerness  for  many  years  by  Peter  III.  and  his 
son  Alfonso  III."  After  this  object  was  relinquished,  James 
II.  undertook  an  enterprise  less  splendid,  but  not  much  less 
difficult,  the  conquest  of  Sardinia.  That  island,  long  accus- 
tomed to  independence,  cost  an  incredible  expense  of  blood 
and  treasure  to  the  kings  of  Aragon  during  the  whole  four- 
teenth century.  It  was  not  fully  subdued  till  the  commence- 
ment of  the  next,  under  the  reign  of  Martin. 

At  the  death  of  Martin,  king  of  Aragon,  in  1410,  a  memo- 
rable question  arose  as  to  the  right  of  succession.  Though 
Petronilla,  daughter  of  Ramiro  II.,  had  reigned  in  her  own 

«  See  p.  222. 


258 


AFFAIRS  OF  AllAGON. 


Chai-.  IV. 


right  from  1137  to  1172,  an  opinion  seems  to  have  gained 
ground  from  the  thirteenth  century  that  females  could  not 
inherit  the  crown  of  Aragon.  Peter  IV.  had  excited  a  civil 
war  by  attempting  to  settle  the  succession  upon  his  daughter, 
to  the  exclusion  of  his  next  brother.  The  birth  of  a  son 
about  the  same  time  suspended  the  ultimate  decision  of  this 
question ;  but  it  was  tacitly  understood  that  what  is  called 
the  Salic  law  ought  to  prevail.  Accordingly,  on  the  death 
of  John  I.  in  1395,  his  two  daughters  were  set  aside  in  favor 
of  his  brother  Martin,  though  not  without  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  elder,  whose  husband,  the  Count  of  Foix,  invaded 
the  kingdom,  and  desisted  from  his  pretension  only  through 
want  of  force.  Martin's  son,  the  King  of  Sicily,  dying  in  his 
father's  lifetime,  the  nation  was  anxious  that  the  king  should 
fix  upon  his  successor,  and  would  probably  have  acquiesced 
in  his  choice.  But  his  dissolution  occurring  more  rapidly 
than  was  expected,  the  throne  remained  absolutely  vacant. 
The  Count  of  Urgel  had  obtained  a  grant  of  the  lieutenancy, 
which  was  the  right  of  the  heir-apparent.  This  nobleman 
possessed  an  extensive  territory  in  Catalonia,  bordering  on 
the  Pyrenees.  He  was  grandson  of  James,  next  brother  to 
Peter  lY.,  and,  according  to  our  rules  of  inheritance,  certainly 
stood  in  the  first  place.  The  other  claimants  were  the  Duke 
of  Gandia,  grandson  of  James  II.,"^  who,  though  descended 
from  a  more  distant  ancestor,  set  up  a  claim  founded  on 
proximity  to  the  royal  stock,  w^hich  in  some  countries  w^as 
preferred  to  a  representative  title ;  the  Duke  of  Calabria, 
son  of  Violante,  younger  daughter  of  John  I.  (the  Countess 
of  Foix  being  childless) ;  Frederick,  count  of  Luna,  a  natural 

8  The  subjoined  pedigree  will  show  more  clearly  the  respective  titles  of  the  com- 
petitors : 

James  II.,  died  1327. 


Alfonso  IV.,  d.  1336. 

I 


D.ofG, 


andia. 


Petkr  IV.,  d.  1337. 

I 


James,         D.  of  Cfandia. 
C.  of  Urgel. 


II  II 

fileauor,  Q.  of  Castile.       John  I.,  d.  1395.       Martin,  Peter, 

d.  1410.         C.  of  Urgel. 


Henry  III.,       Ferdinand. 
K.  of  Castile. 


C.  of  UrgeL 


Martin, 
K.  of  Sicily,  1409. 


I  Joanna,         Violante,  I 

John  11. ,  Countess     Q.  of  Naples.  | 

K.  of  Castile.       of  Foix.  |  Frederick, 

I  C.  of  Luna. 
Louis,  D.  of 
Calabria. 


Spain.  AFFAIRS  OF  ARAGON.  259 

son  of  the  younger  Martin,  king  of  Sicily,  legitimated  by  the 
pope,  but  with  a  reservation  excluding  him  from  royal  suc- 
cession ;  and  finally,  Ferdinand,  infant  of  Castile,  son  of  the 
late  king's  sister.  The  Count  of  Urgel  was  favored  in  gen- 
eral by  the  Catalans,  and  he  seemed  to  have  a  powerful  sup- 
port in  Antonio  de  Luna,  a  baron  of  Aragon,  so  rich  that 
he  might  go  through  his  own  estate  from  France  to  Castile, 
But  this  apparent  superiority  frustrated  his  hopes.  The  jus- 
ticiary and  other  leading  Aragonese  were  determined  not  to 
suffer  this  great  constitutional  question  to  be  decided  by  an 
appeal  to  force,  which  might  sweep  away  their  liberties  in 
the  struggle.  ITrgel,  confident  of  his  right,  and  surrounded 
by  men  of  ruined  fortunes,  was  unwilling  to  submit  his  pre- 
tensions to  a  civil  tribunal.  His  adherent,  Antonio  de  Luna, 
committed  an  extraordinary  outrage,  the  assassination  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Saragossa,  which  alienated  the  minds  of  good 
citizens  from  his  cause.  On  the  other  hand,  neither  the  Duke 
of  Gandia,  who  was  very  old,  nor  the  Count  of  Luna  seemed 
fit  to  succeed.  The  party  of  Ferdinand,  therefore,  gained 
ground  by  degrees.  It  was  determined,  however,  to  render 
a  legal  sentence.  The  Cortes  of  each  nation  agreed  upon  the 
nomination  of  nine  persons,  three  Aragonese,  three  Catalans, 
and  three  Valencians,  who  were  to  discuss  the  pretensions  of 
the  several  competitors,  and  by  a  plurality  of  six  votes  to 
adjudge  the  crown.  Nothing  could  be  more  solemn,  more 
peaceful,  nor,  in  appearance,  more  equitable  than  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  tribunal.  They  summoned  the  claimants 
before  them,  and  heard  them  by  counsel.  A  month  was 
passed  in  hearing  arguments ;  a  second  was  allotted  to  con- 
sidering them ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  the  prescribed  time 
it  was  announced  to  the  people,  by  the  mouth  of  St.  Vincent 
Ferrier,  that  Ferdinand  of  Castile  had  ascended  the  throne 
(a.d.  1412). 

In  this  decision  it  is  impossible  not  to  suspect  that  the 
judges  were  swayed  rather  by  politic  considerations  than 
a  strict  sense  of  hereditary  right.  It  was,  therefore,  by  no 
means  universally  popular,  especially  in  Catalonia,  of  which 
principality  the  Count  of  IJrgel  was  a  native ;  and  perhaps 
the  great  rebellion  of  the  Catalans  fifty  years  afterwards 
may  be  traced  to  the  disaffection  which  this  breach,  as  they 
thought,  of  the  lawful  succession  had  excited.  Ferdinand, 
however,  was  well  received  in  Aragon.  Ferdinand's  suc- 
cessor was  his  son,  Alfonso  Y,  (a.d.  1416),  more  distinguished 
in  the  history  of  Italy  than  of  Spain.  For  all  the  latter  years 
of  his  life  he  never  quitted  the  kingdom  that  he  had  acquired 


260  CONSTITUTION  OF  ARAGON.  Chap.  I\. 

by  his  arms ;  and,  enchanted  by  the  delicious  air  of  Naples, 
intrusted  the  government  of  his  patrimonial  territories  to  the 
care  of  a  brother  and  an  heir,  John  II.,  upon  whom  they  de- 
volved by  the  death  of  Alfonso  without  legitimate  progeny. 

§  19.  It  is  consonant  with  the  principle  of  this  work  to 
pass  over  the  common  details  of  history,  in  order  to  fix  the 
reader's  attention  more  fully  on  subjects  of  philosophical  in- 
quiry. Perhaps  in  no  European  monarchy  except  our  own 
was  the  form  of  government  more  interesting  than  in  Ara- 
gon,  as  a  fortunate  temperament  of  law  and  justice  with  the 
royal  authority.  So  far  as  any  thing  can  be  pronounced  of 
its  earlier  period  before  the  capture  of  Saragossa  in  1118,  it 
was  a  kind  of  regal  aristocracy,  where  a  small  number  of 
powerful  barons  elected  their  sovereign  on  every  vacancy, 
though,  as  usual  in  other  countries,  out  of  one  family ;  and 
considered  him  as  little  more  than  the  chief  of  their  confed- 
eracy. These  were  the  r icos ho inbres,  or  barons,  the  first  or- 
der of  the  state.  Among  these  the  kings  of  Aragon,  in  sub- 
sequent times,  as  they  extended  their  dominions,  shared  the 
conquered  territory  in  grants  of  honors  on  a  feudal  tenure. 
For  this  system  was  fully  established  in  the  kingdom  of  Ara- 
gon. A  ricohombre  was  obliged  to  hold  of  the  king  an  hon- 
or or  barony  capable  of  supporting  more  than  three  knights ; 
and  this  he  was  bound  to  distribute  among  his  vassals  in 
military  fiefs.  Once  in  the  year  he  might  be  summoned 
with  his  feudatories  to  serve  the  sovereign  for  two  or  three 
months;  and  he  was  to  attend  the  royal  court,  or  general 
assembly,  as  a  counsellor,  whenever  called  upon,  assisting  in 
its  judicial  as  well  as  deliberative  business.  In  the  towns 
ind  villages  of  his  barony  he  might  appoint  bailiifs  to  ad- 
minister justice  and  receive  penalties ;  but  the  higher  crim- 
inal jurisdiction  seems  to  have  been  reserved  to  the  crown. 

Below  these  superior  nobles  were  the  mesnadaries^  cor- 
responding to  our  mere  tenants  in  chief,  holding  estates  not 
baronial  immediately  from  the  crown ;  and  the  military  vas- 
sals of  the  high  nobility,  the  knights  and  infanzones:  a  word 
which  may  be  rendered  by  gentlemen.  These  had  consider- 
able privileges  in  that  aristocratic  government;  they  were 
exempted  from  all  taxes,  they  could  only  be  tried  by  the 
royal  judges  for  any  crime ;  and  offenses  committed  against 
them  were  punished  with  additional  severity.  The  ignoble 
classes  were,  as  in  other  countries,  the  burgesses  of  towns, 
and  the  villeins  or  peasantry.  The  peasantry  seem  to  have 
been  subject  to  territorial  servitude,  as  in  France  and  En- 
gland. 


Spain.  PRIVILEGES  OF  ARAGON.  261 

§  20.  Though  from  the  twelfth  century  the  principle  of 
hereditary  succession  to  the  throne  superseded,  in  Aragon  as 
well  as  Castile,  the  original  right  of  choosing  a  sovereign 
within  the  royal  family,  it  was  still  founded  upon  one  more 
sacred  and  fundamental,  that  of  compact.  No  king  of  Ara- 
gon was  entitled  to  assume  that  name  until  he  had  taken  a 
coronation  oath,  adniinistered  by  the  justiciary  at  Saragossa, 
to  observe  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  realm. 

Blancas  quotes  a  noble  passage  from  the  acts  of  Cortes  in 
1451.  "We  have  always  heard  of  old  time,  and  it  is  found 
by  experience,  that,  seeing  the  great  barrenness  of  this  land, 
and  the  poverty  of  the  realm,  if  it  were  not  for  the  liberties 
thereof,  the  folk  would  go  hence  to  live  and  abide  in  other 
realms  and  lands  more  fruitful."  This  high  spirit  of  freedom 
had  long  animated  the  Aragonese.  After  several  contests 
with  the  crown,  they  compelled  Peter  III.,  in  1283,  to  grant  a 
law,  called  the  General  Privilege,  the  Magna  Charta  of  Ara- 
gon, and  perhaps  a  more  full  and  satisfactory  basis  of  civil 
liberty  than  our  own.  It  contains  a  series  of  provisions 
against  arbitrary  tallages,  spoliations  of  property,  secret  proc- 
ess after  the  manner  of  the  Inquisition  in  criminal  charges, 
sentences  of  the  justiciary  without  assent  of  the  Cortes,  a]> 
pointment  of  foreigners  or  Jews  to  judicial  offices  ;  trials  of 
accused  persons  in  places  beyond  the  kingdom,  the  use  of  tor- 
ture, except  in  charges  of  falsifying  the  coin,  and  the  bribery 
of  judges.  These  are  claimed  as  the  ancient  liberties  of  their 
country.  "Absolute  power,  it  is  declared,  never  was  the 
constitution  of  Aragon,  nor  of  Valencia,  nor  yet  of  Ribagor9a, 
nor  shall  there  be  in  time  to  come  any  innovation  made;  but 
only  the  law,  custom,  and  privilege  which  has  been  anciently 
used  in  the  aforesaid  kingdoms." 

The  concessions  extorted  by  our  ancestors  from  John,  Hen- 
ry III.,  and  Edward  I.  were  secured  by  the  only  guaranty 
those  times  could  afford,  the  determination  of  the  barons  to 
enforce  them  by  armed  confederacies.  These,  however,  were 
formed  according  to  emergencies,  and,  except  in  the  famous 
commission  of  twenty-five  conservators  of  Magna  Charta,  in 
the  last  year  of  John,  were  certainly  unwarranted  by  law. 
But  the  Aragonese  established  a  positive  right  of  maintain- 
ing their  liberties  by  arms.  This  was  contained  in  the  Priv- 
ilege of  Union  granted  by  Alfonso  III.  in  1287,  after  a  vio- 
lent conflict  with  his  subjects ;  but  which  Avas  afterwards  so 
completely  abolished,  and  even  eradicated  from  the  records 
of  the  kingdom,  that  its  precise  words  have  never  been  re- 
^iovered.     It  appears  to  have  consisted  of  two  articles:  first, 


262  OFFICE  OF  JUSTICIARY.  Chap.  IV. 

that,  in  the  case  of  the  king's  proceeding  forcibly  against  any 
member  of  the  union  without  previous  sentence  of  the  jus- 
ticiary, the  rest  should  be  absolved  from  their  allegiance ; 
secondly,  that  he  should  hold  Cortes  every  year  in  Saragossa. 
During  the  two  subsequent  reigns  of  James  II.  and  Alfonso 
IV.,  little  pretense  seems  to  have  been  given  for  the  exer- 
cise of  this  right.  But  dissensions  breaking  out  under  Peter 
V.  in  1347,  rather  on  account  of  his  attempt  to  settle  the 
crown  upon  his  daughter  than  of  any  specific  public  griev- 
ances, the  nobles  had  recourse  to  the  Union.  They  assem- 
bled at  Saragossa,  and  used  a  remarkable  seal  for  all  their 
public  instruments — an  engraving  from  which  may  be  seen 
in  the  historian  Blancas.  It  represents  the  king  sitting  on 
his  throne,  with  the  confederates  kneeling  in  a  suppliant  at- 
titude around,  to  denote  their  unwillingness  to  oft'end.  But 
in  the  background  tents  and  lines  of  spears  are  discovered, 
as  a  hint  of  their  ability  and  resolution  to  defend  themselves. 
The  legend  is  "  Sigillum  Unionis  Aragonum."  This  respect- 
ful demeanor  towards  a  sovereign  against  whom  they  were 
waging  war  reminds  us  of  the  language  held  out  by  our 
Long  Parliament  before  the  Presbyterian  party  was  over- 
thrown. These  confederates  were  defeated  by  the  king  at 
Epila  in  1348.  But  his  prudence  and  the  remaining  strength 
of  his  opponents  inducing  him  to  pursue  a  moderate  course, 
there  ensued  more  legitimate  and  permanent  balance  of  the 
constitution  from  this  victory  of  the  Royalists.  The  priv- 
ilege of  Union  was  abrogated,  Peter  himself  cutting  to  pieces 
with  his  sword  the  original  instrument.  But  in  return  many 
excellent  laws  for  the  security  of  the  subject  were  enacted ; 
and  their  preservation  was  intrusted  to  the  greatest  officer 
of  the  kingdom,  the  justiciary,  whose  authority  and  pre-emi- 
nence may  in  a  great  degree  be  dated  from  this  period. 
That  watchfulness  over  public  liberty,  which  originally  be- 
longed to  the  aristocracy  of  ricoshombres,  always  apt  to 
thwart  the  crown  or  to  oppress  the  people,  and  which  was 
afterwards  maintained  by  the  dangerous  Privilege  of  Union, 
became  the  duty  of  a  civil  magistrate  accustomed  to  legal 
rules  and  responsible  for  his  actions,  whose  office  and  func- 
tions are  the  most  pleasing  feature  in  the  constitutional  his- 
tory of  Aragon. 

§  21.  The  functions  of  the  Justiza  ov  Justiciar}/ of  Aragon 
did  not  differ,  in  any  essential  respect,  from  those  of  the 
Chief-justice  of  England,  divided,  from  the  time  of  Edward  I., 
among  the  judges  of  the  King's  Bench.  But  in  the  prac- 
tical exercise,  indeed,  of  this  power,  there  was  an  abundant 


Spain.  JURISFIRMA  AND  MANIFESTATION.  2G3 

difference.  Our  English  judges,  more  timid  and  pliant,  left 
to  the  remonstrances  of  Parliament  that  redress  of  griev- 
ances which  very  frequently  lay  within  the  sphere  of  their 
jurisdiction.  There  is,  I  believe,  no  recorded  instance  of  a 
habeas  corpus  granted  in  any  case  of  illegal  imprisonment 
by  the  crown  or  its  officers  during  the  continuance  of  the 
Plantagenet  dynasty.  We  shall  speedily  take  notice  of  a 
very  different  conduct  in  Aragon. 

The  office  of  justiciary,  whatever  conjectural  antiquity 
Bome  have  assigned  to  it,  is  not  to  be  traced  beyond  the 
capture  of  Saragossa  in  1118,  when  the  series  of  magistrates 
commences.  But  for  a  great  length  of  time  they  do  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  particularly  important ;  the  judicial  au- 
thority residing  in  the  council  of  ricoshombres,  whose  suffra- 
ges the  justiciary  collected,  in  order  to  pronounce  their  sen- 
tence rather  than  his  own.  Gradually,  as  notions  of  liberty 
became  more  definitCj  and  laws  more  numerous,  the  rever- 
ence paid  to  their  permanent  interpreter  grew  stronger,  and 
there  was  fortunately  a  succession  of  prudent  and  just  men 
in  that  high  office,  through  whom  it  acquired  dignity  and 
stable  influence.  Still,  it  was  not  perhaps  looked  upon  as 
fully  equal  to  maintain  public  liberty  against  the  crown,  till 
in  the  Cortes  of  1348,  after  the  Privilege  of  Union  was  for- 
ever abolished,  such  laws  were  enacted,  and  such  authority 
given  to  the  justiciary,  as  proved  eventually  a  more  ade- 
quate barrier  against  oppression  than  any  other  country 
could  boast.  All  the  royal  as  well  as  territorial  judges  were 
bound  to  apply  for  his  opinion  in  case  of  legal  difficulties 
arising  in  their  courts,  which  he  was  to  certify  within  eight 
days.  By  subsequent  statutes  of  the  same  reign,  it  was  made 
penal  for  any  one  to  obtain  letters  from  the  king  impeding 
the  execution  of  the  justiza's  process,  and  they  were  declared 
null.  Inferior  courts  were  forbidden  to  proceed  in  any  busi- 
ness after  his  prohibition.  Many  other  laws  might  be  cited 
corroborating  the  authority  of  this  great  magistrate;  but 
there  are  two  parts  of  his  remedial  jurisdiction  which  deserve 
special  notice. 

These  are  the  processes  o?  Jurisjirma,  or  firma  del  derecho, 
and  of  Manifestation.  The  former  bears  some  analogy  to 
the  writs  oi pone  and  certiorari  in  England,  through  which 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench  exercises  its  right  of  withdraw- 
ing a  suit  from  the  jurisdiction  of  inferior  tribunals.  But 
the  Aragonese  jurisjirma  was  of  more  extensive  operation. 
Its  object  was  not  only  to  bring  a  cause  commenced  in  an 
inferior  court  before  the  justiciary,  but  to  prevent  or  inhibit 


264  PROCESSES  OF  Chap.  IV. 

any  proceiss  from  issuing  against  tlie  person  who  applied  for 
its  benefit,  or  any  molestation  from  being  offered  to  him; 
so  that,  as  Blancas  expresses  it,  when  we  have  entered  into 
a  recognizance  before  the  justiciary  of  Aragon  to  abide  the 
decision  of  law,  our  fortunes  shall  be  protected,  by  thp  in- 
terposition of  his  prohibition,  from  the  intolerable  iniquity 
of  the  royal  judges.  The  process  termed  manifestation  af- 
forded as  ample  security  for  personal  liberty  as  that  of  juris- 
firma  did  for  property.  "To  manifest  auy  one  is  to  wrest 
him  from  the  hands  of  the  royal  officers,  that  he  may  not 
suffer  any  illegal  violence ;  not  that  he  is  at  liberty  by  this 
process,  because  the  merits  of  his  case  are  still  to  be  inquired 
into ;  but  because  he  is  now  detained  publicly,  instead  of 
being,  as  it  were,  concealed,  and  the  charge  against  him  is 
investigated,  not  suddenly  or  with  passion,  but  in  calmness 
and  according  to  law,  therefore  this  is  called  manifestation." 
The  power  of  this  writ  (if  I  may  apply  our  term)  was  such, 
that  it  would  rescue  a  man  whose  neck  was  in  the  halter.  A 
particular  prison  was  allotted  to  those  detained  for  trial  un- 
der this  process. 

Several  proofs  that  such  admirable  provisions  did  not  re- 
main a  dead  letter  in  the  law  of  Aragon  appear  in  the  two 
historians,  Blancas  and  Zurita,  whose  noble  attachment  to 
liberties,  of  which  they  had  either  witnessed  or  might  fore- 
tell the  extinction,  continually  displays  itself  I  can  not  help 
illustrating  this  subject  by  two  remarkable  instances.  The 
heir-apparent  of  the  kingdom  of  Aragon  had  a  constitutional 
right  to  the  lieutenancy  or  regency  during  the  sovereign's 
absence  from  the  realm.  The  title  and  office,  indeed,  were 
permanent,  though  the  functions  must  of  course  have  beeo 
superseded  during  the  personal  exercise  of  royal  authority. 
But  as  neither  Catalonia  nor  Valencia,  which  often  demand- 
ed the  king's  presence,  were  considered  as  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, there  were  pretty  frequent  occasions  for  this  antici- 
pated reign  of  the  eldest  prince.  Such  a  regulation  was  not 
likely  to  diminish  the  mutual  and  almost  inevitable  jealousies 
between  kings  and  their  heirs-apparent,  which  have  so  often 
disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  a  court  and  a  nation.  Peter  IV. 
removed  his  eldest  son,  afterwards  John  I.,  from  the  lieuten- 
ancy of  the  kingdom.  The  prince  entered  into  a  firma  del 
derecho  before  the  justiciary,  Dominic  de  Cerda,  who,  pro- 
nouncing in  his  favor,  enjoined  the  king  to  replace  his  son 
in  the  lieutenancy  as  the  undoubted  right  of  the  eldest  born. 
Peter  obeyed,  not  only  in  fact,  to  which,  as  Blancas  observes, 
the   law    compelled   him,  but    with    apparent   cheerfulness. 


Spain.  JURISFIRMA  AND  MANIFESTATION.  265 

There  are,  indeed,  no  private  persons  who  have  so  strong  an 
interest  in  maintaining  a  free  constitution  and  the  civil  lib- 
erties of  their  countrymen  as  the  members  of  royal  families, 
since  none  are  so  much  exposed,  in  absolute  governments,  to 
the  resentment  and  suspicion  of  a  reigning  monarch. 

John  I.,  who  had  experienced  the  protection  of  law  in 
his  weakness,  had  afterwards  occasion  to  find  it  interposed 
against  his  power.  This  king  had  sent  some  citizens  of 
Saragossa  to  prison  without  form  of  law.  They  applied  to 
Juan  de  Cerda,  the  justiciary,  for  a  manifestation.  He  issued 
his  writ  accordingly ;  nor,  says  Blancas,  could  he  do  other- 
wise without  being  subject  to  a  heavy  fine.  The  king,  pre- 
tending that  the  justiciary  was  partial,  named  one  of  his 
own  judges,  the  vice-chancellor,  as  coadjutor.  This  raised  a 
constitutional  question,  whether,  on  suspicion  of  partiality, 
a  coadjutor  to  the  justiciary  could  be  appointed.  The  king 
sent  a  private  order  to  the  justiciary  not  to  proceed  to  sen- 
tence upon  this  interlocutory  point  until  he  should  receive 
instructions  in  the  council,  to  which  he  was  directed  to  re- 
pair. But  he  instantly  pronounced  sentence  in  favor  of  his 
exclusive  jurisdiction  without  a  coadjutor.  He  then  re- 
paired to  the  palace.  Here  the  vice-chancellor,  in  a  long 
harangue,  enjoined  him  to  suspend  sentence  till  he  had  heard 
the  decision  of  the  council.  Juan  de  Cerda  answered  that, 
the  case  being  clear,  he  had  already  pronounced  upon  it. 
This  produced  some  expressions  of  anger  from  the  king,  who 
began  to  enter  into  an  argument  on  the  mei^ts  of  the  ques- 
tion. But  the  justiciary  answered  that,  with  all  deference  to 
his  majesty,  he  was  bound  to  defend  his  conduct  before  the 
Cortes,  and  not  elsewhere.  On  a  subsequent  day  the  king, 
having  drawn  the  justiciary  to  his  country  palace  on  pre- 
tense of  hunting,  renewed  the  conversation  with  the  assist- 
ance of  his  ally,  the  vice-chancellor ;  but  no  impression  was 
made  on  the  venerable  magistrate,  whom  John  at  length, 
though  much  pressed  by  his  advisers  to  violent  courses,  dis- 
missed with  civility.  The  king  was  probably  misled  through- 
out this  transaction,  which  I  have  thought  fit  to  draw  from 
obscurity,  not  only  in  order  to  illustrate  the  privilege  of 
manifestation,  but  as  exhibiting  an  instance  of  judicial  firm- 
ness and  integrity,  to  which,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  no 
country  perhaps  in  Europe  could  offer  a  parallel. 

Before  the  Cortes  of  1348  it  seems  as  if  the  justiciary  might 
have  been  displaced  at  the  king's  pleasure.  From  that  time 
he  held  his  station  for  life.  But  lest  these  high  powers,  im- 
parted for  the  prevention  of  abuses,  should  themselves  be 

12 


266  RIGHTS  OF  LEGISLATION,  ETC.  Chap.  IV. 

abused,  the  justiciary  was  responsible,  in  case  of  an  unjust 
sentence,  to  the  extent  of  the  injury  inflicted;  and  was  also 
subjected,  by  a  statute  of  1390,  to  a  court  of  inquiry,  com- 
posed of  four  persons  chosen  by  the  king  out  of  eight  named 
by  the  Cortes  ;  whose  oflice  appears  to  have  been  that  of  ex- 
amining and  reporting  to  the  four  estates  in  Cortes,  by  whom 
he  was  ultimately  to  be  acquitted  or  condemned.  This  su- 
perintendence of  the  Cortes,  however,  being  thought  dilatory 
and  inconvenient,  a  court  of  seventeen  persons  was  appoint- 
ed in  1461  to  hear  complaints  against  the  justiciary.  Some 
alterations  were  afterwards  made  in  this  tribunal.^  The 
justiciary  was  always  a  knight,  chosen  from  the  second  or- 
der of  nobility,  the  barons  not  being  liable  to  personal  pun- 
ishment. He  administered  the  coronation  oath  to  the  king ; 
and  in  the  Cortes  of  Aragon  the  justiciary  acted  as  a  sort  of 
royal  commissioner,  opening  or  proroguing  the  assembly  by 
the  king's  direction. 

§  22.  No  laws  could  be  enacted  or  repealed,  nor  any  tax 
imposed,  without  the  consent  of  the  estates  duly  assembled. 
It  may  easily  be  supposed  that  the  Aragonese  were  not  be- 
hind other  nations  in  statutes  to  secure  these  privileges, 
which  upon  the  whole  appear  to  have  been  more  respected 
than  in  any  other  monarchy.  The  General  Privilege  of  1283 
formed  a  sort  of  groundwork  for  this  legislation,  like  the 
Great  Charter  in  England.  By  a  clause  in  this  law,  Cortes 
were  to  be  held  every  year  at  Saragossa.  But  under  James 
11.  their  time  cff  meeting  was  reduced  to  once  in  two  years, 
and  the  place  was  left  to  the  king's  discretion.  Nor  were 
the  Cortes  of  Aragon  less  vigilant  than  those  of  Castile  in 
claiming  a  right  to  be  consulted  in  all  important  delibera- 
tions of  the  executive  power,  or  in  remonstrating  against 
abuses  of  government,  or  in  superintending  the  proper  ex- 
penditure of  public  money. 

Four  estates,  or,  as  they  were  called,  arms  (brazos),  formed 
the  Cortes  of  Aragon — the  prelates  and  commanders  of  mili- 
tary orders,  who  passed  for  ecclesiastics ;  and  barons,  or  ri- 
coshombres ;  the  equestrian  order,  or  infanzo^ies,  and  the 
deputies  of  royal  towns.  The  two  former  had  a  right  of 
appearing  by  proxy.  There  was  no  representation  of  the 
infanzones,  or  lower  nobility.     But  it  must  be  remembered 

«  These  rejjalations  were  very  acceptable  to  the  nation.  In  fact,  the  jnstiza  of 
Aragon  had  possessed  much  more  unlimited  powers  than  ought  to  be  intrusted  to 
any  single  magistrate.  The  Court  of  King's  Bench  in  England,  besides  its  consist* 
Ing  of  five  co-ordinate  judges,  is  checked  by  the  appellant  jurisdictions  of  the  Ex- 
chequer Chamber  and  House  of  Lords,  and  still  more  importantly  by  the  right*  of 
juries. 


Spain.  VALENCIA  AND  CATALONIA.  267 

that  they  were  not  numerous,  nor  was  the  kingdom  large. 
Thirty-five  are  reckoned  by  Zurita  as  present  in  the  Cortes 
of  1395,  and  thirty-three  in  those  of  1412  ;  and  as  upon  both 
occasions  an  oath  of  fealty  to  a  new  monarch  was  to  be  taken, 
I  presume  that  nearly  all  the  nobility  of  the  kingdom  were 
present.  The  ricoshombres  do  not  seem  to  have  exceeded 
twelve  or  fourteen  in  number.  The  ecclesiastical  estate  was 
not  much,  if  at  all,  more  numerous.  A  few  principal  towns 
alone  sent  deputies  to  the  Cortes;  but  their  representation 
was  very  full ;  eight  or  ten,  and  sometimes  more,  sat  for  Sar- 
agossa,  and  no  town  appears  to  have  had  less  than  four  rep- 
resentatives. During  the  interval  of  the  Cortes  a  permanent 
commission,  varying  a  good  deal  as  to  numbers,  but  chosen 
out  of  the  four  estates,  was  empowered  to  sit  with  very  con- 
siderable authority,  receiving  and  managing  the  public  rev- 
enue, and  protecting  the  justiciary  in  his  functions. 

§  23.  The  kingdom  of  Valencia,  and  principality  of  Cata- 
lonia, having  been  annexed  to  Aragon,  the  one  by  conquest, 
the  other  by  marriage,  were  always  kept  distinct  from  it  in 
their  laws  and  government.  Each  had  its  Cortes,  composed 
of  three  estates,  for  the  divisiorl  of  the  nobility  into  two  or- 
ders did  not  exist  in  either  country.  The  Catalans  were 
tenacious  of  their  ancient  usages,  and  averse  to  incorporation 
with  any  other  people  of  Spain.  Their  national  character 
was  high-spirited  and  independent ;  in  no  part  of  the  penin- 
sula did  the  territorial  aristocracy  retain,  or  at  least  pretend 
to,  such  extensive  privileges,  and  the  citizens  were  justly 
proud  of  wealth  acquired  by  industry,  and  of  renown  achieved 
by  valor.  At  the  accession  of  Ferdinand  I.,  which  they  had 
not  much  desired,  the  Catalans  obliged  him  to  swear  three 
times  successively  to  maintain  their  liberties  before  they 
would  take  the  reciprocal  oath  of  allegiance.  For  Valencia 
it  seems  to  have  been  a  politic  design  of  James  the  Con- 
queror to  establish  a  constitution  nearly  analogous  to  that 
of  Aragon,  but  with  such  limitations  as  he  should  impose, 
taking  care  that  the  nobles  of  the  two  kingdoms  should  not 
acquire  strength  by  union.  These  three  states,  Aragon,  Va^ 
lencia,  and  Catalonia,  were  perpetually  united  by  a  law  of 
Alfonso  III. ;  and  every  king,  on  his  accession,  was  bound  to 
swear  that  he  would  never  separate  them.  Sometimes  gen- 
eral Cortes  of  the  kingdoms  and  principality  were  convened ; 
but  the  members  did  not,  even  in  this  case,  sit  together,  and 
were  no  otherwise  united  than  as  they  met  in  the  same  city. 

§  24.  By  the  marriage  of  Ferdinand  with  Isabella,  and  by 
the  death  of  John  II.  in  1479,  the  two  ancient  and  rival  king- 


268  UNION  OF  CASTILE  AND  ARAGON.  Chap.  IV. 

donis  of  Castile  and  Aragon  were  forever  consolidated  in  the 
monarchy  of  Spain.  There  had  been  some  difficulty  in  ad- 
justing the  respective  rights  of  the  husband  and  wife  over 
Castile.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  customary  for  the  more 
powerful  sex  to  exercise  all  the  rights  which  it  derived  from 
the  weaker,  as  much  in  sovereignties  as  in  private  possessions. 
But  the  Castilians  were  determined  to  maintain  the  positive 
and  distinct  prerogatives  of  their  queen,  to  which  they  at- 
tached the  independence  of  their  nation.  A  compromise, 
therefore,  was  concluded,  by  which,  though,  according  to  our 
notions,  Ferdinand  obtained  more  than  a  due  share,  he  might 
consider  himself  as  more  strictly  limited  than  his  father  had 
been  in  Navarre.  The  names  of  both  were  to  appear  jointly 
in  their  style  and  upon  the  coin,  the  king's  taking  the  prece- 
dence in  respect  of  his  sex.  But  in  the  royal  scutcheon  the 
arms  of  Castile  were  preferred  on  account  of  the  kingdom's 
dignity.  Isabella  had  the  appointment  to  all  civil  offices  in 
Castile  ;  the  nomination  to  spiritual  benefices  ran  in  the  name 
of  both.  The  government  was  to  be  conducted  by  the  two 
conjointly  when  they  were  together,  or  by  either  singly  in 
the  province  where  one  or  other  might  happen  to  reside. 
This  partition  was  well  preserved  throughout  the  life  of  Isa- 
bel without  mutual  encroachments  or  jealousies.  So  rare  an 
unanimity  between  persons  thus  circumstanced  must  be  at- 
tributed to  the  superior  qualities  of  that  princess,  who,  Avhile 
she  maintained  a  constant  good  understanding  with  a  very 
ambitious  husband,  never  relaxed  in  the  exercise  of  her  pa- 
ternal authority  over  the  kingdoms  of  her  ancestors. 

§  25.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  no  sooner  quenched  the 
flames  of  civil  discord  in  Castile  than  they  determined  to 
give  an  unequivocal  proof  to  Europe  of  the  vigor  which  the 
Spanish  monarchy  was  to  display  under  their  government. 
For  many  years  an  armistice  with  the  Moors  of  Granada  had 
been  uninterrupted.  Neither  John  11.  nor  Henry  IV.  had 
been  at  leisure  to  think  of  aggressive  hostilities;  and  the 
Moors  themselves — a  prey,  like  their  Christian  enemies,  to 
civil  war  and  the  feuds  of  their  royal  family — were  content 
with  the  unmolested  enjoyment  of  the  finest  province  in  the 
peninsula.  If  we  may  trust  historians,  the  sovereigns  of 
Granada  were  generally  usurpers  and  tyrants.  But  I  know 
not  how  to  account  for  that  vast  populousness,  that  grandeur 
and  magnificence,  which  distinguished  the  Mohammedan 
kingdom  of  Spain,  without  ascribing  some  measure  of  wis- 
dom and  beneficence  to  their  governments.  These  southern 
provinces  have  dwindled  in  later  times ;  and  in  fact  Spain 
Itself  is  chiefly  interesting;  to  many  travellers  for  the  monu- 


Spain.  CONQUEST  OF  GRANADA.  269 

merits  which  a  foreign  and  odious  race  of  conquerors  have 
left  behind  them.  Granada  was,  however,  disturbed  by  a 
series  of  revolutions  about  tlie  time  of  Ferdinand's  accession, 
which  naturally  encouraged  his  designs.  The  Moors,  con- 
trary to  what  might  have  been  expected  from  their  relative 
strength,  were  the  aggressors  by  attacking  a  town  in  Anda- 
lusia. Predatory  inroads  of  this  nature  had  hitherto  been 
only  retaliated  by  the  Christians.  But  Ferdinand  was  con- 
scious that  his  resources  extended  to  the  conquest  of  Gra- 
nada, the  consummation  of  a  struggle  protracted  through 
nearly  eight  centuries.  Even  in  the  last  stage  of  the  Moor- 
ish dominion,  exposed  on  every  side  to  invasion,  enfeebled  by 
a  civil  dissension  that  led  one  party  to  abet  the  common  en- 
emy, Granada  was  not  subdued  without  ten  years  of  san- 
guinary and  unremitting  contest.  Fertile  beyond  all  the 
rest  of  Spain,  that  kingdom  contained  seventy  walled  towns; 
and  the  capital  is  said,  almost  two  centuries  before,  to  have 
been  peopled  by  200,000  inhabitants.  Its  resistance  to  such 
a  force  as  that  of  Ferdinand  is  perhaps  the  best  justification 
of  the  apparent  negligence  of  earlier  monarchs.  But  Gra- 
nada was  ultimately  to  undergo  the  yoke.  The  city  sur- 
rendered on  the  2d  of  January,  1492 — an  event  glorious  not 
only  to  Spain  but  to  Christendom — and  which,  in  the  politic- 
al combat  of  the  two  religions,  seemed  almost  to  counterbal- 
ance the  loss  of  Constantinople.  It  raised  the  name  of  Fer- 
dinand and  of  the  new  monarchy  which  he  governed  to  high 
estimation  throughout  Europe.  Spain  appeared  an  equal 
competitor  with  France  in  the  lists  of  ambition.  These  great 
kingdoms  had  for  some  time  felt  the  jealousy  natural  to  em- 
ulous neighbors.  The  house  of  Aragon  loudly  complained 
of  the  treacherous  policy  of  Louis  XL  He  had  fomented  the 
troubles  of  Castile,  and  given,  not  indeed  an  effectual  aid,  but 
all  promises  of  support,  to  the  Princess  Joanna,  the  competi- 
tor of  Isabel.  Rousillon,  a  province  belonging  to  Aragon, 
had  been  pledged  to  France  by  John  IT.  for  a  sum  of  money. 
It  would  be  tedious  to  relate  the  subsequent  events,  or  to 
discuss  their  respective  claims  to  its  possession.  At  the  ac- 
cession of  Ferdinand,  Louis  XL  still  held  Roussillon,  and 
showed  little  intention  to  resign  it.  But  Charles  VIIL, 
eager  to  smooth  every  impediment  to  his  Italian  expedition, 
restored  the  province  to  Ferdinand  in  1493.  Whether,  by 
such  a  sacrifice,  he  was  able  to  lull  the  King  of  Aragon  into 
acquiescence,  while  he  dethroned  his  relation  at  Naples,  and 
alarmed  for  a  moment  all  Italy  with  the  apprehension  of 
French  dominion,  it  is  not  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
work  to  inauire. 


270 


SEPARATION  FROM  FRANCE. 


Chap.  V. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HISTORY    OF    GERMANY   TO   THE   DIET    OF   WORMS   IN    1495. 

§  1.  Sketch  of  German  History.  §  2.  The  Emperors  of  the  Honse  of  Saxony.  §  3. 
House  of  Francouia.  §  4.  Lothaire  XL,  the  Saxou.  §  5.  House  of  Snabia.  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa.  Fall  of  Henry  the  Lion.  Frederick  11.  Extinction  of  House 
of  Suabla.  §  6.  Changes  in  the  Germanic  Constitution.  Electors.  Territorial 
Sovereignty  of  the  Princes.  §  7.  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg.  §  S.  State  of  the  Empire 
after  his  Time.  Causes  of  Decline  of  Imperial  Power.  §  9.  Honse  of  Luxem- 
burg. Charles  IV.  §  10.  House  of  Austria.  Frederick  III.  §  11.  Imperial  Cities. 
§  12.  Provincial  States.  §  13.  Imperial  Domain.  5  14.  Maximilian.  Diet  of 
Worms.  Abolition  of  private  Wars.  §  15.  Imperial  Chamber.  §  16.  Aulic  Coun. 
oil.  §  IT.  Limits  of  the  Empire.  §  18.  Bohemia.  §  19,  Hungary.  §  20.  Switzer- 
land. 


LIST  OF  EMPERORS  DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


Philip,  Otho  IV.  (rivals). 

Otho  IV. 

Frederick  II. 

Conrad  IV.,  William  (rivals). 

Interregnum. 

Richard  (Earl  of  Cornwall), 

Alfonso  (king  of  Castile) 

rivals). 
Rodolph  I.  (of  Hapsburg) 
Adolphus  (of  Nassau). 
Albert  I. 

Henry  VII.  (of  Luxemburg). 
Louis  IV.  (of  Bavaria). 
(Frederick  of  Austria,  rival). 
Charles  IV. 
(Giinther  of  Schwartzburg, 

rival). 
Wenceslaus 
Rupert. 
Sigismund. 

(Jobst  of  Moravia,  rival). 
Albert  II. 
Frederick  III. 
Maximilian  I. 
Charles  V. 

§  1.  After  the  deposition  of  Charles  the  Fat,  which  final- 
ly severed  the  connection  between  France  and  Germany, 
Arnulf,an  illegitimate  descendant  of  Charlemagne,  obtained 
the  throne  of  the  latter  country,  in  which  he  was  succeeded 


Year  of 
Accession 

Year  of 
Accession 

A.D. 

A.D. 

800 

Chades  I.  (the  Great). 

1198 

Charlemagne. 

1208 

814 

Louis  I.  (tiie  Pious). 

1212 

840 

Lothaire  I. 

1250 

855 

Louis  II. 

1254 

875 

Charies  II.  (the  Bald).        , 
Charles  lU.  (the  Fat).       J 

1257 

881 

896 

Araulf. 

899 

Louis  (the  Child). 

1272 

901 

Louis  III.  (of  Provence). 

1292 

911  (?)  Conrad  L 

1298 

915 

Berengar. 

1308 

918 

Heniy  I.  (the  Fowler). 

1314 

936 

Otho  I.  (the  Great). 

973 

Otho  II. 

1347 

983 

Otho  III. 

1002 

Henry  II.  (the  Saint). 

1024 

Conrad  II.  (the  Salic). 

1378 

1039 

Henry  III. 

1400 

1056 

Henrv  IV. 

1410 

1106 

Henry  V. 

1125 

Lothaire  II.  (the  Saxon). 

1438 

1138 

Conrad  III. 

1440 

1152 

Frederick  I.  (Barbarossa). 

1493 

1190 

Henry  VI. 

1519 

Germany.  HOUSE  OF  SAXONY.  *271 

by  his  son  Louis.  But  upon  the  death  of  this  prince  in  911, 
the  German  branch  of  that  dynasty  became  extinct.  There 
remained,  indeed,  Charles  the  Simple,  acknowledged  as  king 
in  some  parts  of  France,  but  rejected  in  others,  and  possess- 
ing no  personal  claims  to  respect.  The  Germans,  therefore, 
wisely  determined  to  choose  a  sovereign  from  among  them- 
selves. They  were  at  this  time  divided  into  five  nations, 
each  under  its  own  duke,  and  distinguished  by  difference  of 
laws,  as  well  as  of  origin';  (1)  the  I^ranks,  whose  territory, 
comprising  Franconia  and  the  modern  Palatinate,  was  con- 
sidered as  the  cradle  of  the  empire,  and  who  seemed  to  have 
arrogated  some  superiority  over  the  rest,  (2)  the  Siiabians, 
(3)  the  JJavarians,  (4)  the  Saxons,  under  which  name  the  in- 
habitants of  Lower  Saxony  alone  and  Westphalia  were  in- 
cluded, and  (5)  the  Lorrainers,  who  occupied  the  left  bank 
of  the  Rhine  as  far  as  its  termination.  The  choice  of  these 
nations  in  their  general  assembly  fell  upon  Conrad,  duke  of 
Franconia,  according  to  some  writers,  or  at  least  a  man  of 
hio-h  rank,  and  descended  throu«fh  females  from  Charle- 
vnagne  (a.d.  911). 

§  2.  House  of  Saxony. — Conrad  dying  without  male  is- 
sue, the  crown  of  Germany  was  bestowed  upon  Henry  the 
Fowler,  duke  of  Saxony,  ancestor  of  the  three  Othos,  who  fol- 
lowed him  in  direct  succession.  To  Henry,  and  to  the  first 
Otho,  Germany  was  more  indebted  than  to  any  sovereign 
since  Charlemagne.  The  conquest  of  Italy,  and  recovery 
of  the  imperial  title,  are  indeed  the  most  brilliant  trophies  of 
Otho  the  Great;  but  he  conferred  far  more  unequivocal  bene- 
fits upon  his  own  country  by  completing  what  his  father  had 
begun,  her  liberation  from  the  inroads  of  the  Hungarians. 
Two  marches,  that  of  Misnia,  erected  by  Henry  the  Fowler, 
and  that  of  Austria,  by  Otho,  were  added  to  the  Germanic 
territories  by  their  victories. 

A  lineal  succession  of  four  descents  without  the  least  op- 
position seems  to  show  that  the  Germans  were  disposed  to 
consider  their  monarchy  as  fixed  in  the  Saxon  family.  Otho 
H.  and  HL  had  been  chosen  each  in  his  father's  lifetime,  and 
during  legal  infancy.  The  formality  of  election  subsisted  at 
that  time  in  every  European  kingdom,  and  the  imperfect 
rights  of  birth  required  a  ratification  by  public  assent.  If 
at  least  France  and  England  were  hereditary  monarchies  in 
the  tenth  century,  the  same  may  surely  be  said  of  Germany ; 
since  we  find  the  lineal  succession  fully  as  well  observed  in 
the  last  as  in  the  former.  But  upon  the  early  and  unexpect- 
ed  decease   of  Otho   HI.,  a  momentary  opposition  was  of- 


272  HOUSE  OF  FRANCONIA.  Chap.  V. 

fered  to  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria,  a  collateral  branch  of  the 
reigning  family  (a.d.  1002).  He  obtained  the  crown,  how- 
ever, by  what  contemporary  historians  call  an  hereditary 
title,  and  it  was  not  until  his  death,  in  1024,  that  the  house 
of  Saxony  was  deemed  to  be  extinguished. 

§  3.  House  of  Franconia. — No  person  had  now  any  pre- 
tentions that  could  interfere  with  the  unbiased  suffrages  of 
the  nation;  and  accordingly  a  general  assembly  was  deter- 
mined by  merit  to  elect  Conrad,  surnamed  the  Salic,  a  no- 
bleman of  Franconia  (a.d.  1024).  From  this  prince  sprang 
three  successive  emperors,  Henry  III.,  IV.,  and  V.  Perhaps 
the  imperial  prerogatives  over  that  insubordinate  confeder- 
acy never  reached  so  high  a  point  as  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.,  the  second  emperor  of  the  house  of  Franconia.  It  had 
been,  as  was  natural,  the  object  of  all  his  predecessors,  not 
only  to  render  their  throne  hereditary,  which,  in  effect,  the 
nation  was  willing  to  concede,  but  to  surround  it  with  au- 
thority sufficient  to  control  the  leading  vassals.  These  were 
the  dukes  of  the  four  nations  of  Germany,  Saxony,  Bavaria, 
Suabia,  and  Franconia,  and  the  three  archbisliops  of  the 
Rhenish  cities,  Mentz,  Treves,  and  Cologne.  Originally,  as 
has  been  more  fully  shown  in  another  place,  duchies,  like 
counties,  were  temporary  governments  bestowed  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  crown.  From  this  first  stage  they  advanced 
to  hereditary  offices,  and  finally  to  patrimonial  fiefs.  But 
their  progress  was  mucli  slower  in  Germany  than  in  France. 
Under  the  Saxon  line  of  emperors,  it  appears  probable  that, 
although  it  was  usual,  and  consonant  to  the  prevailing  no- 
tions of  equity,  to  confer  a  duchy  upon  the  nearest  heir, 
yet  no  positive  rule  enforced  this  upon  the  emperor,  and 
some  instances  of  a  contrary  proceeding  occurred.  Henry 
III.  put  an  end  altogether  to  the  form  of  popular  concurrence, 
which  had  been  usual  when  the  investiture  of  a  duchy  was 
conferred;  and  even  deposed  dukes  by  the  sentence  of  a  few 
princes,  without  the  consent  of  the  Diet.  If  we  combine 
with  these  proofs  of  authority  in  the  domestic  administration 
of  Henry  HI.  his  almost  unlimited  control  over  papal  elec- 
tions, or  rather  the  right  of  nomination  that  he  acquired,  we 
must  consider  him  as  the  most  absolute  monarch  in  the  an- 
nals of  Germany. 

These  ambitious  measures  of  Henry  HI.  prepared  fifty 
years  of  calamity  for  his  son.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the 
misfortunes  of  Henry  IV.  were  primarily  occasioned  by  the 
jealousy  with  which  repeated  violations  of  their  constitu- 
tional usages  had  inspired  the  nobility.     The  mere  circum- 


Germany.  HOUSE  OF  FRANCONIA.  273 

Stance  of  Henry  IV.'s  minority,  under  the  guardianship  of  a 
woman,  was  enough  to  dissipate  whatever  power  his  father 
had  acquired.  Through  the  neglect  of  his  education,  Henry 
grew  up  with  a  character  not  well  fitted  to  retrieve  the  mis- 
chief of  so  unprotected  a  minority ;  brave  indeed,  well-na- 
tured, and  affable,  but  dissolute  beyond  measure,  and  addict- 
ed to  low  and  debauched  company.  He  was  soon  involved 
in  a  desperate  war  with  the  Saxons,  a  nation  valuing  itself 
on  its  populousness  and  riches,  jealous  of  the  house  of  Fran- 
conia,  who  wore  a  crown  that  had  belonged  to  their  own 
dukes,  and  indignant  at  Henry's  conduct  in  erecting  fortress- 
es throughout  their  country. 

In  the  middle  of  this  contest  another  far  more  memorable 
broke  out  with  the  Roman  See,  concerning  eclesiastical  in- 
vestitures (a.d.  1077).  The  motives  of  this  famous  quarrel 
will  be  explained  in  a  difierent  chapter  of  the  present  work. 
Its  effect  in  Germany  was  ruinous  to  Henry.  A  sentence, 
not  only  of  excommunication,  but  of  deposition,  which  Greg- 
ory VII.  pronounced  against  him,  gave  a  pretense  to  all  his 
enemies,  secret  as  well  as  avowed,  to  withdraw  their  alle- 
giance. At  the  head  of  these  was  Rodolph,  duke  of  Suabia, 
whom  an  assembly  of  revolted  princes  raised  to  the  throne. 
We  may  perceive,  in  the  conditions  of  Rodolph's  election,  a 
symptom  of  the  real  principle  that  animated  the  German 
aristocracy  against  Henry  IV.  It  was  agreed  that  the  king- 
dom should  no  longer  be  hereditary,  not  conferred  on  the 
son  of  a  reigning  monarch,  unless  liis  merit  should  challenge 
the  popular  approbation.  The  pope  strongly  encouraged 
this  plan  of  rendering  the  empire  elective,  by  which  he  hoped 
either  eventually  to  secure  the  nomination  of  its  chief  for  the 
Holy  See,  or  at  least,  by  sowing  the  seed  of  civil  dissensions 
in  Germany,  to  render  Italy  more  independent.  Henry  IV., 
however,  displayed  greater  abilities  in  his  adversity  than  his 
early  conduct  had  promised.  In  the  last  of  several  decisive 
battles,  Rodolph,  though  victorious,  was  mortally  wounded ; 
and  no  one  cared  to  take  up  a  gauntlet  which  was  to  be  won 
with  so  much  trouble  and  uncertainty  (a.d.  1080).  The  Ger- 
mans were  sufficiently  disposed  to  submit;  but  Rome  per- 
severed in  her  unrelenting  hatred.  At  the  close  of  Henry's 
long  reign  she  excited  against  him  his  eldest  son,  and,  after 
more  than  thirty  years  of  hostility,  had  the  satisfaction  of 
wearing  him  down  with  misfortune,  and  casting  out  his  body, 
as  excommunicated,  from  its  sepulchre. 

§  4.  In  the  reign  of  his  son  Henry  V.  there  is  no  event 
worthy   of  much  attention,  except  the  termination   of  the 

12* 


274  HOUSE  OF  SUABIA.  Chap.  V. 

great  contest  about  investitures.  At  his  death,  in  1125,  the 
male  line  of  the  Franconian  emperors  was  at  an  end.  Fred- 
erick, duke  of  Suabia,  grandson  by  his  mother  of  Henry  IV., 
had  inherited  their  patrimonial  estates,  and  seemed  to  rep- 
resent their  dynasty.  But  both  the  last  emperors  had  so 
many  enemies,  and  a  disposition  to  render  the  crown  elective 
prevailed  so  strongly  among  the  leading  princes,  that  Lo- 
thaire,  duke  of  Saxony,  was  elevated  to  the  throne.  Lothaire, 
who  had  been  engaged  in  a  revolt  against  Henry  V.,  and  the 
chief  of  a  nation  that  bore  an  inveterate  hatred  to  the  house 
of  Franconia,  was  the  natural  enemy  of  the  new  family  that 
derived  its  importance  and  pretensions  from  that  stock.  It 
was  the  object  of  his  reign,  accordingly,  to  oppress  the  two 
brothers,  Frederick  and  Conrad,  of  the  Hohenstaufen  or 
Suabian  family.  But  this  means  he  expected  to  secure  the 
succession  of  the  empire  for  his  son-in-law,  Henry,  surnamed 
the  Proud,  who  was  descended  from  a  distinguished  family, 
the  Welfs  of  Altorf,  in  Suabia.  From  this  family  he  inherited 
the  duchy  of  Bavaria.  The  wife  of  Lothaire  transmitted  to 
her  daughter  the  patrimony  of  Henry  the  Fowler,  consisting 
of  Hanover  and  Brunswick.  Besides  this  great  dowry,  Lo- 
thaire bestowed  upon  his  son-in-law  the  duchy  of  Saxony  in 
addition  to  that  of  Bavaria. 

§  5.  House  of  Suabia,  or  Hohenstaufen.' — This  amaz- 
ing preponderance,  however,  tended  to  alienate  the  princes 
of  Germany  from  Lothaire's  views  in  favor  of  Henry.  On 
the  death  of  Lothaire,  in  1138,  the  partisans  of  the  house  of 
Suabia  made  a  hasty  and  irregular  election  of  Conrad,  in 
which  the  Saxon  faction  found  itself  obliged  to  acquiesce. 
The  new  emperor  availed  himself  of  the  jealousy  which  Henry 
the  Proud's  aggrandizement  had  excited.  Lender  pretense 
that  two  duchies  could  not  legally  be  held  by  the  same  per- 
son, Henry  was  summoned  to  resign  one  of  them ;  and  on 
his  refusal,  the  Diet  pronounced  that  he  had  incurred  a  for- 
feiture of  both.  Henry  made  but  little  resistance,  and  be- 
fore his  death,  which  happened  soon  afterwards,  saw  himself 
stripped  of  all  his  hereditary  as  well  as  acquired  possessions. 
Upon  this  occasion  the  famous  names  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelin 
were  first  heard,  which  were  destined  to  keep  alive  the  flame 
of  civil  dissension  in  far  distant  countries,  and  after  their 
meaning  had  been  forgotten.  The  Guelfs,  or  Welfs,  were,  as 
I  have  said,  the  ancestors  of  Henry,  and  the  name  has  become 
a  sort  of  patronymic  in  his  family.     The  word  Ghibelin  is 

•  Hohenstaufen  is  a  castle  in  what  is  now  the  kingdom  of  Wurtemberg,  about  foui 
miles  from  the  Goppingeu  station  of  the  railway  from  Stuttgart  to  Ulm. 


Germany.  HOUSE  OF  SUABIA.  275 

derived  fVora  Wibelung,  a  town  in  Franconia,  whence  the 
emperors  of  that  line  are  said  to  have  sprung.  The  house 
of  Suabia  was  considered  in  Germany  as  representing  that 
of  Franconia;  as  the  Guelfs  may,  without  much  impropriety, 
be  deemed  to  represent  the  Saxon  line. 

Though  Conrad  III.  left  a  son,  the  choice  of  the  electors 
fell,  at  his  own  request,  upon  his  nephew,  Frederick  Barba- 
rossa.  The  most  conspicuous  events  of  this  great  emperor's 
life  belong  to  the  history  of  Italy.  At  home  he  was  feared 
and  respected;  the  imperial  prerogatives  stood  as  high  dur- 
ing his  reign  as,  after  their  previous  decline,  it  was  possible 
for  a  single  man  to  carry  them.  But  the  only  circumstance 
which  appears  memorable  enough  for  the  present  sketch  is 
the  second  fall  of  the  Guelfs.  Henry  the  Lion,  son  of  Henry 
the  Proud,  had  been  restored  by  Conrad  HI.  to  his  father's 
duchy  of  Saxony,  resigning  his  claim  to  that  of  Bavaria, 
which  had  been  conferred  on  the  margrave  of  Austria.  This 
renunciation,  which  indeed  was  only  made  in  his  name  dur- 
ing childhood,  did  not  prevent  him  from  urging  the  Emperor 
Frederick  to  restore  the  whole  of  his  birthright ;  and  Fred- 
erick, his  first-cousin,  whose  life  he  had  saved  in  a  sedition  at 
Rome,  was  induced  to  comply  with  this  request  in  1156. 
Far  from  evincing  that  political  jealousy  which  some  writers 
impute  to  him,  the  emperor  seems  to  have  carried  his  gener- 
osity beyond  the  limits  of  prudence.  For  many  years  their 
union  was  apparently  cordial.  But,  whether  it  was  that 
Henry  took  umbrage  at  part  of  Frederick's  conduct,  or  that 
mere  ambition  rendered  him  ungrateful,  he  certainly  aban- 
doned his  sovereign  in  a  moment  of  distress,  refusing  to  give 
any  assistance  in  that  expedition  into  Lombardy  which  ended 
in  the  unsuccessful  battle  of  Legnano.  Frederick  could  not 
forgive  this  injury,  and,  taking  advantage  of  complaints 
which  Henry's  power  and  haughtiness  had  produced,  sum- 
moned him  to  answer  charges  in  a  general  Diet.  The  duke 
refused  to  appear,  and,  being  adjudged  contumacious,  a  sen- 
tence of  confiscation,  similar  to  that  which  ruined  his  father, 
fell  upon  his  head ;  and  the  vast  imperial  fiefs  that  he  pos- 
sessed were  shared  among  some  potent  enemies.  He  made 
an  ineffectual  resistance :  like  his  father,  he  appears  to  have 
owed  more  to  fortune  than  to  nature ;  and  after  three  years' 
exile,  was  obliged  to  remain  content  with  the  restoration  of 
his  allodial  estates  in  Saxony.  These,  fifty  years  afterwards, 
were  converted  into  imperial  fiefs,  and  became  the  two 
duchies  of  the  house  of  Brunswick,  the  lineal  representatives 
of  Henry  the  Lion,  and  inheritors  of  the  name  of  Guelf. 


276  FREDERICK  II.  Chap.  V. 

Notwithstanding  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  German  oli- 
garchy, Frederick  Barbarossa  had  found  no  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing the  election  of  his  son  Henry,  even  during  infancy, 
as  his  successor.  The  fall  of  Henry  the  Lion  had  greatly 
weakened  the  ducal  authority  in  Saxony  and  Bavaria ;  the 
princes  who  acquired  that  title,  especially  in  the  former 
country,  finding  that  the  secular  and  spiritual  nobility  of  the 
first  class  had  taken  the  opportunity  to  raise  themselves  into 
an  immediate  dependence  upon  the  empire.  Henry  VI.  came, 
therefore,  to  the  crown  (a.d.  1190)  with  considerable  advan- 
tages in  respect  of  prerogative ;  and  these  inspired  him  with 
the  bold  scheme  of  declaring  the  empire  hereditary.  One 
is  more  surprised  to  find  that  he  had  no  contemptible  pros- 
pect of  success  in  this  attempt :  fifty-two  princes,  and  even 
what  appears  hardly  credible,  the  See  of  Rome,  under  Clem- 
ent HI.,  having  been  induced  to  concur  in  it.  But  the 
Saxons  made  so  vigorous  an  opposition  that  Henry  did  not 
think  it  advisable  to  persevere.  He  procured,  however,  the 
election  of  his  son  Frederick,  an  infant  only  two  years  old. 
But,  the  emperor  dying  almost  immediately,  a  powerful  body 
of  princes,  supported  by  Pope  Innocent  III.,  were  desirous 
to  withdraw  their  consent.  Philip,  duke  of  Suabia,  the  late 
king's  brother,  unable  to  secure  his  nephew's  succession, 
brought  about  his  own  election  by  one  party,  while  another 
chose  Otho  of  Brunswick,  younger  son  of  Henry  the  Lion 
(a.d.  1198).  This  double  election  renewed  the  rivalry  be- 
tween Guelfs  and  Ghibelins,  and  threw  Germany  into  con- 
fusion for  several  years.  Philip,  whose  pretensions  appear 
to  be  the  more  legitimate  of  the  two,  gained  ground  upon 
his  adversarj^,  nothwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the  pope, 
till  he  was  assassinated  in  consequence  of  a  private  resent- 
ment. Otho  IV.  reaped  the  benefit  of  a  crime  in  which  he 
did  not  participate  (a.d.  1208),  and  became  for  some  years 
undisputed  sovereign.  But,  having  ofiended  the  pope  by 
not  entirely  abandoning  his  imperial  rights  over  Italy,  he 
had,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  to  contend  against  Fred- 
erick, son  of  Henry  VI.,  who,  having  grown  up  to  manhood, 
came  into  Germany  as  heir  of  the  house  of  Suabia,  and,  what 
was  not  very  usual  in  his  own  history,  or  that  of  his  family, 
the  favored  candidate  of  the  Holy  See.  Otho  IV.  had  been  al- 
most entirely  deserted  except  by  his  natural  subjects,  when 
his  death,  in  1218,  removed  every  difficulty,  and  left  Frede- 
rick II.  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  Germany. 

The  eventful  life  of  Frederick  11.  was  chiefly  passed  in 
Italy.     To  preserve  his  hereditary  dominions,  and  chastise 


Germany.  THE  INTERREGNUM.  277 

the  Lombard  cities,  were  the  leading  objects  of  his  political  . 
and  military  career.  He  paid,  therefore,  but  little  attention 
to  Germany,  from  which  it  was  in  vain  for  any  emperor  to 
expect  effectual  assistance  towards  objects  of  his  own.  Care- 
less of  prerogatives  which  it  seemed  hardly  worth  an  effort 
to  preserve,  he  sanctioned  the  independence  of  the  princes, 
which  may  be  properly  dated  from  his  reign.  In  return,  they 
readily  elected  his  son  Henry  king  of  the  Romans  ;  and  on 
his  being  implicated  in  a  rebelHon,  deposed  him  with  equal 
readiness,  and  substituted  his  brother  Conrad  at  the  em- 
peror's request.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  Frederick's  reign 
the  deadly  hatred  of  Rome  penetrated  beyond  the  Alps. 
After  his  solemn  deposition  in  the  council  of  Lyons,  he  was 
incapable,  in  ecclesiastical  eyes,  of  holding  the  imperial  scep- 
tre. William,  count  of  Holland,  was  chosen  by  the  party 
adverse  to  Frederick  and  his  son  Conrad ;  and  after  the  em- 
peror's death  he  had  some  success  against  the  latter.  It  is 
hard,  indeed,  to  say  that  any  one  was  actually  sovereign  for 
twenty-two  years  that  followed  the  death  of  Frederick  II. ; 
a  period  of  contested  title  and  universal  anarchy,  which  is 
usually  denominated  the  grand  interregnum  (a.d.  1250- 
1272).  On  the  decease  of  William  of  Holland,  in  1257,  a 
schism  among  the  electors  produced  the  double  choice  of 
Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  and  Alfonso  X.,  king  of  Castile. 
It  seems  not  easy  to  determine  which  of  these  candidates 
had  a  legal  majority  of  votes ;  but  the  subsequent  recogni- 
tion of  almost  all  Germany,  and  a  sort  of  possession  evi- 
denced by  public  acts,  which  have  been  held  valid,  as  well 
as  the  general  consent  of  contemporaries,  may  justify  us  in 
adding  Richard  to  the  imperial  list.  The  choice,  indeed,  was 
ridiculous,  as  he  possessed  no  talents  which  could  compen- 
sate for  his  want  of  power ;  but  the  electors  attained  their 
objects — to  perpetuate  a  state  of  confusion  by  which  their 
own  independence  was  consolidated,  and  to  plunder  without 
scruple  a  man  like  Didius  at  Rome,  rich  and  foolish  enough 
to  purchase  the  first  place  upon  earth. 

§  6.  That  place,  indeed,  was  now  become  a  mockery  of 
greatness.  For  more  than  two  centuries,  notwithstanding 
the  temporary  influence  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  his  son, 
the  imperial  authority  had  been  in  a  state  of  gradual  decay. 
From  the  time  of  Frederick  II.  it  had  bordered  upon  abso- 
lute insignificance;  and  the  more  prudent  German  princes 
were  slow  to  canvass  for  a  dignity  so  little  accompanied  by 
respect.  The  changes  wrought  in  the  Germanic  constitution 
during  the  period  of  the  Suabian  emperors  chiefly  consist  in 


278  GERMANIC  CONSTITUTION.  Chap.  V. 

the  establishment  of  an  oligarchy  of  electors,  and  of  the  ter- 
ritorial sovereignty  of  the  princes. 

(1.)  At  the  extinction  of  the  Franconian  line  by  the  death 
of  Henry  Y.  it  was  determined  by  the  German  nobility  to 
make  their  empire  practically  elective,  admitting  no  right, 
or  even  natural  pretension,  in  the  eldest  son  of  a  reigning 
sovereign.  Their  choice  upon  former  occasions  had  been 
made  by  free  and  general  suffrage.  But  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed that  each  nation  voted  unanimously,  and  according 
to  the  disposition  of  its  duke.  It  is  probable,  too,  that  the 
leaders,  after  discussing  in  previous  deliberations  the  merits 
of  the  several  candidates,  submitted  their  own  resolutions  to 
the  assembly,  which  would  generally  concur  in  them  with- 
out hesitation.  At  the  election  of  Lothair,  in  1124,  we  find 
an  evident  instance  of  this  previous  choice,  or,  as  it  was 
called,  prcBtaxation^  from  which  the  electoral  college  of  Ger- 
many has  been  derived.  In  the  course  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury the  other  princes  lost  all  voice  in  the  election  of  the 
emperor,  and  the  right  of  prcetoica^^o;i  was  confined  to  Seven 
Electors.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  account  for  all  the  circum- 
stances that  gave  to  seven  spiritual  and  temporal  princes 
this  distinguished  pre-eminence.  The  three  archbishops, 
Mentz,  Treves,  and  Cologne,  were  always,  indeed,  at  the  head 
of  the  German  Church.  But  the  secular  electors  should  nat- 
urally have  been  the  dukes  of  four  nations — Saxony,  Fran- 
conia,  Suabia,  and  Bavaria.  We  find,  however,  only  the  first 
of  these  in  the  undisputed  exercise  of  a  vote.  It  seems 
probable  that,  when  the  electoral  princes  came  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  rest,  their  privilege  was  considered  as  pe- 
culiarly connected  with  the  discharge  of  one  of  the  great 
offices  in  the  imperial  court.  These  were  attached,  as  early 
as  the  Diet  of  Mentz  in  1184,  to  the  four  electors,  who  after- 
wards possessed  them  ;  the  Duke  of  Saxony  having  then  of- 
ficiated as  arch-marshal,  the  Count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine  as 
arch-steward,  the  King  of  Bohemia  as  arch-cupbearer,  and 
the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg  as  arch-chamberlain  of  the 
empire.'*  But  it  still  continues  a  problem  why  the  three 
latter  offices,  with  the  electoral  capacity  as  their  incident, 

'  The  names  and  oflSces  of  the  seven  are  concisely  given  in  these  lines,  which  ap- 
pear in  the  treatise  of  Marsilius  Patavinus,  De  Imperio  Jioviatw : 
"Moguntinensis,  Trevirensis,  Coloniensis, 
Quiiibet  Imperii  sit  Cancellarius  horum  ; 
Et  Palatinus  dapifer,  Dux  portitor  eusis, 
Marchio  praepositus  camerse,  pincerua  Bohemus, 
Hi  statuunt  dominura  cunctis  per  ssecula  snmmnra." 

Bryce's  "  Holy  Roman  Empire,"  p.  252. 


Germany.  GERMANIC  CONSTITUTION.  279 

should  not  rather  have  been  granted  to  the  dukes  of  Fran- 
conia,  Suabia,  and  Bavaria.  The  final  extinction  of  two 
great  original  duchies,  Franconia  and  Suabia,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  left  the  electoral  rights  of  the  count  palatine 
and  the  margrave  of  Brandenburg  beyond  dispute.  But  the 
dukes  of  Bavaria  continued  to  claim  a  vote  in  opposition  to 
the  kings  of  Bohemia.  At  the  election  of  Rodolph,  in  1272, 
the  two  brothers  of  the  house  of  Wittelsbach  voted  sepa- 
rately, as  count  palatine  and  duke  of  Lower  Bavaria.  Otto- 
car  was  excluded  upon  this  occasion;  and  it  was  not  till 
1290  that  the  suffrage  of  Bohemia  was  fully  recognized. 
The  Palatine  and  Bavarian  branches,  however,  continued  to 
enjoy  their  family  vote  conjointly,  by  a  determination  of 
Rodolph ;  upon  which  Louis  of  Bavaria  slightly  innovated, 
by  rendering  the  suffrage  alternate.  But  the  Golden  Bull 
of  Charles  lY.  (a.d.  1356)  put  an  end  to  all  doubts  on  the 
rights  of  electoral  houses,  and  absolutely  excluded  Bavaria 
from  voting.  This  Bull,  which  became  the  corner-stone  of 
the  German  constitution,  finally  ascertained  the  prerogatives 
of  the  electoral  college.  The  number  was  absolutely  re- 
strained to  seven.  The  place  of  legal  imperial  elections  was 
fixed  at  Frankfort ;  of  coronations,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  and 
the  latter  ceremony  was  to  be  performed  by  the  archbishop 
of  Cologne.  These  regulations,  though  consonant  to  ancient 
usage,  had  not  always  been  observed,  and  their  neglect  had 
sometimes  excited  questions  as  to  the  validity  of  elections. 
The  dignity  of  elector  was  enhanced  by  the  Golden  Bull  as 
highly  as  an  imperial  edict  could  carry  it ;  they  were  de- 
clared equal  to  kings,  and  conspiracy  against  their  persons 
incurred  the  penalty  of  high  treason. 

(2.)  It  might  appear  natural  to  expect  that  an  oligarchy 
of  seven  persons,  who  had  thus  excluded  their  equals  from 
all  share  in  the  election  of  a  sovereign,  would  assume  still 
greater  authority,  and  trespass  further  upon  the  less  pow- 
erful vassals  of  the  empire.  But  while  the  electors  were 
establishing  their  peculiar  privilege,  the  class  immediately 
inferior  raised  itself  by  important  acquisitions  of  power. 
The  German  dukes,  even  after  they  became  hereditary,  did 
not  succeed  in  compelling  the  chief  nobility  within  their 
limits  to  hold  their  lands  in  fief  so  completely  as  the  peers 
of  France  had  done.  The  nobles  of  Suabia  refused  to  follow 
their  duke  into  the  field  against  the  Emperor  Conrad  IL  Of 
this  aristocracy,-  the  superior  class  were  denominated  prin- 
ces ;  an  appellation  which,  after  the  eleventh  century,  dis- 
tinguished them  from  the  untitled  nobility,  most  of  whom 


280  RODOLPll  OF  HAPSBURG.  Chap.  V. 

were  their  vassals.  They  were  constituent  parts  of  all 
Diets;  and  though  gradually  deprived  of  their  original  par- 
ticipation in  electing  an  emperor,  possessed,  in  all  other  re- 
spects, the  same  rights  as  the  dukes  or  electors.  Some  of 
them  were  fully  equal  to  the  electors  in  birth  as  well  as  ex- 
tent of  dominions ;  such  as  the  princely  houses  of  Austria, 
Hesse,  Brunswick,  and  Misnia.  By  the  division  of  Henry 
the  Lion's  vast  territories,  and  by  the  absolute  extinction  of 
the  Suabian  family  in  the  following  century,  a  great  many 
princes  acquired  additional  weight.  Of  the  ancient  duchies, 
only  Saxony  and  Bavaria  remained ;  the  former  of  which 
especially  was  so  dismembered,  that  it  was  vain  to  attempt 
any  renewal  of  the  ducal  jurisdiction.  That  of  the  emper- 
or, formerly  exercised  by  the  counts  palatine,  went  almost 
equally  into  disuse  during  the  contest  between  Philip  and 
Otho  IV.  The  princes  accordingly  had  acted  with  sover- 
eign independence  within  their  own  fiefs  before  the  reign  of 
Frederick  II. ;  but  the  legal  recognition  of  their  immunities 
was  reserved  for  two  edicts  of  that  emperor;  one,  in  1220, 
relating  to  ecclesiastical,  and  the  other,  in  1232,  to  secular 
princes.  By  these  he  engaged  neither  to  levy  the  custom- 
ary imperial  dues,  nor  to  permit  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pala- 
tine judges,  within  the  limits  of  a  state  of  the  empire;  con- 
cessions that  amounted  to  little  less  than  an  abdication  of 
his  own  sovereignty.  From  this  epoch  the  territorial  inde- 
pendence of  the  states  may  be  dated. 

A  class  of  titled  nobility,  inferior  to  the  princes,  were  the 
counts  of  the  empire,  who  seem  to  have  been  separated  from 
the  former  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  to  have  lost  at  the 
same  time  their  right  of  voting  in  the  Diets.^  In  some  parts 
of  Germany,  chiefly  in  Franconia  and  upon  the  Rhine,  there 
always  existed  a  very  numerous  body  of  lower  nobility;  un- 
titled at  least  till  modern  times,  but  subject  to  no  superior 
except  the  emperor.  These  are  supposed  to  have  become 
immediate,  after  the  destruction  of  the  house  of  Suabia,  with- 
in whose  duchies  they  had  been  comprehended. 

§  7.  A  short  interval  elapsed  after  the  death  of  Richard  of 
Cornwall  before  the  electors  could  be  induced,  by  the  deplor- 
able state  of  confusion  into  which  Germany  had  fallen,  to  fill 
the  imperial  throne.  Their  choice  was,  however,  the  best 
that  could  have  been  made.  It  fell  upon  Rodolph,  count  of 
Hapsburg,  a  prince  of  very  ancient  family,  and  of  considera- 

3  III  the  instrnments  relating  to  the  election  of  Otho  IV,  the  princes  sign  their 
names,  Ego  N.  elegi  et  subscripsi.  But  the  covints  only  as  follows:  Ego  N.  consenei 
et  aubscripsi. 


Germany.  THE  EMPIRE  AFTER  RODOLril.  281 

ble  possessions  as  well  in  Switzerland  as  upon  each  bank  of 
the  Upper  Rhine,  but  not  sufficiently  powerfnl  to  alarm  the 
electoral  oligarchy  (a.d.  1272).  Rodolph  was  brave,  active, 
and  just ;  but  his  characteristic  quality  appears  to  have  been 
good  sense,  and  judgment  of  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
was  placed.  Of  this  he  gave  a  signal  proof  in  relinquishing 
the  favorite  project  of  so  many  preceding  emperors,  and 
leaving  Italy  altogether  to  itself  At  home  he  manifested  a 
vigilant  spirit  in  administering  justice,  and  is  said  to  have 
destroyed  seventy  strongholds  of  noble  robbers  in  Thuringia 
and  other  parts,  bringing  many  of  the  criminals  to  capital 
punishment.  But  he  wisely  avoided  giving  oifense  to  the 
more  powerful  princes;  and  during  his  reign  there  were 
hardly  any  rebellions  in  Germany. 

It  was  a  very  reasonable  object  of  every  emperor  to  ag- 
grandize his  family  by  investing  his  near  kindred  with  va- 
cant fiefs;  but  no  one  was  so  fortunate  in  his  opportunities 
as  Rodolph.  At  his  accession,  Austria,  Styria,  and  Carniola 
were  in  the  hands  of  Ottocar,  king  of  Bohemia.  These  ex- 
tensive and  fertile  countries  had  been  formed  into  a  march, 
or  margraviate,  after  the  victories  of  Otho  the  Great  over 
the  Hungarians.  Frederick  Barbarossa  erected  them  into  a 
duchy,  with  many  distinguished  privileges,  especially  that 
of  female  succession,  hitherto  unknown  in  the  feudal  princi- 
palities of  Germany.  Upon  the  extinction  of  the  house  of 
Bamberg,  which  had  enjoyed  this  duchy,  it  was  granted  by 
Frederick  II.  to  a  cousin  of  his  own  name  ;  after  whose  death 
a  disputed  succession  gave  rise  to  several  changes,  and  ulti- 
mately enabled  Ottocar  to  gain  possession  of  the  country. 
Against  this  King  of  Bohemia  Rodolph  waged  two  success- 
ful wars,  and  recovered  the  Austrian  provinces,  which,  as  va- 
cant fiefs,  he  conferred,  with  the  consent  of  the  Diet,  upon  his 
son  Albert. 

§  8.  Notwithstanding  the  merit  and  popularity  of  Ro- 
dolph, the  electors  refused  to  choose  his  son  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans in  his  lifetime ;  and,  after  his  death,  determined  to 
avoid  the  appearance  of  hereditary  succession,  put  Adolphus 
of  Nassau  upon  the  throne  (a.d.  1292).  There  is  very  little 
to  attract  notice  in  the  domestic  history  of  the  empire  dur- 
ing the  next  two  centuries.  From  Adolphus  to  Sigismund 
every  emperor  had  either  to  struggle  against  a  competitor 
claiming  the  majority  of  votes  at  his  election,  or  against  a 
combination  of  the  electors  to  dethrone  him.  The  imperial 
authority  became  more  and  more  ineffective ;  yet  it  was  fre- 
quently made  a  subject  of  reproach  against  the  emperors 


282  CUSTOM  OF  PARTITION.  Chap.  V. 

that  they  did  not  maintain  a  sovereignty  to  which  no  one 
was  disposed  to  submit. 

It  may  appear  surprising  that  the  Germanic  confederacy 
under  the  nominal  supremacy  of  an  emperor  should  have 
been  preserved  in  circumstances  apparently  so  calculated  to 
dissolve  it.  But,  besides  the  natural  effect  of  prejudice  and 
a  famous  name,  there  were  sufficient  reasons  to  induce  the 
eiectors  to  preserve  a  form  of  government  in  which  they 
■bore  so  decided  a  sway.  Accident  had  in  a  considerable  de- 
gree restricted  the  electoral  suffrages  to  seven  princes. 
Without  the  college  there  were  houses  more  substantially 
powerful  than  any  within  it.  The  duchy  of  Saxony  had  been 
subdivided  by  repeated  partitions  among  children,  till  the 
electoral  right  was  vested  in  a  prince  who  possessed  only 
the  small  territory  of  Wittenberg.  The  great  families  of 
Austria,  Bavaria,  and  Luxemburg,  though  not  electoral,  were 
the  real  heads  of  the  German  body ;  and  though  the  two 
former  lost  much  of  their  influence  for  a  time  through  the 
pernicious  custom  of  partition,  the  empire  seldom  looked  for 
its  head  to  any  other  house  than  one  of  these  three. 

While  the  duchies  and  counties  of  Germany  retained  their 
original  character  of  offices  or  governments,  they  were  of 
course,  even  though  considered  as  hereditary,  not  subject  to 
partition  among  children.  When  they  acquired  the  natuie 
of  fiefs,  it  was  still  consonant  to  the  principles  of  a  feudal 
tenure  that  the  eldest  son  should  inherit  according  to  the 
law  of  primogeniture ;  an  inferior  provision  or  appanage,  at 
most,  being  reserved  for  the  younger  children.  The  law  of 
England  favored  the  eldest  exclusively;  that  of  France  gave 
him  great  advantages.  But  in  Germany  a  different  rule  be- 
gan to  prevail  about  the  thirteenth  century.  An  equal  par- 
tition of  the  inheritance,  without  the  least  regard  to  priority 
of  birth,  was  the  general  law  of  its  principalities.  Some- 
times this  was  effected  by  undivided  possession,  or  tenancy 
in  common,  the  brothers  residing  together,  and  reigning 
jointly.  This  tended  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  dominion  ; 
but  as  it  was  frequently  incommodious,  a  more  usual  prac- 
tice was  to  divide  the  territory.  From  such  partitions  are 
derived  those  numerous  independent  principalities  of  the 
same  house,  many  of  which  still  subsist  in  Germany.  In 
1589  there  were  eight  reigning  princes  of  the  Palatine  fami- 
ly; and  fourteen,  in  1675,  of  that  of  Saxony.  Originally  these 
partitions  were  in  general  absolute  and  without  reversion ; 
out,  as  their  effect  in  weakening  families  became  evident,  a 
practice  was  introduced  of  making  compacts  of  reciprocal 


Gkkmany.  house  of  LUXEMBURG.  283 

succession,  by  which  a  fief  was  prevented  from  escheating 
to  the  empire,  until  all  the  male  posterity  of  the  first  feuda- 
tory should  be  extinct.  Thus,  while  the  German  empire  sur- 
vived, all  the  princes  of  Hesse  or  of  Saxony  had  reciprocal 
contingencies  of  succession,  or  what  our  lawyers  call  cross- 
remainders,  to  each  other's  dominions.  A  different  system 
was  gradually  adopted.  By  the  Golden  Bull  of  Charles  IV. 
the  electoral  territory,  that  is,  the  particular  district  to  which 
the  electoral  suffrage  was  inseparably  attached,  became  inca- 
pable of  partition,  and  was  to  descend  to  the  eldest  son.  In 
the  fifteenth  century  the  present  house  of  Brandenburg  set  the 
first  example  of  establishing  primogeniture  by  law ;  the  prin- 
cipalities of  Anspach  and  Bayreuth  were  dismembered  from 
it  for  the  benefit  of  younger  branches ;  but  it  was  declared 
that  all  the  other  dominions  of  the  family  should  for  the  fu- 
ture belong  exclusively  to  the  reigning  elector.  This  politic 
measure  was  adopted  in  several  other  families ;  but,  even  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  prejudice  was  not  removed,  and 
some  German  princes  denounced  curses  on  their  posterity  if 
they  should  introduce  the  impious  custom  of  primogeniture. 
I^^otwithstanding  these  subdivisions,  and  the  most  remarka- 
ble of  those  which  I  have  mentioned  are  of  a  date  rather  sub- 
sequent to  the  Middle  Ages,  the  antagonist  principle  of  con- 
solidation by  various  means  of  acquisition  was  so  actively 
at  work  that  several  princely  houses,  especially  those  of  Ho- 
henzollern  or  Brandenburg,  of  Hesse,  Wirtemburg,  and  the 
Palatinate,  derive  their  importance  from  the  same  era,  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  in  which  the  prejudice 
against  primogeniture  was  the  strongest.  And  thus  it  will 
often  be  found  in  private  patrimonies ;  the  tendency  to  con- 
solidation of  property  works  more  rapidly  than  that  to  its 
disintegration  by  a  law  of  gavelkind. 

§  9.  House  of  Luxemburg. — Weakened  by  these  subdi- 
visions, the  principalities  of  Germany  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  shrink  to  a  more  and  more  diminutive  size 
in  the  scale  of  nations.  But  one  family,  the  most  illustrious 
of  the  former  age,  was  less  exposed  to  this  enfeebling  sys- 
tem. Henry  VII.,  count  of  Luxembui^g,  a  man  of  much  more 
personal  merit  than  hereditary  importance,  was  elevated  to 
the  empire  in  1308.  Most  part  of  his  short  reign  he  passed 
in  Italy ;  but  he  had  a  fortunate  opportunity  of  obtaining  the 
crown  of  Bohemia  for  his  son.  John,  king  of  Bohemia,  did 
not  himself  wear  the  imperial  crown ;  but  three  of  his  de- 
scendants possessed  it,  with  less  interruption  than  could  have 
been  expected.     His  son  Charles  IV.  succeeded  Louis  of  Ba- 


284  HOUSE  OF  LUXEMBURG.  Chap.  V. 

varia  in  1347;  not  indeed  without  opposition,  for  a  double 
election  and  a  civil  war  were  matters  of  course  in  Germany. 
Charles  lY.  has  been  treated  with  more  derision  by  his  con- 
temporaries, and  consequently  by  later  writers,  than  almost 
any  prince  in  history ;  yet  he  was  remarkably  successful  in 
the  only  objects  that  he  seriously  pursued.  Deficient  in  per- 
sonal courage,  insensible  of  humiliation,  bending  without 
shame  to  the  pope,  to  the  Italians,  to  the  electors,  so  poor  and 
so  little  reverenced  as  to  be  arrested  by  a  butcher  at  Worms 
for  want  of  paying  his  demand,  Charles  IV.  affords  a  proof 
that  a  certain  dexterity  and  cold-blooded  perseverance  may 
occasionally  supply,  in  a  sovereign,  the  want  of  more  respei-t- 
able  qualities.  He  has  been  reproached  with  neglecting  the 
empire.  But  he  never  designed  to  trouble  himself  about  the 
empire,  except  for  his  private  ends.  He  did  not  neglect  the 
kingdom  of  Bohemia,  to  which  he  almost  seemed  to  render 
Germany  a  province.  Bohemia  had  been  long  considered  as 
a  fief  of  the  empire,  and  indeed  could  pretend  to  an  electoral 
vote  by  no  other  title.  Charles,  however,  gave  the  states  by 
law  the  right  of  choosing  a  king,  on  the  extinction  of  the 
royal  family,  which  seems  derogatory  to  the  imperial  pre- 
rogative. It  was  much  more  material  that,  upon  acquiring 
Brandenburg,  partly  by  conquest,  and  partly  by  a  compact 
of  succession  in  1373,  he  not  only  invested  his  sons  with  it, 
which  was  conformable  to  usage,  but  tried  to  annex  that 
electorate  forever  to  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia.  He  constant- 
ly resided  at  Prague,  where  he  founded  a  celebrated  univer- 
sity, and  embellished  the  city  with  buildings.  This  king- 
dom, augmented  also  during  his  reign  by  the  acquisition  of 
Silesia,  he  bequeathed  to  his  son  Wenceslaus,  for  whom,  by 
pliancy  towards  the  electors  and  the  court  of  Rome,  he  had 
procured,  against  all  recent  example,  the  imperial  succession. 
The  reign  of  Charles  IV.  is  distinguished  in  the  constitu- 
tional history  of  the  empire  by  his  Goldex  Bull.  (See  p. 
279.)  The  next  reign  evinced  the  danger  of  investing  the 
electors  with  such  preponderating  authority.  Wenceslaus, 
a  supine  and  voluptuous  man,  less  respected,  and  more  neg- 
ligent of  Germany,  if  possible,  than  his  father,  was  regularly 
deposed  by  a  majority  of  the  electoral  college  in  1400.  This 
right,  if  it  is  to  be  considered  as  a  right,  they  had  already 
used  against  Adolphus  of  Nassau  in  1298,  and  against  Louis 
of  Bavaria  in  1346.  They  chose  Robert  count  palatine  in- 
stead of  Wenceslaus ;  and  though  the  latter  did  not  cease 
to  have  some  adherents,  Robert  has  generally  been  counted 
among  the  lawful  emperors.     Upon  his  death  the  empire  re- 


GERMANr.  HOUSE  OF  AUSTRIA.  285 

turned  to  the  house  of  Luxemburg ;  Wenceslaus  himself  waiv- 
ing his  rights  in  favor  of  his  brother  Sigismund  of  Hungary. 

§  10.  The  HOUSE  OF  Austria  had  hitherto  given  but  two 
emperors  to  Germany,  Rodolph,  its  founder,  and  his  son  Al- 
bert, whom  a  successful  rebellion  elevated  in  the  place  of 
Adolphus.  Upon  the  death  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  in  1 31 3, 
Frederick,  son  of  Albert,  disputed  the  election  of  Louis,  duke 
of  Bavaria,  alleging  a  majority  of  genuine  votes.  This  pro- 
duced a  civil  war,  in  which  the  Austrian  party  were  entirely 
worsted.  Though  they  advanced  no  pretensions  to  the  im- 
perial dignity  during  the  rest  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
princes  of  that  line  added  to  their  possessions  Carinthia,  Is- 
tria,  and  the  Tyrol.  As  a  counterbalance  to  these  acquisi- 
tions, they  lost  a  great  part  of  their  ancient  inheritance  by 
unsuccessful  wars  with  the  Swiss.  According  to  the  custom 
of  partition,  so  injurious  to  princely  houses,  their  dominions 
were  divided  among  three  branches ;  one  reigning  in  Austria, 
a  second  in  Styria  and  the  adjacent  provinces,  a  third  in  the 
Tyrol  and  Alsace.  This  had  in  a  considerable  degree  eclipsed 
the  glory  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  But  it  was  now  its  des- 
tiny to  revive  and  to  enter  upon  a  career  of  prosperity  which 
has  never  since  been  permanently  interrupted.  Albert,  duke 
of  Austria,  who  had  married  Sigismund's  only  daughter,  the 
queen  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  was  raised  to  the  imperial 
throne  upon  the  death  of  his  father-in-law  in  1438.  He  died 
in  two  years,  leaving  his  wife  pregnant  with  a  son,  Ladislaus 
Posthumus,  who  afterwards  reigned  in  the  two  kingdoms  just 
mentioned;  and  the  choice  of  the  electors  fell  upon  Frederick, 
duke  of  Styria,  second-cousin  of  the  last  emperor,  from  whose 
posterity  it  never  departed,  except  in  a  single  instance,  upon 
the  extinction  of  his  male  line  in  1740. 

Frederick  IH.  reigned  fifty-three  years  (a.d.  1440-1493),  a 
longer  period  than  any  of  his  predecessors;  and  his  personal 
character  was  more  insignificant.  He  reigned  during  an  in- 
teresting age,  full  of  remarkable  events,  and  big  with  others 
of  more  leading  importance.  The  destruction  of  the  Greek 
empire,  and  appearance  of  the  victorious  crescent  upon  the 
Danube,  gave  an  unhappy  distinction  to  the  earlier  years  of 
his  reign,  and  displayed  his  mean  and  pusillanimous  charac- 
ter in  circumstances  which  demanded  a  hero.  At  a  laler  sea- 
son he  was  drawn  into  contentions  with  France  and  Burgun- 
dy, which  ultimately  produced  a  new  and  more  general  com- 
bination of  European  politics.  Frederick,  always  poor,  and 
scarcely  able  to  protect  himself  in  Austria  from  the  seditions 
of  his  subjects,  or  the  inroads  of  the  King  of  Hungary,  was 


286  FREDERICK  III.  Chap.  V. 

yet  another  founder  of  his  family,  and  left  their  fortunes  in- 
comparably more  prosperous  than  at  his  accession.  The  mar- 
riage of  his  son  Maximilian  with  the  heiress  of  Burgundy  be- 
gan that  aggrandizement  of  the  house  of  Austria  which  Fred- 
erick seems  to  have  anticipated."*  The  electors,  who  had  lost 
a  good  deal  of  their  former  spirit,  and  were  grown  sensible 
of  the  necessity  of  choosing  a  powerful  sovereign,  made  no 
opposition  to  Maximilian's  becoming  king  of  the  Romans  in 
his  father's  lifetime.  The  Austrian  provinces  were  re-united 
either  under  Frederick  or  in  the  first  years  of  Maximilian;  so 
that,  at  the  close  of  that  period  which  we  denominate  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  German  Empire,  sustained  by  the  patrimo- 
nial dominions  of  its  chief,  became  again  considerable  in  the 
scale  of  nations,  and  capable  of  preserving  a  balance  between 
the  ambitious  monarchies  of  France  and  Spain. 

§  11.  The  period  between  Rodolph  and  Frederick  III.  is 
distinguished  by  no  circumstance  so  interesting  as  the  pros- 
perous state  of  the  free  imperial  cities,  which  had  attained 
their  maturity  about  the  commencement  of  that  interval. 
We  find  the  cities  of  Germany,  in  the  tenth  century,  divided 
into  such  as  depended  immediately  upon  the  empire,  which 
were  usually  governed  by  their  bishop  as  imperial  vicar,  and 
such  as  were  included  in  the  territories  of  the  dukes  and 
counts.  Gradually  they  began  to  elect  councils  of  citizens, 
as  a  sort  of  Senate  and  magistracy.  They  were  at  first  only 
assistants  to  the  imperial  or  episcopal  bailiff,  who  probably 
continued  to  administer  criminal  justice.  But  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  citizens,  grown  richer  and  stronger,  either 
purchased  the  jurisdiction,  or  usurped  it  through  the  lord's 
neglect,  or  drove  out  the  bailiff  by  force.  The  great  revolu-- 
tion  in  Franconia  and  Suabia  occasioned  by  the  fall  of  the 
Hohenstaufen  family  completed  the  victory  of  the  cities. 
Those  which  had  depended  upon  mediate  lords  became  im- 
mediately connected  with  the  empire  ;  and  with  the  empire 
in  its  state  of  feebleness,  when  an  occasional  present  of  mon- 
ey would  easily  induce  its  chief  to  acquiesce  in  any  claims  of 
immunity  which  the  citizens  might  prefer. 

It  was  a  natural  consequence  of  the  importance  which  the 
free  citizens  had  reached,  and  of  their  immediacy,  that  they 
were  admitted  to  a  place  in  the  Diets,  or  general  meetings 
of  the  confederacy.     They  were  tacitly  acknowledged  to  be 

*  The  famotis  device  of  Austria,  A.  E.  I.  O.  U.,  was  flrst  used  by  Frederick  III.,  who 
adopted  it  on  his  plate,  books,  and  buildings.  These  initials  stand  for,  Aastrife  Est 
Imperare  Orbi  Uuiverso;  or,  in  German,  Alles  Erdreich  Ist  Oesterreich  Uuterthan: 
a  bold  assumption  for  a  man  who  was  not  safe  in  au  inch  of  his  dominions. 


Germany.  FKEE  IMPERIAL  CITIES.  287 

equally  sovereign  with  the  electors  and  princes,  and  under 
the  emperor  Henry  VII.  there  is  unequivocal  mention  of  the 
three  orders  composing  the  Diet — electors,  princes,  and  depu- 
ties from  cities. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  free  cities  always  preserved  their 
respect  for  the  emperor,  and  gave  him  much  less  vexation 
than  his  other  subjects.  He  was  indeed  their  natural  friend. 
But  the  nobility  and  prelates  were  their  natural  enemies; 
and  the  western  parts  of  Germany  were  the  scenes  of  ir- 
reconcilable warfare  between  the  possessors  of  fortified  cas- 
tles and  the  inhabitants  of  fortified  cities.  Each  party  was 
frequently  the  aggressor.  The  nobles  were  too  often  mere 
robbers,  who  lived  upon  the  plunder  of  travellers.  But  the 
citizens  were  almost  equally  inattentive  to  the  rights  of 
others.  It  was  their  policy  to  offer  the  privileges  of  burgh- 
ership  to  all  strangers.  The  peasantry  of  feudal  lords,  fly- 
ing to  a  neighboring  town,  found  an  asylum  constantly  open. 
A  multitude  of  aliens,  thus  seeking,  as  it  were,  sanctuary, 
dwelt  in  the  suburbs,  or  liberties,  between  the  city  walls  and 
the  palisades  which  bounded  the  territory.  Hence  they 
were  called  Pfahlbiirger,  or  burgesses  of  the  palisades; 
and  this  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  the  nobility  was  pos- 
itively, but  vainly,  prohibited  by  several  imperial  edicts,  es- 
pecially the  Golden  Bull.  Another  class  were  the  Ausbtir- 
ger,  or  outburghers,  who  had  been  admitted  to  privileges  of 
citizenship,  though  resident  at  a  distance,  and  pretended  in 
consequence  to  be  exempted  from  all  dues  to  their  original 
feudal  superiors.  If  a  lord  resisted  so  unreasonable  a  claim, 
he  incurred  the  danger  of  bringing  down  upon  himself  the 
vengeance  of  the  citizens.  These  outburghers  are  in  general 
classed  under  the  general  name  of  Pfahlbtirger  by  contempo- 
rary writers. 

As  the  towns  were  conscious  of  the  hatred  which  the  no- 
bility bore  towards  them,  it  was  their  interest  to  make  a 
common  cause,  and  render  mutual  assistance.  They  with- 
stood the  bishops  and  barons  by  confederacies  of  their  own, 
framed  expressly  to  secure  their  commerce  against  rapine, 
or  unjust  exactions  of  toll.  More  than  sixty  cities,  with 
three  ecclesiastical  electors  at  their  head,  formed  the  league 
of  the  Rhine,  in  1255,  to  repel  the  inferior  nobility,  who,  hav- 
ing now  become  immediate,  abused  that  independence  by 
perpetual  robberies.  The  Hanseatic  Union  owes  its  origin  to 
no  other  cause,  and  may  be  traced  perhaps  to  rather  a  higher 
date.  About  the  year  1370  a  league  was  formed  which, 
though  it  did  not  continue  so  long,  seems  to  have  produced 


288  PROVINCIAL  STATES.  Chap.  V. 

more  striking  effects  in  Germany.  The  cities  of  Suabia  and 
the  Rhine  united  themselves  in  a  strict  confederacy  against 
the  princes,  and  especially  the  families  of  Wirtemburg  and 
Bavaria.  It  is  said  that  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus  secretly 
abetted  their  projects.  The  recent  successes  of  the  Swiss, 
who  had  now  almost  established  their  republic,  inspired  their 
neighbors  in  the  empire  with  expectations  which  the  event 
did  not  realize ;  for  they  w^ere  defeated  in  this  war,  and 
ultimately  compelled  to  relinquish  their  league.  Counter- 
associations  were  formed  by  the  nobles,  styled  Society  of 
St.  George,  St.  William,  the  Lion,  or  the  Panther. 

§  12.  The  spirit  of  political  liberty  was  not  confined  to  the 
free  immediate  cities.  In  all  the  German  principalities  a  form 
of  limited  monarchy  prevailed,  reflecting,  on  a  reduced  scale, 
the  general  constitution  of  the  empire.  As  the  emperors 
shared  their  legislative  sovereignty  with  the  Diet,  so  all  the 
princes  who  belonged  to  that  assembly  had  their  ow^n  pro- 
vincial states,  composed  of  their  feudal  vassals  and  of  their 
mediate  towns  within  their  territory.  No  tax  could  be  im- 
posed Without  consent  of  the  states;  anr|,in  some  countries, 
the  prince  was  obliged  to  account  for  the  proper  distribution 
of  the  money  granted.  In  all  matters  of  importance  affect- 
ing the  principality,  and  especially  in  case  of  partition,  it  was 
necessary  to  consult  them ;  and  they  sometimes  decided  be- 
tween competitors  in  a  disputed  succession,  though  this  in- 
deed more  strictly  belonged  to  the  emperor.  The  provincial 
states  concurred  with  the  prince  in  making  laws,  except  such 
as  were  enacted  by  the  general  Diet. 

§  13.  The  ancient  imperial  domain,  or  possessions  which 
belonged  to  the  chief  of  the  empire  as  such,  had  originally 
been  very  extensive.  Besides  large  estates  in  every  province, 
the  territory  upon  each  bank  of  the  Rhine,  afterwards  oc- 
cupied by  the  counts  palatine  and  ecclesiastical  electors,  was, 
until  the  thirteenth  century,  an  exclusive  property  of  the 
emperor.  This  imperial  domain  was  deemed  so  adequate  to 
the  support  of  his  dignity  that  it  was  usual,  if  not  obligato- 
ry, for  him  to  grant  away  his  patrimonial  domains  upon  his 
election.  But  the  necessities  of  Frederick  II.,  and  the  long 
confusion  that  ensued  upon  his  death,  caused  the  domain  to 
be  almost  entirely  dissipated.  Rodolph  made  some  efforts 
to  retrieve  it,  but  too  late ;  and  the  poor  remains  of  what 
had  belonged  to  Charlemagne  and  Otho  were  alienated  by 
Charles  IV.  This  produced  a  necessary  change  in  that  part 
of  the  constitution  which  deprived  an  emperor  of  heredita- 
ry possessions.     It  was,  however,  some  time  before  it  took 


Germany.  PUBLIC  PEACE.  289 

place.  Even  Albert  I.  conferred  the  duchy  of  Austria  upon 
his  son,  when  he  was  chosen  emperor.  Louis  of  Bavaria 
was  the  first  who  retained  his  hereditary  dominions,  and 
made  them  his  residence.  Charles  IV.  and  Wenceslaus  lived 
almost  wholly  in  Bohemia,  Sigisnmnd  chiefly  in  Hungary, 
Frederick  III.  in  Austria.  This  residence  in  their  hereditary 
countries,  while  it  seemed  rather  to  lower  the  imperial  dig- 
nity, and  to  lessen  their  connection  with  the  general  confed- 
eracy, gave  them  intrinsic  power  and  influence.  If  the  em- 
perors of  the  houses  of  Luxemburg  and  Austria  were  not 
like  the  Conrads  and  Fredericks,  they  were  at  least  very  su- 
perior in  importance  to  the  Williams  and  Adolphuses  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 

§14.  The  accession  of  Maximilian  nearly  coincides  with 
the  expedition  of  Charles  VIII.  against  Naples ;  and  I  should 
here  close  the  German  history  of  the  Middle  Age,  were  it  not 
for  the  great  epoch  which  is  made  by  the  Diet  of  Worms  in 
1495.  This  assembly  is  celebrated  for  the  establishment  of 
a  perpetual  public  peace,  and  of  a  paramount  court  of  justice, 
the  Imperial  Chamber. 

The  same  causes  which  produced  continual  hostilities 
among  the  French  nobility  were  not  likely  to  operate  less 
powerfully  on  the  Germans,  equally  warlike  with  their  neigh- 
bors, and  rather  less  civilized.  But  while  the  imperial  gov- 
ernment was  still  vigorous,  they  were  kept  under  some  re- 
straint. We  find  Henry  III.,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Fran- 
conian  emperors,  forbidding  all  private  defiances,  and  estab- 
lishing solemnly  a  general  peace.  After  his  time  the  natural 
tendency  of  manners  overpowered  all  attempts  to  coerce  it, 
and  private  war  raged  without  limits  in  the  empire.  Fred- 
erick I.  endeavored  to  repress  it  by  a  regulation  which  ad- 
mitted its  legality.  This  was  the  law  of  defiance  {jus  diffida- 
^/oms),  which  required  a  solemn  declaration  of  war,  and  three 
days'  notice,  before  the  commencement  of  hostile  measures. 
All  persons  contravening  this  provision  were  deemed  robbers 
and  not  legitimate  enemies.  War,  indeed,  legally  under- 
taken, was  not  the  only  nor  the  severest  grievance.  A  very 
large  proportion  of  the  rural  nobility  lived  by  robbery. 
Their  castles,  as  the  ruins  still  bear  witness,  were  erected 
upon  inaccessible  hills,  and  in  defiles  that  command  the  pub- 
lic road.  An  archbishop  of  Cologne  having  built  a  fortress 
of  this  kind,  the  governor  inquired  how  he  was  to  maintain 
himself,  no  revenue  having  been  assigned  for  that  purpose: 
the  prelate  only  desired  him  to  remark  that  the  castle  was 
situated  near  the  junction  of  four  roads.     As  commerce  in- 

13 


290  IMPERIAL  CHAMBER.  Chap.  V. 

creased,  and  the  example  of  French  and  Italian  civilization 
rendered  the  Germans  more  sensible  to  their  own  rudeness, 
the  preservation  of  public  peace  was  loudly  demanded. 
Every  Diet  under  Frederick  III.  professed  to  occupy  itself 
with  the  two  great  objects  of  domestic  reformation,  peace 
and  law.  Temporary  cessations,  during  which  all  private 
hostility  was  illegal,  were  sometimes  enacted  ;  and,  if  ob- 
served, which  may  well  be  doubted,  might  contribute  to  ac- 
custom men  to  habits  of  greater  tranquillity.  The  leagues 
of  the  cities  were  probably  moi'e  efficacious  checks  upon  the 
disturbers  of  order.  In  1486  a  ten  years'  peace  was  pro- 
claimed, and  before  the  expiration  of  this  period  the  perpetual 
abolition  of  the  right  of  defiance  was  happily  accomplished 
in  the  Diet  of  Worms. 

§  15.  The  next  object  of  the  Diet  was  to  provide  an  ef- 
fectual remedy  for  private  wrongs  which  might  supersede  all 
pretense  for  taking  up  arms.  The  Imperial  Chamber,  such 
was  the  name  of  the  new  tribunal,  consisted,  at  its  original 
institution,  of  a  chief  judge,  who  was  to  be  chosen  among  the 
princes  or  counts,  and  of  sixteen  assessors,  partly  of  noble  or 
equestrian  rank,  partly  professors  of  law.  They  were  named 
by  the  emperor  with  the  approbation  of  the  Diet.  The  func- 
tions of  the  Imperial  Chamber  were  chiefly  the  two  follow- 
ing :  (1.)  They  exercised  an  appellant  jurisdiction  over  causes 
that  had  been  decided  by  the  tribunals  established  in  states 
of  the  empire.  But  their  jurisdiction  in  private  causes  was 
merely  appellant.  They  were  positively  restricted  from  tak- 
ing cognizance  of  any  causes  in  the  first  instance,  even  where 
a  state  of  the  empire  was  one  of  the  parties.  It  was  enacted, 
to  obviate  the  denial  of  justice  that  appeared  likely  to  result 
from  the  regulation  in  the  latter  case,  that  every  elector  and 
prince  should  establish  a  tribunal  in  his  own  dominions,  where 
suits  against  himself  might  be  entertained.  (2.)  The  second 
part  of  their  jurisdiction  related  to  disputes  between  two 
states  of  the  empire.  But  these  two  could  only  come  before 
it  by  way  of  appeal.  During  the  period  of  anarchy  which 
preceded  the  establishment  of  its  jurisdiction,  a  custom  was 
introduced,  in  order  to  prevent  the  constant  recurrence  of 
hostilities,  of  referring  the  quarrels  of  states  to  certain  arbi- 
trators, called  Austregues,  chosen  among  states  of  the  same 
rank.  This  conventional  reference  became  so  popular  that 
the  princes  would  not  consent  to  abandon  it  on  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Imperial  Chamber ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  was 
changed  into  an  invariable  and  universal  law,  that  all  dis- 
putes between  different  states  must,  in  the  first  instance,  be 
submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  Austresjues. 


Gkrmant.  limits  of  THE  EMPIRE.  291 

The  sentences  of  the  Chamber  would  have  been  very  idly 
pronounced,  if  means  had  not  been  devised  to  carry  them 
into  execution.  The  empire,  with  the  exception  of  the  elect- 
orates and  the  Austrian  dominions,  was  divided  into  six 
circles,  each  of  which  had  its  council  of  states,  its  director, 
whose  province  it  was  to  convoke  them,  and  its  military 
force  to  compel  obedience.  In  1512  four  more  circles  were 
added,  comprehending  those  states  which  had  been  excluded 
in  the  first  division. 

§  16.  As  the  judges  of  the  Imperial  Chamber  were  ap- 
pointed with  the  consent  of  the  Diet,  and  held  their  sittings 
in  a  free  imperial  city,  its  establishment  seemed  rather  to 
encroach  on  the  ancient  prerogatives  of  the  emperors.  Max- 
imilian expressly  reserved  these  in  consenting  to  the  new 
tribunal.  And,  in  order  to  revive  them,  he  soon  afterwards 
instituted  an  Aulic  Council  at  Vienna,  composed  of  judges 
appointed  by  himself,  and  under  the  political  control  of  the 
Austrian  government.  Though  some  German  patriots  re- 
garded this  tribunal  with  jealousy,  it  continued  until  the 
dissolution  of  the  empire.  The  Aulic  Council  had,  in  all 
cases,  a  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  Imperial  Chamber ; 
an  exclusive  one  in  feudal  and  some  other  causes.  But  it 
was  equally  confined  to  cases  of  appeal ;  and  these,  by  mul- 
tiplied privileges,  de  non  appellando,  granted  to  the  electoral 
and  suj^erior  princely  houses,  were  gradually  reduced  into 
moderate  compass. 

The  Germanic  constitution  may  be  reckoned  complete,  as 
to  all  its  essential  characteristics,  in  the  reign  of  Maximilian. 
In  later  times,  and  especially  by  the  treaty  of  Westphalia, 
it  underwent  several  modifications.  Whatever  might  be  its 
defects,  and  many  of  them  seem  to  have  been  susceptible  of 
reformation  without  destroying  the  system  of  government, 
it  had  one  invaluable  excellence :  it  protected  the  rights  of 
the  weaker  against  the  stronger  powers.  The  law  of  nations 
was  first  taught  in  Germany,  and  grew  out  of  the  public  law 
of  the  empire.  To  narrow,  as  far  as  possible,  the  rights  of 
war  and  of  conquest,  was  a  natural  principle  of  those  who 
belonged  to  petty  states,  and  had  nothing  to  tempt  them  in 
ambition. 

§  17.  At  the  accession  of  Conrad  I.,  Germany  had  by  no 
means  reached  its  present  extent  on  the  eastern  frontier. 
Henry  the  Fowler  and  the  Othos  made  great  acquisitions 
upon  that  side.  But  tribes  of  Sclavonian  origin,  generally 
called  Venedic,  or,  less  properly,  Vandal,  occupied  the  north- 
ern coast  from  the  Elbe  to  the  Vistula.     These  were  inde* 


292  CONSTITUTION  OF  BOHEMIA.  Chap.  V. 

pendent,  and  iormidable  both  to  the  kings  of  Denmark  and 
princes  of  Germany,  till,  in  the  reign  of  Frederic  Barbarossa, 
two  of  the  latter,  Henry  the  Lion,  dnke  of  Saxony,  and  Al- 
bert the  Bear,  margrave  of  Brandenburg,  subdued  Mecklen* 
burg  and  Pomerania,  which  afterwards  became  duchies  of 
the  empire.  Bohemia  was  undoubtedly  subject,  in  a  feudal 
sense,  to  Frederick  I.  and  his  successors  ;  though  its  connec- 
tion with  Germany  was  always  slight.  The  emperors  some- 
times assumed  the  sovereignty  over  Denmark,  Hungary,  and 
Poland.  But  what  they  gained  upon  this  quarter  was  com- 
pensated by  the  gradual  separation  of  the  Netherlands  from 
their  dominion,  and  by  the  still  more  complete  loss  of  the 
kingdom  of  Aries.  The  house  of  Burgundy  possessed  most 
part  of  the  former,  and  paid  as  little  regard  as  possible  to 
the  imperial  supremacy ;  though  the  German  Diets  in  the 
reign  of  Maximilian  still  continued  to  treat  the  Netherlands 
as  equally  subject  to  their  lawful  control  with  the  states  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine.  But  the  provinces  between 
the  Rhone  and  the  Alps  were  absolutely  separated ;  Switz- 
erland had  completely  succeeded  in  establishing  her  own  in- 
dependence ;  and  the  kings  of  France  no  longer  sought  even 
the  ceremony  of  an  imperial  investiture  for  Dauphine  and 
Provence. 

§  18.  Bohemia,  which  received  the  Christian  faith  in  the 
tenth  century,  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  kingdom  near 
the  end  of  the  twelfth.  The  dukes  and  kings  of  Bohemia 
were  feudally  dependent  upon  the  emperors,  from  whom  they 
received  investiture.  They  possessed,  in  return,  a  suffrage 
among  the  seven  electors,  and  held  one  of  the  great  offices 
in  the  imperial  court.  But  separated  by  a  rampart  of  mount- 
ains, by  a  difference  of  origin  and  language,  and  perhaps  by 
natural  prejudices,  from  Germany,  the  Bohemians  withdrew 
as  far  as  possible  from  the  general  politics  of  the  confederacy. 
The  kings  obtained  dispensations  from  attending  the  Diets 
of  the  empire,  nor  were  they  able  to  reinstate  themselves  in 
the  privilege  thus  abandoned  till  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century.  The  government  of  this  kingdom,  in  a  very  slight 
degree  partaking  of  the  feudal  character,  bore  rather  a  re- 
semblance to  that  of  Poland ;  but  the  nobility  were  divided 
into  two  classes,  the  baronial  and  the  equestrian,  and  the 
burghers  formed  a  third  state  in  the  national  Diet.  For  the 
peasantry,  they  were  in  a  condition  of  servitude,  or  predial  vil- 
lenage.  The  royal  authority  was  restrained  by  a  coronation 
oath,  by  a  permanent  Senate,  and  by  frequent  assemblies  of 
the  Diet,  where  a  inimerous  and  armed  nobility  appeared  tc 


German V.  THE  HUSSITES.  2<)3 

secure  their  liberties  by  law  or  force.  The  sceptre  passed, 
in  ordinary  times,  to  the  nearest  heir  of  the  royal  blood ;  but 
the  right  of  election  was  only  suspended,  and  no  king  of  Bo 
hernia  ventured  to  boast  of  it  as  his  inheritance.  This  mix 
ture  of  elective  and  hereditary  monarchy  was  common,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  most  European  kingdoms  in  their  original  con- 
stitution, though  few  continued  so  long  to  admit  the  partici- 
pation of  popular  suiFrages. 

The  reigning  dynasty  having  become  extinct  in  1306,  by 
the  death  of  Wenceslaus,  son  of  that  Ottocar  who,  after  ex- 
tending his  conquests  to  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  almost  to  the 
Adriatic,  had  lost  his  life  in  an  unsuccessful  contention  with 
the  Emperor  Rodolph,  the  Bohemians  chose  John  of  Luxem- 
burg, son  of  Henry  VII.  Under  the  kings  of  this  family  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  and  especially  Charles  IV.,  whose 
character  appeared  in  a  far  more  advantageous  light  in  his 
native  domains  than  in  the  empire,  Bohemia  imbibed  some 
portion  of  refinement  and  science.  An  university  erected 
by  Charles  at  Prague  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in 
Europe.  John  IIuss,  rector  of  the  university,  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  opposition  to  many  abuses  then  pre- 
vailing in  the  Church,  repaired  to  the  council  of  Constance, 
under  a  safe-conduct  from  the  Emperor  Sigismund  (a.d.  1416). 
In  violation  of  this  pledge,  to  the  indelible  infamy  of  that 
prince  and  of  the  council,  he  was  condemned  to  be  burned ; 
and  his  disciple,  Jerome  of  Prague,  underwent  afterwards  the 
same  fate.  His  countrymen,  aroused  by  this  atrocity,  flew 
to  arms.  They  found  at  their  head  one  of  those  extraordi- 
nary men  whose  genius,  created  by  nature  and  called  into 
action  by  fortuitous  events,  appears  to  borrow  no  reflected 
light  from  that  of  others.  John  Zisca  had  not  been  trained 
in  any  school  which  could  have  initiated  him  in  the  science 
of  war ;  that  indeed,  except  in  Italy,  was  still  rude,  and  no- 
where more  so  than  in  Bohemia.  But,  self-taught,  he  be- 
came one  of  the  greatest  captains  who  had  hitherto  appeared 
in  Europe.  It  renders  his  exploits  more  marvellous  that  he 
was  totally  deprived  of  sight.  Zisca  has  been  called  the  in- 
ventor of  the  modern  art  of  fortification  ;  the  famous  mount- 
ain near  Prague,  fanatically  called  Tabor,  became  by  his 
skill  an  impregnable  intrenchment.  For  his  stratagems  he 
has  been  compared  to  Hannibal.  In  battle,  being  destitute 
of  cavalry,  he  disposed  at  intervals  ramparts  of  carriages 
filled  with  soldiers,  to  defend  his  troops  from  the  enemy's 
horse.  His  own  station  was  by  the  chief  standard ;  where, 
after  hearing  the  circumstances  of  the  situation  explained, 


294  HUNGARY.  Chap.  V. 

he  gave  his  orders  for  the  disposition  of  the  army.  Zisca 
was  never  defeated ;  and  his  genius  inspired  the  Hussites 
with  such  enthusiastic  affection,  that  some  of  those  who  had 
served  under  him  refused  to  obey  any  other  general,  and  de- 
nominated themselves  Orphans,  in  commemoration  of  his 
loss.  He  was  indeed  a  ferocious  enemy,  though  some  of  his 
cruelties  might,  perhaps,  be  extenuated  by  the  law  of  retalia- 
tion ;  but  to  his  soldiers  affable  and  generous,  dividing  among 
them  all  the  spoil. 

Even  during  the  lifetime  of  Zisca  the  Hussite  sect  was  dis- 
united; the  citizens  of  Prague  and  many  of  the  nobility  con- 
tenting themselves  with  moderate  demands,  while  the  Tabor- 
ites.  his  peculiar  followers,  were  actuated  by  a  most  fanat- 
ical frenzy.  The  former  took  the  name  of  Calixtins,  from 
their  retention  of  the  sacramental  cup,  of  which  the  priests 
had  latterly  thought  fit  to  debar  laymen ;  an  abuse  so  total- 
ly without  pretense  or  apology,  that  nothing  less  than  the 
determined  obstinacy  of  the  Komish  Church  could  have 
maintained  it  to  this  time.  The  Taborites,  though  no  long- 
er led  by  Zisca,  gained  some  remarkable  victories,  but  were 
at  last  wholly  defeated;  while  the  Catholic  and  Calixtin 
parties  came  to  an  accommodation,  by  which  Sigismund  was 
acknowledged  as  King  of  Bohemia,  which  he  had  claimed  by 
the  title  of  heir  to  his  brother  Wenceslaus,  and  a  few  indul- 
gences, especially  the  use  of  the  sacramental  cup,  conceded 
to  the  moderate  Hussites  (a.d.  1433).  But  this  compact, 
though  concluded  by  the  Council  of  Basle,  being  ill  ob- 
served, through  the  perfidious  bigotry  of  the  See  of  Rome, 
the  reformers  armed  again  to  defend  their  religious  liber- 
ties, and  ultimately  elected  a  nobleman  of  their  own  party, 
by  name  George  Podiebrad,  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia,  which 
he  maintained  during  his  life  with  great  vigor  and  prudence 
(a.d.  1458).  Upon  his  death  they  chose  Uladislaus,  son  of 
Casimir,  king  of  Poland  (a.d.  1471),  who  afterwards  obtained 
also  the  kingdom  of  Hungary.  Both  these  crowns  were  con- 
ferred on  his  son  Louis,  after  whose  death  in  the  unfortunate 
battle  of  Mohacz,  Ferdinand  of  Austria  became  sovereign  of 
the  two  kingdoms. 

§  19.  The  Hungarians,  that  terrible  people  who  laid 
waste  the  Italian  and  German  provinces  of  the  empire  in 
the  tenth  century,  became  proselytes  soon  afterwards  to  the 
religion  of  Europe,  and  their  sovereign,  St.  Stephen,  was  ad- 
mitted by  the  pope  into  the  list  of  Christian  kings.  Though 
the  Hungarians  were  of  a  race  perfectly  distinct  from  either 
the  Gothic  or  the  Sclavonian  tribes,  their  system  of  govern- 


Germany.  HUNNIADES.  295 

ment  was  in  a  great  measure  analogous.  None  indeed  could 
be  more  natural  to  rude  nations  who  had  but  recently  ac- 
customed themselves  to  settled  possessions,  than  a  territo- 
rial aristocracy,  jealous  of  unlimited  or  even  hereditary  pow- 
er in  their  chieftain,  and  subjugating  the  inferior  people  to 
that  servitude  which,  in  such  a  state  of  society,  is  the  una- 
voidable consequence  of  poverty. 

The  marriage  of  a  Hungarian  princess  with  Charles  11., 
king  of  Naples,  eventually  connected  her  country  far  more 
than  it  had  been  with  the  affairs  of  Italy.  I  have  mentioned 
in  a  different  place  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  inva- 
sion of  Naples  by  Louis,  king  of  Hungary  (see  p.  224).  By 
marrying  the  eldest  daughter  of  Louis,  Sigismund,  after- 
wards emperor,  acquired  the  crown  of  Hungary,  which  upon 
her  death  without  issue  he  retained  in  his  own  right,  and 
was  even  able  to  transmit  to  the  child  of  a  second  marriage, 
and  to  her  husband  Albert,  duke  of  Austria.  From  this 
commencement  is  deduced  tlie  connection  between  Hungary 
and  Austria.  In  two  years,  however,  Albert  dying  left  his 
widow  pregnant;  but  the  states  of  Hungary,  jealous  of  Aus- 
trian influence,  and  of  the  intrigues  of  a  minority,  without 
waiting  for  her  delivery,  bestowed  the  crown  upon  Uladis- 
laus,  king  of  Poland  (a.d.  1440).  The  birth  of  Albert's  post- 
humous son,  Ladislaus,  produced  an  opposition  in  behalf  of 
the  infant's  right ;  but  the  Austrian  party  turned  out  the 
weaker,  and  Uladislaus,  after  a  civil  war  of  some  duration, 
became  undisputed  king.  Meanwhile  a  more  formidable 
enemy  drew  near.  The  Turkish  arms  had  subdued  all 
Servia,  and  excited  a  just  alarm  throughout  Christendom. 
Uladislaus  led  a  considerable  force,  to  which  the  presence  of 
the  Cardinal  Julian  gave  the  appearance  of  a  crusade,  into 
Bulgaria,  and,  after  several  successes,  concluded  an  honor- 
able treaty  with  Amurath  II.  But  this  he  was  unhappily 
persuaded  to  violate,  at  the  instigation  of  the  cardinal,  who 
abhorred  the  impiety  of  keeping  faith  with  infidels.  Heav- 
en judged  of  this  otherwise,  if  the  judgment  of  Heaven  was 
pronounced  upon  the  field  of  Warna.  In  that  fatal  battle 
Uladislaus  was  killed,  and  the  Hungarians  utterly  routed 
(a.d.  1444).  The  crown  was  now  permitted  to  rest  on  the 
head  of  young  Ladislaus ;  but  the  regency  was  allotted  by 
the  states  of  Hungary  to  a  native  warrior,  John  Hunniades. 
This  hero  stood  in  the  breach  for  twelve  years  against  the 
Turkish  power,  frequently  defeated,  but  unconquered  in  de- 
feat. If  the  renown  of  Hunniades  may  seem  exaggerated 
by  the  partiality  of  writers  who  lived  under  the  reign  of  his 


296  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  SWITZERLAND.  Ciiai-.  V. 

son,  it  is  confirmed  by  more  unequivocal  evidence,  by  the 
dread  and  hatred  of  the  Turks,  whose  children  were  taught 
obedience  by  threatening  them  with  his  name,  and  by  the 
deference  of  a  jealous  aristocracy  to  a  man  of  no  distin- 
guished birth.  He  surrendered  to  young  Ladislaus  a  trust 
that  he  had  exercised  with  perfect  fidelity!  but  his  merit 
was  too  great  to  be  forgiven,  and  the  court  never  treated 
him  with  cordiality.  The  last  and  the  most  splendid  serv- 
ice of  Hunniades  was  the  relief  of  Belgrade  (a.d.  1456). 
That  strong  city  was  besieged  by  Mohammed  II.  three  years 
after  the  fall  of  Constantinople ;  its  capture  would  have  laid 
open  all  Hungary.  A  tumultuary  army,  chiefly  collected  by 
the  preaching  of  a  friar,  was  intrusted  to  Hunniades;  he 
penetrated  into  the  city,  and,  having  repulsed  the  Turks  in 
a  fortunate  sally  wherein  Mohammed  was  wounded,  had  the 
honor  of  compelling  him  to  raise  the  siege  in  confusion. 
The  relief  of  Belgrade  was  more  important  in  its  effect  than 
in  its  immediate  circumstances.  It  revived  the  spirits  of  Eu- 
rope, which  had  been  appalled  by  the  unceasing  victories 
of  the  infidels.  Mohammed  himself  seemed  to  acknowledge 
the  importance  of  the  blow,  and  seldom  afterwards  attacked 
the  Hungarians.  Hunniades  died  soon  after  this  achieve- 
ment, and  was  followed  by  the  king,  Ladislaus.  The  states 
of  Hungary,  although  the  Emperor  Frederick  HI.  had  se- 
cured to  himself,  as  he  thought,  the  reversion,  were  justly 
averse  to  his  character,  and  to  Austrian  connections.  They 
conferred  their  crown  on  Matthias  Corvinus,  son  of  their 
great  Hunniades  (a.d.  1458).  This  prince  reigned  above 
thirty  years  with  considerable  reputation,  to  which  his  pat- 
ronage of  learned  men,  who  repaid  his  munificence  with  very 
profuse  eulogies,  did  not  a  little  contribute.  Hungary,  at 
least  in  his  time,  was  undoubtedly  formidable  to  her  neigh- 
bors, and  held  a  respectable  rank  as  an  independent  power 
in  the  republic  of  Europe. 

§  20.  Switzerland. — The  kingdom  of  Burgundy  or  Aries 
comprehended  the  whole  mountainous  region  which  we  now 
call  Switzerland.  It  was  accordingly  reunited  to  the  Ger- 
manic empire  by  the  bequest  of  Rodolph  along  with  the  rest 
of  his  dominions.  A  numerous  and  ancient  nobility,  vassals 
one  to  another,  or  to  the  empire,  divided  the  possession  with 
ecclesiastical  lords  hardly  less  powerful  than  themselves. 
Of  the  former  we  find  the  counts  of  Zahringen,  Kyburg, 
Hapsburg,  and  Tokenburg  most  conspicuous;  of  the  latter, 
the  Bishop  of  Coire,  the  Abbot  of  St.  Gall,  and  Abbess  of 
Seckingen.     Every  variety  of  feudal  rights  was  early  found 


Germany.        EARLY  HISTORY  OF  SWITZERLAND.  297 

and  long  preserved  in  Helvetia;  nor  is  there  any  country 
whose  liistory  better  iUustrates  that  ambiguous  relation, 
half  property  and  half  dominion,  in  which  the  territorial  aris- 
tocracy, under  the  feudal  system,  stood  with  resp^t  to  their 
dependents.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  Swiss  towns  rise 
into  some  degree  of  importance.  Zurich  was  eminent  for 
commercial  activity,  and  seems  to  have  had  no  lord  but  the 
emperor.  Basle,  though  subject  to  its  bishop,  possessed  the 
usual  privileges  of  municipal  government.  Berne  and  Fri- 
burg,  founded  only  in  that  century,  made  a  rapid  progress, 
and  the  latter  was  raised,  along  with  Zurich,  by  Frederick  II., 
in  1218,  to  the  rank  of  a  free  imperial  city.  Several  changes 
in  the  principal  Helvetian  families  took  place  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  before  the  end  of  which  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg,  under  the  politic  and  enterprising  Rodolph  and  his  son 
Albert,  became  possessed,  through  various  titles,  of  a  great 
ascendency  in  Switzerland. 

Of  these  titles  none  was  more  tempting  to  an  ambitious 
chief  than  that  of  advocate  to  a  convent.  That  specious 
name  conveyed  with  it  a  kind  of  indefinite  guardianship,  and 
right  of  interference,  which  frequently  ended  in  reversing  the 
conditions  of  the  ecclesiastical  sovereign  and  its  vassal.  But 
during  times  of  feudal  anarchy  there  was  perhaps  no  other 
means  to  secure  the  rich  abbeys  from  absolute  spoliation ; 
and  the  free  cities  in  their  early  stage  sometimes  adopted 
the  same  policy.  Among  other  advocacies,  Albert  obtained 
that  of  some  convents  which  had  estates  in  the  valleys  of 
Schweitz  and  Underwald.  These  sequestered  regions  in  the 
heart  of  the  Alps  had  been  for  ages  the  habitation  of  a  pas- 
toral race,  so  happily  forgotten,  or  so  inaccessible  in  their 
fastnesses,  as  to  have  acquired  a  virtual  independence,  regu- 
lating their  own  affairs  in  their  general  assembly  with  a  per- 
fect equality,  though  they  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of 
the  empire.  The  people  of  Schweitz  had  made  Rodolph 
their  advocate.  They  distrusted  Albert,  whose  succession 
to  his  father's  inheritance  spread  alarm  through  Helvetia. 
It  soon  appeared  that  their  suspicions  were  well  founded. 
Besides  the  local  rights  which  his  ecclesiastical  advocacies 
gave  him  over  part  of  the  forest  cantons,  he  pretended,  after 
his  election  to  the  empire,  to  send  imperial  bailiffs  into  their 
valleys,  as  administrators  of  criminal  justice.  Their  oppres- 
sion of  a  people  unused  to  control,  whom  it  was  plainly  the 
design  of  Albert  to  reduce  into  servitude,  excited  those  gen- 
erous emotions  of  resentment  which  a  brave  and  simple  race 
have  seldom  the  discretion  to  repress.      Three  men,  Stauf- 

13* 


298  SWISS  CONFEDERACY.  Chap.  V. 

facher  of  Schweitz,  Fnrst  of  Uri,  Melchthal  of  Underwald, 
each  with  ten  chosen  associates,  met  by  night  in  a  seques- 
tered field,  and  swore  to  assert  the  common  cause  of  their  lib- 
erties, without  bloodshed  or  injury  to  the  rights  of  others. 
Their  success  was  answerable  to  the  justice  of  their  under^ 
taking ;  the  three  cantons  unanimously  took  up  arms,  and 
expelled  their  oppressors  without  a  contest.  Albert's  as- 
sassination by  his  nephew,  which  followed  soon  afterwards, 
fortunately  gave  them  leisure  to  consolidate  their  union 
(a.d.  1308).  He  was  succeeded  in  the  empire  by  Henry  YII., 
jealous  of  the  Austrian  family,  and  not  at  all  displeased  at 
proceedings  which  had  been  accompanied  with  so  little  vio- 
lence or  disrespect  for  the  empire.  But  Leopold,  duke  of 
Austria,  resolved  to  humble  the  peasants,  who  had  rebelled 
against  his  father,  led  a  considerable  force  into  their  coun- 
try. The  Swiss,  commending  themselves  to  Heaven,  and  de- 
termined rather  to  perish  than  undergo  that  yoke  a  second 
time,  though  ignorant  of  regular  discipline,  and  unprovided 
with  defensive  armor,  utterly  discomfited  the  assailants  at 
Morgarten  (a.d.  1315). 

This  great  victory,  the  Marathon  of  Switzerland,  confirmed 
the  independence  of  the  three  original  cantons.  Afte^'  some 
years.  Lucerne,  contiguous  in  situation  and  alike  in  interests, 
was  incorporated  into  their  confederacy.  It  was  far  more 
materially  enlarged  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury by  the  accession  of  Zurich,  Glaris,  Zug,  and  Berne,  all 
which  took  place  within  two  years.  The  first  and  last  of 
these  cities  had"  already  been  engaged  in  frequent  wars  with 
the  Helvetian  nobility,  and  their  internal  polity  was  alto- 
gether republican.  They  acquired,  not  independence,  which 
they  already  enjoyed,  but  additional  security,  by  this  union 
with  the  Swiss,  properly  so  called,  who  in  deference  to  their 
power  and  reputation  ceded  to  them  the  first  rank  in  the 
league.  The  eight  already  enumerated  are  called  the  ancient 
cantons,  and  continued,  till  the  late  reformation  of  the  Hel- 
vetic system,  to  possess  several  distinctive  privileges  and 
even  rights  of  sovereignty  over  subject  territories,  in  which 
the  five  cantons  of  Friburg,  Soleure,  Basle,  Schaffhausen,  and 
Appenzell  did  not  participate.  From  this  time  the  united 
cantons,  but  especially  those  of  Berne  and  Zurich,  began  to 
extend  their  territories  at  the  expense  of  the  rural  nobility. 
The  same  contest  between  these  parties,  with  the  same  ter- 
mination, which  we  know  generally  to  have  taken  place  in 
Lombardy  during  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  may 
be  traced  with  more  minuteness  in  the  annals  of  Switzerland. 


GERMANY.  SWISS  CONFEDERACY.  299 

Like  the  Lombards,  too,  the  Helvetic  cities  acted  with  policy 
and  moderation  towards  the  nobles  whom  they  overcame, 
admitting  them  to  the  franchises  of  their  community  as  co- 
burghers  (a  i)rivilege  which  virtually  implied  a  defensive  al- 
liance against  any  assailant),  and  uniformly  respecting  the 
legal  rights  of  property.  Many  feudal  superiorities  they  ob- 
tained from  the  owners  in  a  more  peaceable  manner,  through 
purchase  or  mortgage.  Thus  the  house  of  Austria,  to  which 
the  extensive  domains  of  the  counts  of  Kyburghad  devolved, 
abandoning,  after  repeated  defeats,  its  hopes  of  subduing  the 
forest  cantons,  alienated  a  great  part  of  its  possessions  to 
Zurich  and  Berne.  And  the  last  remnant  of  their  ancient 
Helvetic  territories  in  Argovia  was  wrested,  in  1417,  from 
Frederick,  count  of  Tyrol,  who,  imprudently  supporting  Pope 
John  XXIU.  against  the  Council  of  Constance,  had  been  put 
to  the  ban  of  the  empire.  These  conquests  Berne  could  not 
be  induced  to  restore,  and  thus  completed  the  independence 
of  the  confederate  republics.  The  other  free  cities,  though 
not  yet  incorporated,  and  the  few  remaining  nobles,  whether 
lay  or  spiritual,  of  whom  the  Abbot  of  St.  Gall  was  the  prin- 
cipal, entered  into  separate  leagues  with  different  cantons. 
Switzerland  became,  therefore,  in  the  first  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  a  free  country,  acknowledged  as  such  by  neighbor- 
ing states,  and  subject  to  no  external  control,  though  still 
comprehended  within  the  nominal  sovereignty  of  the  empire. 
The  affairs  of  Switzerland  occupy  a  very  small  space  in 
the  great  chart  of  European  history.  But  in  some  respects 
they  are  more  interesting  than  the  revolutions  of  mighty 
kingdoms.  Nowhere  besides  do  we  find  so  many  titles  to 
our  sympathy,  or  the  union  of  so  much  virtue  w^ith  so  com- 
plete success.  Li  the  Italian  republics  a  more  splendid  tem- 
ple may  seem  to  have  been  erected  to  liberty;  but,  as  we 
approach,  the  serpents  of  faction  hiss  around  her  altar,  and 
the  form  of  tyranny  flits  among  the  distant  shadows  behind 
the  shrine.  Switzerland,  not  absolutely  blameless  (for  what 
republic  has  been  so  ?),  but  comparatively  exempt  from  tur- 
bulence, usurpation,  and  injustice,  has  well  deserved  to  em- 
ploy the  native  pen  of  an  historian  accounted  the  most  elo- 
quent of  tiie  last  age,  Johann  Miiller.  Other  nations  displayed 
an  insuperable  resolution  in  the  defense  of  walled  towns  ;  but 
the  steadiness  of  the  Swiss  in  the  field  of  battle  was  without 
a  parallel,  unless  we  recall  the  memory  of  Lacedaemon.  It 
was  even  established  as  a  law  that  whoever  returned  from 
battle  after  a  defeat  should  forfeit  his  life  by  the  hands  of 
the  executioner.     Sixteen  hundred  men,  who  had  been  sent 


300  SWISS  TROOPS.  Chap.  V 

to  oppose  a  predatory  invasion  of  the  French  in  1 444,  though 
they  might  have  retreated  without  loss,  determined  rather 
to  perish  on  the  spot,  and  fell  amidst  a  iar  greater  heap  of 
the  hostile  slain.  At  the  famous  battle  of  Sempach  in  1385, 
the  last  which  Austria  presumed  to  try  against  the  forest 
cantons,  the  enemy's  knights,  dismounted  from  their  horses, 
presented  an  impregnable  barrier  of  lances,  which  discon- 
certed the  Swiss ;  till  Winkelried,  a  gentleman  of  Underwald, 
commending  his  wife  and  children  to  his  countrymen,  threw 
himself  upon  the  opposite  ranks,  and,  collecting  as  many 
lances  as  he  could  grasp,  forced  a  passage  for  his  followers 
by  burying  them  in  his  bosom. 

The  burghers  and  peasants  of  Switzerland,  ill  provided 
with  cavalry,  and  better  able  to  dispense  Avith  it  than  the 
natives  of  champaign  countries,  may  be  deemed  the  principal 
restorers  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  tactics,  which  place  the 
strength  of  armies  in  a  steady  mass  of  infantry.  Besides 
their  splendid  victories  over  the  dukes  of  Austria  and  their 
own  neighboring  nobility,  they  had  repulsed,  in  the  year 
1375,  one  of  those  predatory  bodies  of  troops,  the  scourge  of 
Europe  in  that  age,  and  to  whose  licentiousness  kingdoms 
and  free  states  yielded  alike  a  passive  submission.  They 
gave  the  dauphin,  afterwards  Louis  XL,  who  entered  their 
country  in  1444  with  a  similar  body  of  ruffians,  called  Ar- 
magnacs,  the  disbanded  mercenaries  of  the  English  war,  suf- 
ficient reason  to  desist  from  his  invasion  and  to  respect  their 
valor.  That  able  prince  formed,  indeed,  so  high  a  notion  of 
the  Swiss,  that  he  sedulously  Cultivated  their  alliance  during 
the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was  made  abundantly  sensible  of  the 
wisdom  of  this  policy  when  he  saw  his  greatest  enemy,  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  routed  at  Granson  and  Morat,  and  his  af- 
fairs irrecoverably  ruined,  by  these  hardy  republicans.  The 
ensuing  age  is  the  most  conspicuous,  though  not  the  most 
essentially  glorious,  in  the  history  of  Switzerland.  Courted 
for  the  excellence  of  their  troops  by  the  rival  sovereigns 
of  Europe,  and  themselves  too  sensible  both  to  ambitious 
schemes  of  dominion  and  to  the  thirst  of  money,  the  united 
cantons  came  to  play  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  wars  of 
Lombardy,  with  great  military  renown,  but  not  without  some 
impeachment  of  that  sterling  probity  which  had  distinguished 
their  earlier  efforts  for  independence.  These  events,  how- 
ever, do  not  fall  within  my  limits ;  but  the  last  year  of  the 
fifteenth  century  is  a  leading  epoch,  with  which  I  shall  close 
this  sketch.  Though  the  house  of  Austria  had  ceased  to 
menace  the  liberties  of  Helvetia,  and  had  even  been  for  many 


Germany.  SWISS  INDEPENDENCE.  301 

years  its  ally,  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  aware  of  the  impor- 
tant service  he  might  derive  from  the  cantons  in  his  projects 
upon  Italy,  as  well  as  of  the  disadvantage  he  sustained  by 
their  partiality  to  French  interest,  endeavored  to  revive  the 
unexticguished  supremacy  of  the  empire.  That  supremacy 
had  just  been  restored  in  Germany  by  the  establishment  of 
the  Imperial  Chamber,  and  of  a  regular  pecuniary  contribu- 
tion for  its  support,  as  well  as  for  other  purposes,  in  the  Diet 
of  Worms.  The  Helvetic  cantons  were  summoned  to  yield 
obedience  to  these  imperial  laws ;  an  innovation,  for  such  the 
revival  of  obsolete  prerogatives  must  be  considered,  exceed- 
ingly hostile  to  their  republican  independence,  and  involving 
consequences  not  less  material  in  their  eyes,  the  abandon- 
ment of  a  line  of  policy  which  tended  to  enrich,  if  not  to  ag- 
grandize them.  Their  refusal  to  comply  brought  on  a  war, 
wherein  the  Tyrolese  subjects  of  Maximilian,  and  the  Suabian 
league,  a  confederacy  of  cities  in  that  province  lately  formed 
under  the  emperor's  auspices,  were  principally  engaged 
against  the  Swiss.  But  the  success  of  the  latter  was  deci- 
sive ;  and  after  a  terrible  devastation  of  the  frontiers  of  Ger- 
many, peace  was  concluded  upon  terms  very  honorable  for 
Switzerland.  The  cantons  were  declared  free  from  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Imperial  Chamber,  and  from  all  contributions 
imposed  by  the  Diet.  Their  right  to  enter  into  foreign  alli- 
ance, even  hostile  to  the  empire,  if  it  was  not  expressly  rec- 
ognized, continued  unimpaired  in  practice ;  nor  am  I  aware 
that  they  were  at  any  time  afterwards  supposed  to  incur  the 
crime  of  rebellion  by  such  proceedings.  Though,  perhaps, 
in  the  strictest  letter  of  public  law,  the  Swiss  cantons  were 
not  absolutely  released  from  their  subjection  to  the  empire 
until  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  their  real  sovereignty  must 
be  dated  by  an  histoi*ian  from  the  year  when  every  preroga- 
tive which  a  government  can  exercise  was  finally  abandoned 


302  COMMENCEMENT  OF  MODERN  HISTORY.    Chap  VI. 


CHAPTER  VL 

HISTORY    OF   THE    GREEKS   AND    SARACENS. 

5  1.  Rise  ol.  Mohammedism.  §  2.  Progress  of  Saracen  Arms.  §  3.  Greek  Empire. 
Decline  of  the  Caliphs.  §  4.  The  Greelis  recover  Part  of  their  Losses.  §  5.  The 
Turks.  §  6.  The  Crusades.  Capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Latins.  Its  Recov- 
ery by  the  Greeks.  §  T.  The  Moguls.  The  Ottomans.  Tiraur.  §  8.  Capture  of 
Constantinople  by  Mohammed  II.    §  9.  Alarm  of  Europe. 

§  1.  The  difficulty  which  occurs  to  us  in  endeavoring  to 
fix  a  natural  commencement  of  modern  history  even  in  the 
Western  countries  of  Europe  is  much  enhanced  when  we  di- 
rect our  attention  to  the  Eastern  Empire.  But  the  appear- 
ance of  Mohammed,  and  the  conquests  of  his  disciples,  pre- 
sent an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Asia  still  more  important  and 
more  definite  than  the  subversion  of  the  Roman  Empire  in 
Europe ;  and  hence  the  boundary  line  between  the  ancient 
and  modern  divisions  of  Byzantine  history  will  intersect  the 
reign  of  Heraclius.  That  prince  may  be  said  to  have  stood 
on  the  verge  of  both  hemispheres  of  time,  whose  youth  was 
crowned  with  the  last  victories  over  the  successors  of  Ar- 
taxerxes,  and  whose  age  was  clouded  by  the  first  calamities 
of  Mohammedan  invasion.^ 

The  prevalence  of  Islam  in  the  lifetime  of  its  prophet,  and 
during  the  first  ages  of  its  existence,  was  chiefly  owing  to 
the  spirit  of  martial  energy  that  he  infused  into  it.  The  re- 
ligion of  Mohammed  is  as  essentially  a  military  system  as  the 
institution  of  chivalry  in  the  west  of  Europe.  The  people 
of  Arabia,  a  race  of  strong  passions  and  sanguinary  temper, 
inured  to  habits  of  pillage  and  murder,  found  in  the  law  of 
their  native  prophet  not  a  license,  but  a  command,  to  deso- 
late the  world,  and  the  promise  of  all  that  their  glowing  im- 
aginations could  anticipate  of  Paradise  annexed  to  all  in 
which  they  most  delighted  upon  earth.  Death,  slavery,  trib- 
ute, to  unbelievers,  were  the  glad  tidings  of  the  Arabian 
prophet.  To  the  idolaters,  indeed,  or  those  who  acknowl- 
edged no  special  revelation,  one  alternative  only  was  pro- 
posed, conversion  or  the  sword.  The  people  of  the  Book,  as 
they  are  termed  in  the  Koran,  or  four  sects  of  Christians,  Jews, 
Magians,  and  Sabians,  were  permitted  to  redeem  their  adher- 

*  For  a  fuller  account  of  the  events,  briefly  narrated  in  this  chapter,  see  "  Student's 
<3ibbou,"  eh.  xxvii.,  seq. 


Greeks,  Etc.      STATE  OF  THE  GREEK  EMPIRE.  303 

ence  to  their  ancient  law  by  the  payment  of  tribute,  and  oth- 
er marks  of  humiliation  and  servitude.  But  the  limits  which 
Mohammedan  intolerance  had  prescribed  to  itself  were  sel- 
dom transojressed ;  the  word  pledged  to  unbelievers  was  sel- 
dom forfeited ;  and  with  all  their  insolence  and  oppression, 
the  Moslem  conquerors  were  mild  and  liberal  in  comparison 
with  those  who  obeyed  the  pontiffs  of  Rome  or  Constanti- 
nople. 

§  2.  At  the  death  of  Mohammed  in  632  his  temporal  and 
religious  sovereignty  embraced,  and  was  limited  by,  the 
Arabian  peninsula.  The  Roman  and  Persian  empires,  en- 
gaged in  tedious  and  indecisive  hostility  upon  the  rivers  of 
Mesopotamia  and  the  Armenian  mountains,  were  viewed  by 
the  ambitious  fanatics  of  his  creed  as  their  quarry.  In  the 
very  first  year  of  Mohammed's  immediate  successor,  Abu- 
beker,  each  of  these  mighty  empires  was  invaded.  The  lat- 
ter opposed  but  a  short  resistance.  The  crumbling  fabric 
of  Eastern  despotism  is  never  secure  against  rapid  and  total 
subversion  ;  a  few  victories,  a  few  sieges,  carried  the  Arabian 
arms  from  the  Tigris  to  the  Oxus,  and  overthrew,  Avith  the 
Sassanian  dynasty,  the  ancient  and  famous  religion  they  had 
professed.  Seven  years  of  active  and  unceasing  warfare  suf- 
ficed to  subjugate  the  rich  province  of  Syria,  though  defend- 
ed by  numerous  armies  and  fortified  cities  (a.d.  632-639) ; 
and  the  caliph  Omar  had  scarcely  returned  thanks  for  the 
accomplishment  ^of  this  conquest,  when  Amrou,  his  lieuten- 
ant, announced  to  him  the  entire  reduction  of  Egypt.  After 
some  interval  the  Saracens  won  their  way  along  the  coast 
of  Africa  as  far  as  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  a  third  prov- 
ince was  irretrievably  torn  from  the  Greek  empire  (a.d.  647- 
698).  These  Western  conquests  introduced  them  to  fresh 
enemies,  and  ushered  in  more  sj)lendid  successes  ;  encouraged 
by  the  disunion  of  the  Visigoths,  and  perhaps  invited  by 
treachery,  Musa,  the  general  of  a  master  who  sat  beyond  the 
opposite  extremity  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  passed  over 
into  Spain,  and  within  about  two  years  the  name  of  Moham- 
med was  invoked  under  the  Pyrenees  (a.d.  VlO). 

§  3.  These  conquests,  which  astonish  the  careless  and  su- 
perficial, are  less  perplexing  to  a  calm  inquirer  than  their  ces- 
sation ;  the  loss  of  half  the  Roman  Empire,  than  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  rest.  The  fame  of  Heraclius  had  withered 
in  the  Syrian  war ;  and  his  successors  appeared  as  incapable 
to  resist  as  they  were  unworthy  to  govern.  But  this  de- 
praved people  Avere  preserved  from  destruction  by  the  vices 
of  their  enemies,  still  more  than  by  some  intrinsic  resources 


304  CALIPHS  OF  BAGDAD.  Chap.  VI. 

which  they  yet  possessed.  A  rapid  degeneracy  enfeebled 
the  victorious  Moslem  in  their  career.  That  irresistible  en- 
thusiasm, that  earnest  and  disinterested  zeal  of  the  compan- 
ions of  Mohammed,  was  in  a  great  measure  lost,  even  before 
the  first  generation  had  passed  away.  In  the  fruitful  val- 
leys of  Damascus  and  Bassora  the  Arabs  of  the  desert  forgot 
their  abstemious  habits.  Rich  from  the  tributes  of  an  en- 
slaved people,  the  Mohammedan  sovereigns  knew  no  employ- 
ment of  riches  but  in  sensual  luxury,  and  paid  the  price  of 
voluptuous  indulgence  in  the  relaxation  of  their  strength  and 
energy.  Under  the  reign  of  Moawiah,  the  fifth  caliph,  an  he- 
reditary succession  was  substituted  for  the  free  choice  of  the 
faithful,  by  which  the  first  repi-esentatives  of  the  prophet 
had  been  elevated  to  power;  and  this  regulation,  necessary, 
as  it  plainly  was,  to  avert  in  some  degree  the  dangers  of 
schism  and  civil  war,  exposed  the  kingdom  to  the  certainty 
of  being  often  governed  by  feeble  tyrants.  But  no  regula- 
tion could  be  more  than  a  temporary  presei'vative  against 
civil  war.  The  dissensions  which  still  separate  and  render 
hostile  the  followers  of  Mohammed  maybe  traced  to  the  first 
events  that  ensued  upon  his  death,  to  the  rejection  of  his  son- 
in-law  Ali  by  the  electors  of  Medina.  Two  reigns,  those  of 
Abubeker  and  Omar,  passed  in  external  glory  and  domestic 
reverence;  but  the  old  age  of  Othman  was  weak  and  impru- 
dent, and  the  conspirators  against  him  established  the  first 
among  a  hundred  precedents  of  rebellion  and  regicide.  Ali 
was  now  chosen;  but  a  strong  faction  disputed  his  right; 
and  the  Saracen  empire  was,  for  many  years,  distracted  with 
civil  w^ar,  among  competitors  who  appealed,  in  reality,  to  no 
other  decision  than  that  of  the  sword.  The  fiimily  of  Oni- 
miyah  succeeded  at  last  in  establishing  an  unresisted,  if  not 
an  undoubted,  title.  But  rebellions  were  perpetually  after- 
wards breaking  out  in  that  vast  extent  of  dominion,  till  one 
of  these  revolters  acquired  by  success  a  better  name  than 
rebel,  and  founded  the  dynasty  of  the  Abbasides  (a.d.  750). 

Damascus  had  been  the  seat  of  empire  under  the  Ommi- 
ades;  it  was  removed  by  the  succeeding  family  to  their  new 
city  of  Bagdad.  There  are  not  any  names  in  the  long  line 
of  caliphs,  after  the  companions  of  Mohammed,  more  re- 
nowned in  history  than  some  of  the  earlier  sovereigns  who 
reigned  in  this  capital — Almansor,  Haroun  Alraschid,  and 
Almamtln.  Their  splendid  palaces,  their  numerous  guards, 
their  treasures  of  gold  and  silver,  the  populousness  and 
wealth  of  their  cities,  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  the  rude- 
ness and  poverty  of  the  Western  nations  in  the  same  age* 


Greeks,  Etc.  DECLINE  OF  THE  CALIPHS.  305 

In  tlieir  court  learning,  which  the  first  Moslem  had  despised 
as  unwarlike  or  rejected  as  profane,  was  held  in  honor.  The 
Caliph  Almamtin  especially  was  distinguished  for  his  pat- 
ronage of  letters ;  the  philosophical  writings  of  Greece  were 
eagerly  sought  and  translated ;  the  stars  were  numbered, 
the  course  of  the  planets  was  measured.  The  Arabians  im- 
proved upon  the  science  they  borrowed,  and  returned  it  with 
abundant  interest  to  Europe  in  the  communication  of  nu- 
meral figures  and  the  intellectual  language  of  algebra.  Yet 
the  merit  of  the  Abbasides  has  been  exaggerated  by  adula- 
tion or  gratitude.  After  all  the  vague  praises  of  hireling 
poets,  which  have  sometimes  been  repeated  in  Europe,  it  is 
very  rare  to  read  the  history  of  an  Eastern  sovereign  un- 
stained by  atrocious  crimes.  No  Christian  government,  ex- 
cept perhaps  that  of  Constantinople,  exhibits  such  a  series 
of  tyrants  as  the  caliphs  of  Bagdad,  if  deeds  of  blood, 
wrought  through  unbridled  passion  or  jealous  policy,  may 
challenge  the  name  of  tyranny. 

Though  the  Abbasides  have  acquired  more  celebrity, 
they  never  attained  the  real  strength  of  their  predecessors. 
Under  the  last  of  the  house  of  Ommiyah,  one  command  was 
obeyed  almost  along  the  whole  diameter  of  the  known  world, 
from  the  banks  of  the  Sihon  to  the  utmost  promontory  of 
Portugal.  But  the  revolution  which  changed  the  succession 
of  caliphs  produced  another  not  less  important.  A  fugitive 
of  the  vanquished  family,  by  name  Abdalrahman,  arrived  in 
Spain ;  and  the  Moslem  of  that  country,  not  sharing  in  the 
prejudices  which  had  stirred  up  the  Persians  in  favor  of  the 
line  of  Abbas,  and  conscious  that  their  remote  situation  en- 
titled them  to  independence,  proclaimed  him  Caliph  of  Cor- 
dova. There  could  be  little  hope  of  reducing  so  distant  a 
dependency ;  and  the  example  was  not  unlikely  to  be  imi- 
tated. In  the  reign  of  Haroun  Alraschid  two  principalities 
were  formed  in  Africa — of  the  Aglabites,  who  reigned  over 
Tunis  and  Tripoli ;  and  of  the  Edrisites,  in  the  western  pai-ts 
of  Barbary.  These  yielded  in  about  a  century  to  the  Fati- 
mites,  a  more  powerful  dynasty,  who  afterwards  established 
an  empire  in  Egypt. 

The  loss,  however,  of  Spain  and  Africa  was  the  inevitable 
effect  of  that  immensely  extended  dominion,  which  their 
separation  alone  would  not  have  enfeebled.  But  other  rev- 
olutions awaited  it  at  home.  In  the  history  of  the  Abbas- 
ides of  Bagdad  we  read  over  again  the  decline  of  European 
monarchies,  through  their  various  symptoms  of  ruin ;  and 
find  successive  analosries  to  the  insults  of  the  barbarians  to- 


306  FATAL  POLICY.  Chap.  VL 

wards  imj^erial  Rome  in  the  fifth  century,  to  the  personal 
insignificance  of  the  Merovingian  kings,  and  to  the  feudal 
usurpations  that  dismembered  the  inheritance  of  Charle- 
magne. 1.  Beyond  the  north-eastern  frontier  of  the  Saracen 
empire  dwelt  a  warlike  and  powerful  nation  of  the  Tartar 
family,  who  defended  the  independence  of  Turkestan  from 
the  Sea  of  Aral  to  the  great  central  chains  of  mountains.  In 
the  wars  which  the  caliphs  or  their  lieutenants  waged  against 
them  many  of  these  Turks  were  led  into  captivity,  and  dis- 
persed over  the  empire.  Their  strength  and  courage  dis- 
tinguished them  among  a  people  grown  eifeminate  by  lux- 
ury ;  and  that  jealousy  of  disaffection  among  his  subjects 
so  natural  to  an  Eastern  monarch  might  be  an  additional 
motive  with  the  Caliph  Motassem  to  form  bodies  of  guards 
out  of  these  prisoners.  But  his  policy  was  fatally  erroneous. 
More  rude  and  even  more  ferocious  than  the  Arabs,  they 
contemned  the  feebleness  of  the  caliphate,  while  they  grasped 
at  its  riches.  The  son  of  Motassem,  Motawakkel,  was  mur- 
dered in  his  palace  by  the  barbarians  of  the  North ;  and  his 
fate  revealed  the  secret  of  the  empire,  that  the  choice  of  its 
sovereign  had  passed  to  their  slaves.  Degradation  and  death 
were  frequently  the  lot  of  succeeding  caliphs;  but  in  the 
East  the  son  leaps  boldly  on  the'  throne  which  the  blood  of 
his  father  has  stained,  and  the  praetorian  guards  of  Bagdad 
rarely  failed  to  render  a  fallacious  obedience  to  the  nearest 
heir  of  the  house  of  Abbas.  2.  In  about  one  hundred  years 
after  the  introduction  of  the  Turkish  soldiers  the  sovereigns 
of  Bagdad  sunk  almost  into  oblivion.  Al  Radi,  who  died  in 
940,  was  the  last  of  these  that  officiated  in  the  mosque,  that 
commanded  the  forces  in  person,  that  addressed  the  people 
from  the  pulpit,  that  enjoyed  the  pomp  and  splendor  of  roy- 
alty. But  he  was  the  first  who  appointed,  instead  of  a  viz- 
ier, a  new  officer — a  mayor,  as  it  were,  of  the  palace — with  the 
title  of  Emir  al  Omra,  commander  of  commanders,  to  whom 
he  delegated  by  compulsion  the  functions  of  his  office.  This 
title  was  usually  seized  by  active  and  martial  spirits ;  it  was 
sometimes  hereditary,  and  in  effect  irrevocable  by  the  ca- 
liphs, whose  names  hardly  appear  after  this  time  in  Oriental 
annals.  3.  During  these  revolutions  of  the  palace  every 
province  successively  shook  off  its  allegiance  ;  new  principal- 
ities were  formed  in  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  as  well  as  in 
Khorassan  and  Persia,  till  the  dominion  of  the  Commander 
of  the  Faithful  was  literally  confined  to  the  city  of  Bagdad 
and  its  adjacent  territory.  For  a  time  some  of  these  princes, 
who  had  been  appointed  as  governors  by  the  caliphs,  pro* 


Greeks.  Etc.    REVIVAL  OF  THE  GREEK  EMPIRE.  307 

fessed  to  respect  his  supremacy  by  naming  him  in  the  public 
prayers  and  upon  the  coin;  but  these  tokens  of  dependence 
were  gradually  obliterated. 

§  4.  Such  is  the  outline  of  Saracenic  history  for  three  cen- 
turies after  Mohammed  ;  one  age  of  glorious  conquest ;  a 
second  of  stationary,  but  rather  precarious,  greatness;  a  third 
of  rapid  decline.  The  Greek  empire  meanwhile  survived, 
and  almost  recovered  from  the  shock  it  had  sustained.  The 
position  of  Constantinople,  chosen  with  a  sagacity  to  which 
the  course  of  events  almost  gave  the  appearance  of  pre- 
science, secured  her  from  any  immediate  danger  on  the  side 
of  Asia,  and  rendered  her  as  little  accessible  to  an  enemy  as 
any  city  which  valor  and  patriotism  did  not  protect.  Yet  in 
the  days  of  Arabian  energy  she  was  twice  attacked  by  great 
naval  armaments.  The  first  siege,  or  rather  blockade,  con- 
tinued for  seven  years  (a.d.  068-675)  ;  the  second,  though 
shorter,  was  more  terrible,  and  her  walls,  as  well  as  her  port, 
were  actually  invested  by  the  combined  forces  of  the  Caliph 
Waled,  under  his  brother  Moslema  (a.d.  716-718).  The  final 
discomfiture  of  these  assailants  showed  the  resisting  force  of 
the  empire,  or  rather  of  its  capital ;  but  perhaps  the  aban- 
donment of  such  maritime  enterprises  by  the  Saracens  may 
be  in  some  measure  ascribed  to  the  removal  of  their  metrop- 
olis from  Damascus  to  Bagdad.  But  the  Greeks  in  their 
turn  determined  to  dispute  the  command  of  the  sea.  By 
possessing  the  secret  of  an  inextinguishable  fire,  they  fought 
on  superior  terms:  their  wealth,  perhaps  their  skill,  enabled 
them  to  employ  larger  and  better  appointed  vessels ;  and 
they  ultimately  expelled  their  enemies  from  the  islands  of 
Crete  and  Cyprus.  By  land  they  were  less  desirous  of  en- 
countering the  Moslem.  But  the  increasing  distractions  of 
the  East  encouraged  two  brave  usurpers,  Nicephorus  Phocas 
and  John  Zimisces,  to  attempt  the  actual  recovery  of  the  lost 
provinces  (a.d.  963-975).  They  carried  the  Roman  arms  (one 
may  use  the  terra  with  less  reluctance  than  usual)  over  Syr- 
ia ;  Antioch  and  Aleppo  were  taken  by  storm ;  Damascus 
submitted ;  even  the  cities  of  Mesopotamia,  beyond  the  an- 
cient boundary  of  the  Euphrates,  were  added  to  the  trophies 
of  Zimisces,  who  unwillingly  spared  the  capital  of  the  caliph- 
ate. From  such  distant  conquests  it  was  expedient,  and  in- 
deed necessary,  to  withdraw ;  but  Cilicia  and  Antioch  were 
permanently  restored  to  the  empire.  At  the  close  of  the 
tenth  century  the  emperors  of  Constantinople  possessed  the 
best  and  greatest  portion  of  the  modern  kingdom  of  Naples, 
a  part  of  Sicily,  the  whole  European  dominions  of  the  Otto- 


308  REVIVAL  OF  THE  GREEK  EMPIRE.         Chap.  VL 

mans,  the  province  of  Anatolia  or  Asia  Minor,  with  some 
part  of  Syria  and  Armenia. 

§  5.  These  successes  of  tlie  Greek  empire  were  certainly 
much  rather  due  to  the  weakness  of  its  enemies  than  to  any 
revival  of  national  courage  and  vigor;  yet  they  would  prob- 
ably have  been  more  durable  if  the  contest  had  been  only 
with  the  caliphate,  or  the  kingdoms  derived  from  it.  But 
a  new  actor  was  to  appear  on  the  stage  of  Asiatic  tragedy. 
The  same  Turkish  nation,  the  slaves  and  captives  from  which 
had  become  arbiters  of  the  sceptre  of  Bagdad,  passed  their 
original  limits  of  the  laxartes  or  Sihon.  The  sultans  of 
Ghazna,  a  dynasty  whose  splendid  conquests  were  of  very 
short  duration,  had  deemed  it  politic  to  divide  the  strength 
of  these  formidable  allies  by  inviting  a  part  of  them  into 
Khorassan.  They  covered  that  fertile  province  with  their 
pastoral  tents,  and  beckoned  their  compatriots  to  share  the 
riches  of  the  South.  The  Ghaznevides  fell  the  earliest  vic- 
tims (a.d.  1038);  but  Persia,  violated  in  turn  by  every  con- 
queror, was  a  tempting  and  unresisting  prey.  Togrol  Bek, 
the  founder  of  the  Seljukian  dynasty  of  Turks,  overthrew  the 
family  of  Bowides,  who  had  long  reigned  at  Ispahan,  respect- 
ed the  pageant  of  Mohammedan  sovereignty  in  the  Caliph 
of  Bagdad,  embraced,  with  all  his  tribes,  the  religion  of  the 
vanquished,  and  commenced  the  attack  upon  Christendom 
by  an  irruption  into  Armenia  (a.d.  1038-1063).  His  nephew 
and  successor.  Alp  Arslan,  defeated  and  took  prisoner  the 
Emperor  Roman  us  Diogenes  (a.d.  1071) ;  and  the  conquest 
of  Asia  Minor  was  almost  completed  by  princes  of  the  same 
family,  the  Seljukians  of  Rt\m,''  who  were  permitted  by  Malek 
Shah,  the  third  sultan  of  the  Turks,  to  form  an  independent 
kingdom,  of  which  Iconium  was  the  capital.  Through  their 
own  exertions,  and  the  selfish  impolicy  of  rival  competitors 
for  the  throne  of  Constantinople,  who  bartered  the  strength 
of  the  empire  for  assistance,  the  Turks  became  masters  of  the 
Asiatic  cities  and  fortified  passes;  nor  did  there  seem  any 
obstacle  to  the  invasion  of  Europe. 

§  6.  In  this  state  of  jeopardy,  the  Greek  empire  looked 
for  aid  to  the  nations  of  the  West,  and  received  it  in  fuller 
measure  than  was  expected,  or  perhaps  desired.  The  deliv- 
erance of  Constantinople  was,  indeed,  a  very  secondary  object 
with  the  crusaders.  But  it  was  necessarily  included  in  their 
scheme  of  operations,  which,  though  they  all  tended  to  the 
recovery  of  Jerusalem,  must  commence  with  the  first  ene- 
mies that  lay  on  their  line  of  march.    The  Turks  were  entire 

*  EOim,  i.  e.,  country  of  the  Eonians. 


Greeks,  Etc.  CONQUESTS  OF  THE  TURKS.  309 

ly  defeated,  their  capital  of  Nice  restored  to  the  empire.  As 
the  Franks  passed  onward,  the  Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus 
trod  on  their  footsteps,  and  secured  to  himself  the  fruits  for 
which  their  enthusiasm  disdained  to  wait.  He  regained  pos- 
session of  the  strong  places  on  the  ^gean  shores,  of  the  de- 
files of  Bithyhia,  and  of  the  entire  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  both 
on  the  Euxine  and  Mediterranean  seas,  which  the  Turkish 
armies,  composed  of  cavalry  and  unused  to  regular  w^arfare, 
could  not  recover.  So  much  must  undoubtedly  be  ascribed 
to  the  first  crusade.  But  I  think  that  the  general  effect  of 
these  expeditions  has  been  overrated  by  those  who  consider 
them  as  having  permanently  retarded  the  progress  of  the 
Turkish  power.  The  Christians  in  Palestine  and  Syria  were 
hardly  in  contact  with  the  Seljukian  kingdom  of  Rilm,  the 
only  enemies  of  the  empire.  Other  causes  are  adequate  to 
explain  the  equipoise  in  which  the  balance  of  dominion  in 
Aiiatolia  was  kept  during  the  twelfth  century ;  the  valor 
and  activity  of  the  two  Comneni,  John  and  Manuel,  especial- 
ly the  former ;  and  the  frequent  partitions  and  internal  feuds, 
through  which  the  Seljukians  of  Iconium,like  all  other  Orient- 
al governments,  became  incapable  of  foreign  aggression. 

But  whatever  obligation  might  be  due  to  the  first  cru- 
saders from  the  Eastern  Empire  w^as  cancelled  by  their  de- 
scendants one  hundred  years  afterwards,  when  the  fourth  in 
number  of  those  expeditions  was  turned  to  the  subjugation 
of  Constantinople  itself  One  of  those  domestic  revolutions 
which  occur  perpetually  in  Byzantine  history  had  placed  an 
usurper  on  the  imperial  throne.  The  lawful  monarch  was 
condemned  to  blindness  and  a  prison  ;  but  the  heir  escaped 
to  recount  his  misfortunes  to  the  fleet  and  army  of  crusaders 
assembled  in  the  Dalmatian  port  of  Zara.  This  armament 
had  been  collected  for  the  usual  purposes,  and  through  the 
usual  motives,  temporal  and  spiritual,  of  a  crusade  ;  the  mili- 
tary force  chiefly  consisted  of  French  nobles  ;  the  naval  was 
supplied  by  the  Republic  of  Venice,  whose  doge  commanded 
personally  in  the  expedition.  It  was  not,  apparently,  consist- 
ent with  the  primary  object  of  retrieving  the  Christian  affairs 
in  Palestine  to  interfere  in  the  government  of  a  Christian 
empire ;  but  the  temptation  of  punishing  a  faithless  people, 
and  the  hope  of  assistance  in  their  subsequent  operations,  pre- 
vailed. They  turned  their  prows  up  the  Archipelago,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  vast  population  and  defensible  strength 
of  Constantinople,  compelled  the  usurper  to  fly,  and  the  citi- 
zens to  surrender.  But  animosities  springing  from  religious 
schism  and  national  jealousy  were  not  likely  to  be  allayed 


310  PARTITION  OF  THE  EMPIRE.  Chap.  VI. 

by  such  remedies ;  the  Greeks,  wounded  in  their  pride  and 
bigotry,  regarded  the  legitimate  emperor  as  a  creature  of 
their  enemies,  ready  to  sacrifice  their  Church,  a  stipulated 
condition  of  his  restoration,  to  that  of  Rome.  In  a  few 
!*  months  a  new  sedition  and  conspiracy  raised  another  usurp- 
er in  defiance  of  the  crusaders'  army  encamped  without  the 
walls.  The  siege  instantly  recommenced,  and  after  three 
months  the  city  of  Constantinople  was  taken  by  storm  (a.d. 
1204). 

The  lawful  emperor  and  his  son  had  perished  in  the  re- 
bellion that  gave  occasion  to  this  catastrophe,  and  there  re- 
mained no  right  to  interfere  with  that  of  conquest.  But  the 
Latins  were  a  promiscuous  multitude,  and  what  their  inde- 
pendent valor  had  earned  was  not  to  be  transferred  to  a  sin- 
gle master.  Though  the  name  of  emperor  seemed  necessary 
for  the  government  of  Constantinople,  the  unity  of  despotic 
power  was  very  foreign  to  the  principles  and  the  interests  of 
the  crusaders.  In  their  selfish  schemes  of  aggrandizement 
they  tore  in  pieces  the  Greek  empire.  One-fourth  only  was 
allotted  to  the  emperor,  three-eighths  were  the  share  of  the 
Republic  of  Venice,  and  the  remainder  was  divided  among 
the  chiefs.  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  obtained  the  imperial 
title,  with  the  feudal  sovereignty  over  the  minor  principali- 
ties. A  monarchy  thus  dismembered  had  little  prospect  of 
honor  or  durability.  The  Latin  emperors  of  Constantinople 
were  more  contemptible  and  unfortunate,  not  so  much  from 
personal  character  as  political  weakness,  than  their  predeces- 
sors; their  vassals  rebelled  against  sovereigns  not  more  pow- 
erful than  themselves ;  the  Bulgarians,  a  nation  who,  after 
being  long  formidable,  had  been  subdued  by  the  imperial 
arms,  and  only  recovered  independence  on  the  eve  of  the 
Latin  conquest,  insulted  their  capital ;  the  Greeks  viewed 
them  with  silent  hatred,  and  hailed  the  dawning  deliverance 
from  the  Asiatic  coast.  On  that  side  of  the  Bosporus  the 
Latin  usurpation  was  scarcely  for  a  moment  acknowledged; 
Nice  became  the  seat  of  a  Greek  dynasty,  who  reigned  with 
honor  as  far  as  the  Maeander ;  and,  crossing  into  Europe, 
after  having  established  their  dominion  throughout  Roma- 
nia and  other  provinces,  expelled  the  last  Latin  emperors 
from  Constantinople  in  less  than  sixty  years  from  its  capture 
(a.d.  1261). 

§  7.  During  the  reign  of  these  Greeks  at  Nice  they  had 
fortunately  little  to  dread  on  the  side  of  their  former  enemies, 
and  were  generally  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the  Selju- 
kians   of  Iconium.      That   monarchy,  indeed,  had   sufficient 


Gkeeks,  etc.  invasion  OF  ASIA.  311 

objects  of  aiDprehension  for  itself.  Their  own  example  in 
changing  the  upland  plains  of  Tartary  for  the  cultivated  val- 
leys of  the  south  was  imitated  in  the  thirteenth  century  by 
two  successive  hordes  of  Northern  barbarians.  The  Karis- 
mians,  whose  tents  had  been  pitched  on  the  lower  Oxus  and 
Caspian  Sea,  availed  themselves  of  the  decline  of  the  Turkish 
power  to  establish  their  dominion  in  Persia,  and  menaced, 
though  they  did  not  overthrow,  the  kingdom  of  Iconium.  A 
more  tremendous  storm  ensued  in  the  irruption  of  Moguls 
under  the  sons  of  Zingis  Khan.  From  the  farthest  regions 
of  Chinese  Tartary  issued  a  race  more  fierce  and  destitute 
of  civilization  than  those  who  had  preceded,  whose  numbers 
were  told  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  whose  only  test  of 
victory  was  devastation.  All  Asia,  from  the  Sea  of  China  to 
the  Euxine,  wasted  beneath  the  locusts  of  the  North.  They 
annihilated  the  phantom  of  authority  which  still  lingered 
with  the  name  of  caliph  at  Bagdad.  They  reduced  into  de- 
pendence, and  finally  subverted,  the  Seljukian  dynasties  of 
Persia,  Syria,  and  Iconium.  The  Turks  of  the  latter  king- 
dom betook  themselves  to  the  mountainous  country,  where 
they  formed  several  petty  principalities,  which  subsisted  by 
incursions  into  the  territory  of  the  Moguls  or  the  Greeks. 
The  chief  of  one  of  these,  named  Othman,  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  penetrated  into  the  province  ofBithynia, 
from  which  his  posterity  were  never  withdrawn. 

The  empire  of  Constantinople  had  never  recovered  the 
blow  it  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Latins.  Most  of  the 
islands  in  the  Archipelago,  and  the  provinces  of  proper 
Greece,  from  Thessaly  southward,  were  still  possessed  by 
those  invaders.  The  wealth  and  naval  power  of  the  empire 
had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  maritime  republics ;  Ven- 
ice, Genoa,  Pisa,  and  Barcelona  were  enriched  by  a  commerce 
which  they  earned  on  as  independent  states  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  Constantinople,  scarcely  deigning  to  solicit  the  per- 
mission or  recognize  the  supremacy  of  its  master.  In  a  great 
battle  fought  under  the  walls  of  the  city,  between  the  Vene- 
tian and  Genoese  fleets,  the  weight  of  the  Roman  Empire,  in 
Gibbon's  expression,  was  scarcely  felt  in  the  balance  of  these 
opulent  and  powerful  republics  (a.d.  1352).  Eight  galleys 
were  the  contribution  of  the  Emperor  Cantacuzene  to  his  Ve- 
netian allies ;  and  upon  their  defeat  he  submitted  to  the  ig- 
nominy of  excluding  them  forever  from  trading  in  his  do- 
minions. Meantime  the  remains  of  the  empire  in  Asia  were 
seized  by  the  independent  Turkish  dynasties,  of  which  the 
most  illustrious,  that  of  the  Ottomans,  occupied  the  province 


312  THE  TARTARS  OR  MOGULS.  Chap.  VL 

of  Bithynia  (a.d.  1431).  Invited  by  a  Byzantine  faction  into 
Europe  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  they 
fixed  themselves  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  capital,  and  in 
the  thirty  years'  reign  of  Amurath  I.  subdued,  with  little 
resistance,  the  province  of  Romania  and  the  small  Christian 
kingdoms  that  had  been  formed  on  the  lower  Danube.  Ba- 
jazet,  the  successor  of  Amurath,  reduced  the  independent 
emirs  of  Anatolia  to  subjection,  and,  after  long  threatening 
Constantinople,  invested  it  by  sea  and  land  (a.d.  1396).  The 
Greeks  called  loudly  upon  their  brethren  of  the  West  for  aid 
against  the  common  enemy  of  Christendom ;  but  the  flower 
of  French  chivalry  had  been  slain  or  taken  in  the  battle  of 
Nicopolis,  in  Bulgaria,  where  the  King  of  Hungary,  notwith- 
standing the  heroism  of  these  volunteers,  was  entirely  de- 
feated by  Bajazet.  The  Emperor  Manuel  left  his  capital 
with  a  faint  hope  of  exciting  the  courts  of  Europe  to  some 
decided  efforts  by  personal  representations  of  the  danger; 
and,  during  his  absence,  Constantinople  was  saved,  not  by  a 
friend  indeed,  but  by  a  power  more  formidable  to  her  ene- 
mies than  to  herself 

The  loose  masses  of  mankind,  that,  without  laws,  agricul- 
ture, or  fixed  dwellings,  overspread  the  vast  central  regions 
of  Asia,  have,  at  various  times,  been  impelled  by  necessity 
of  subsistence,  or  through  the  casual  appearance  of  a  com- 
manding genius,  upon  the  domain  of  culture  and  civilization. 
Two  principal  roads  connect  the  nations  of  Tartary  with 
those  of  the  west  and  south  ;  the  one  into  Europe,  along  the 
Sea  of  Azoph  and  northern  coast  of  the  Euxine ;  the  other 
across  the  interval  between  the  Bukharian  Mountains  and 
the  Caspian  into  Persia.  Four  times  at  least  within  the  pe- 
riod of  authentic  history  the  Scythian  tribes  have  taken  the 
former  course,  and  poured  themselves  into  Europe,  but  each 
wave  was  less  effectual  than  the  preceding.  The  first  of 
these  was  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  for  we  may  range 
those  rapidly  successive  migrations  of  the  Goths  and  Huns 
together,  when  the  Roman  ^Empire  fell  to  the  ground,  and 
the  only  boundary  of  barbarian  conquest  was  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  upon  the  shores  of  Portugal.  The  second  wave  came 
on  with  the  Hungarians  in  the  tenth  century,  whose  rava- 
ges extended  as  far  as  the  southern  provinces  of  France. 
A  third  attack  was  sustained  from  the  Moguls,  under  the 
children  of  Zingis,  at  the  same  period  as  that  which  over- 
whelmed Persia.  The  Russian  monarchy  was  destroyed  in 
this  invasion,  and  for  two  hundred  years  that  great  country 
lay  prostrate  under  the  yoke  of  the  Tartars.  As  they  ad- 
vanced, Poland  and  Hungary  gave  little  opposition,  and  the 


Greeks,  Etc.       DANGER  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  313 

farthest  nations  of  Europe  were  appalled  by  the  tempest. 
But  Germany  was  no  longer  as  she  had  been  in  the  anarchy 
of  the  tenth  century ;  the  Moguls  were  unused  to  resistance, 
and  still  less  inclined  to  regular  warfare ;  they  retired  before 
the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  and  the  utmost  points  of  their 
western  invasion  were  the  cities  of  Lignitz,  in  Silesia,  and 
Neustadt,  in  Austria  (a.d.  1245).  In  the  fourth  and  last  ag- 
gression of  the  Tartars  their  progress  in  Europe  is  hardly 
perceptible ;  the  Moguls  of  Timur's  army  could  only  boast 
the  destruction  of  Azoph  and  the  pillage  of  some  Russian 
provinces.  Timur,  the  sovereign  of  these  Moguls  and  found- 
er of  their  second  dynasty,  which  has  been  more  permanent 
and  celebrated  than  that  of  Zingis,  had  been  the  prince  of  a 
small  tribe  in  Transoxiana,  between  the  Gihon  and  Sirr,  the 
doubtful  frontier  of  settled  and  pastoral  nations.  His  own 
energy  and  the  weakness  of  his  neighbors  are  sufficient  to 
explain  the  revolution  he  effected.  Like  former  conquerors, 
Togrol  Bek  and  Zingis,  he  chose  the  road  through  Persia; 
and,  meeting  little  resistance  from  the  disordered  govern- 
ments of  Asia,  extended  his  empire  on  one  side  to  the  Syrian 
coast,  while  by  successes  still  more  renowned,  though  not 
belonging  to  this  place,  it  reached,  on  the  other,  to  the  heart 
of  Hindostan.  In  his  old  age  the  restlessness  of  ambition 
impelled  him  against  the  Turks  of  Anatolia.  Bajazet  has- 
tened from  the  siege  of  Constantinople  to  a  more  perilous 
contest;  his  defeat  and  captivity  in  the  plains  of  Angora 
clouded  for  a  time  the  Ottoman  crescent,  and  preserved  the 
wreck  of  the  Greek  Empire  for  fifty  years  longer  (a.d.  1402). 
§  8.  The  Moguls  did  not  improve  their  victory  ;  in  the 
western  parts  of  Asia,  as  in  Hindostan,  Timur  was  but  a  bar- 
barian destroyer,  though  at  Samarcand  a  sovereign  and  a 
legislator.  He  gave  up  Anatolia  to  the  sons  of  Bajazet ;  but 
the  unity  of  their  power  was  broken;  and  the  Ottoman  king- 
dom, like  those  which  had  preceded,  experienced  the  evils  of 
partition  and  mutual  animosity.  For  about  twenty  years 
an  opportunity  was  given  to  the  Greeks  of  recovering  part 
of  their  losses ;  but  they  were  incapable  of  making  the  best 
use  of  this  advantage,  and  when  Amurath  II.  reunited  under 
his  vigorous  sceptre  the  Ottoman  monarchy,  Constantinople 
was  exposed  to  another  siege  and  to  fresh  losses  (a.d.  1421). 
Her  walls,  however,  repelled  the  enemy ;  and  during  the 
reign  of  Amurath  she  had  leisure  to  repeat  those  signals  of 
distress  which  the  princes  of  Christendom  refused  to  observe. 
Every  province  was  in  turn  subdued — every  city  opened  her 
gates  to  the  conqueror :  the  limbs  were  lopped  off  one  by 

14 


314  ALARM  IN  EUROPE.  Chap.  VI. 

one;  but  the  pulse  still  beat  at  the  heart, and  the  majesty 
of  the  Roman  name  was  ultimately  confined  to  the  walls  of 
Constantinople.  Before  Mohammed  II.  planted  his  cannon 
against  them,  he  had  completed  every  smaller  conquest  and 
deprived  the  expiring  empire  of  every  hope  of  succor  or  de- 
lay. It  was  necessary  that  Constantinople  should  fall ;  but 
the  magnanimous  resignation  of  her  emperor  bestows  an 
honor  upon  her  fall  which  her  prosperity  seldom  earned. 
The  long  deferred  but  inevitable  moment  arrived,  and  the 
last  of  the  Caesars  (I  will  not  say  of  the  Palaeologi)  folded 
round  him  the  imperial  mantle,  and  remembered  the  name 
which  he  represented  in  the  dignity  of  heroic  death  (a.d. 
1453).  It  is  thus  that  the  intellectual  principle,  when  en- 
feebled by  disease  or  age,  is  found  to  rally  its  energies  in  the 
presence  of  death,  and  pour  the  radiance  of  unclouded  rea- 
son around  the  last  struggles  of  dissolution. 

§  9.  Though  the  fate  of  Constantinople  had  been  protract- 
ed beyond  all  reasonable  expectation,  the  actual  intelligence 
operated  like  that  of  sudden  calamity.  A  sentiment  of  con- 
sternation, perhaps  of  self-reproach,  thrilled  to  the  heart  of 
Christendom.  There  seemed  no  longer  any  thing  to  divert 
the  Ottoman  armies  from  Hungary ;  and  if  Hungary  should 
be  subdued,  it  was  evident  that  both  Italy  and  the  German 
Empire  were  exposed  to  invasion.  A  general  union  of  Chris- 
tian powers  was  required  to  withstand  this  common  enemy. 
But  the  popes,  who  had  so  often  armed  them  against  each 
other,  wasted  their  spiritual  and  political  counsels  in  attempt- 
ing to  restore  unanimity.  War  was  proclaimed  against  the 
Turks  at  the  Diet  of  Frankfort,  in  1454  ;  but  no  efforts  were 
made  to  carry  the  menace  into  execution.  No  prince  could 
have  sat  on  the  imperial  throne  more  unfitted  for  the  emer- 
gency than  Frederick  III. ;  his  mean  spirit  and  narrow  ca- 
pacity exposed  him  to  the  contempt  of  mankind — his  ava- 
rice and  duplicity  insured  the  hatred  of  Austria  and  Hunga- 
ry. During  the  papacy  of  Pius  II.,  whose  heart  was  thor- 
oughly engaged  in  this  legitimate  crusade,  a  more  specious 
attempt  was  made  by  convening  a  European  congress  at 
Mantua.  Almost  all  the  sovereigns  attended  by  their  en- 
voys :  it  was  concluded  that  50,000  men-at-arms  should  be 
raised,  and  a  tax  levied  for  three  years  of  one-tenth  from  the 
revenues  of  the  clergy,  one-thirtieth  from  those  of  the  laity, 
and  one-twentieth  from  the  capital  of  the  Jews  (a.d.  1459). 
Pius  engaged  to  head  this  armament  in  person  ;  but  when 
he  appeared  next  year  at  Ancona,  the  appointed  place  of 
embarkation,  the  princes  had  failed  in  all  their  promises  of 
men  and  money,  and  he  found  only  a  headlong  crowd  of  ad- 


Greeks,  Etc.     OTTOMAN  CONQUESTS  SUSPENDED.  315 

venturers,  destitute  of  every  necessary,  and  expecting  to  be 
fed  and  paid  at  the  pope's  expense.  It  was  not  by  such  a 
body  that  Mohammed  could  be  expelled  from  Constantino- 
ple. If  the  Christian  sovereigns  had  given  a  steady  and  sin- 
cere co-operation,  the  contest  would  still  have  been  arduous 
and  uncertain.  In  the  early  crusades  the  superiority  of  arms, 
of  skill,  and  even  of  discipline,  had  been  uniformly  on  the 
side  of  Europe.  But  the  present  circumstances  were  far  from 
similar.  An  institution,  begun  by  the  first  and  perfected  by 
the  second  Amurath,  had  given  to  the  Turkish  armies  what 
their  enemies  still  wanted,  military  subordination  and  vet- 
eran experience.  Aware,  as  it  seems,  of  the  real  superiori- 
ty of  Europeans  in  war,  these  sultans  selected  the  stoutest 
youths  from  their  Bulgarian,  Servian,  or  Albanian  captives, 
who  were  educated  in  habits  of  martial  discipline,  and  form- 
ed into  a  regular  force  with  the  name  of  Janizaries.  After 
conquest  had  put  an  end  to  personal  captivity,  a  tax  of  every 
fifth  male  child  was  raised  upon  the  Christian  population  for 
the  same  purpose.  The  arm  of  Europe  was  thus  turned  upon 
herself;  and  the  Western  nations  must  have  contended  with 
troops  of  hereditary  robustness  and  intrepidity  whose  emu- 
lous enthusiasm  for  the  country  that  had  adopted  them  was 
controlled  by  habitual  obedience  to  their  commanders. 

Yet  forty  years  after  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  at  the 
epoch  of  Charles  VIII.'s  expedition  into  Italy,  the  just  ap- 
prehensions of  European  statesmen  might  have  gradually 
subsided.  Except  the  Morea,  Negropont,  and  a  few  other 
unimportant  conquests,  no  real  progress  had  been  made  by 
the  Ottomans.  Mohammed  II.  had  been  kept  at  bay  by  the 
Hungarians;  he  had  been  repulsed  with  some  ignominy  by 
the  knights  of  St.  John  from  the  island  of  Rhodes.  A  petty 
chieftain  defied  this  mighty  conqueror  for  twenty  years  in 
the  mountains  of  Epirus;  and  the  persevering  courage  of  his 
desultory  warfare  with  such  trifling  resources,  and  so  little 
prospect  of  ultimate  success,  may  justify  the  exaggerated 
admiration  with  which  his  contemporaries  honored  the  name 
of  Scanderbeg.  Once  only  the  crescent  was  displayed  on 
the  Calabrian  coast ;  but  the  city  of  Otranto  remained  but  a 
year  in  the  possession  of  Mohammed  (a.d.  1480).  On  his 
death,  a  disputed  succession  involved  his  children  in  civil 
war.  Bajazet,  the  eldest,  obtained  the  victory ;  but  his  ri- 
val brother,  Zizim,  fled  to  Rhodes,  from  whence  he  was  re- 
moved to  France,  and  afterwards  to  Rome.  Apprehensions 
of  this  exiled  prince  seem  to  have  dictated  a  pacific  policy 
to  the  reigning  sultan,  whose  character  did  not  possess  the 
usual  energy  of  Ottoman  sovereigns. 


316 


LIST  OF  POPES 


Chap.  VII.  Part  I. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

HISTORY    OF    ECCLESIASTICAL   POWER   DURING   THE    MIDDLE 

AGES. 


PART    I. 

[.  Wealth  of  the  Clergy.  Its  Sources,  §  2.  Spoliation  of  Church  Property.  §  3. 
Ecclesiastical  Jurisdiction.  Arbitrative.  Coercive.  §  4.  Political  Power  of  the 
Church.  §  5.  Supremacy  of  the  Crown.  §  6.  Charlemagne.  §  7.  Change  after  his 
Death,  and  Encroachments  of  the  Church  in  the  Ninth  Century.  §  8.  Primacy  of 
the  See  of  Rome.  Its  early  Stage.  §  9.  Gregory  I.  5  10.  Council  of  Frankfort. 
§  11.  False  Decretals.  5  12.  Progress  of  Papal  Authority.  5  13.  Excommunica- 
tion. §  14.  Interdicts.  §  15.  State  of  the  Church  in  the  Tenth  Century.  §  16. 
Marriage  of  Priests.  §  IT.  Simony.  Episcopal  Elections.  §  18.  Imperial  Author- 
ity over  the  Popes.  §  19.  Disputes  concerning  Investitures.  Gregory  VII.  and 
Henry  IV.  Concordat  of  Calixtus.  5  20.  Election  by  Chapters.  §  21.  General 
System  of  Gregory  VII.  §  22.  Progress  of  Papal  Usurpations  in  the  Twelfth  Cen- 
tury.   §  23.  Innocent  III.    His  Character  and  Schemes. 


LIST  OF  POPES  DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


Year  of 
Accession 

A.D. 

795 

Leo  III. 

816 

Stephen  IV. 

817 

Paschal  I. 

824 

Eugenius  II, 

827 

Valentinus. 

827 

Gregory  IV. 

844 

Sergius  II. 

842 

Leo  IV. 

856 

Benedict  IIL 

858 

Nicholas  I. 

867 

Hadrian  IL 

872 

John  VIIL 

882 

Martin  II. 

884 

Hadrian  III. 

885 

Stephen  V. 

891 

Formosus. 

896 

Boniface  VI. 

896 

Stephen  VI. 

897 

Roraanus. 

898 

Theodore  II. 

898 

John  IX. 

900 

Benedict  IV. 

903 

LeoV. 

903 

Christopher. 

904 

Sergius  IIL 

912^)Anastasius  III. 


Year  of 
Accession 

A.D. 

913 

Laudo. 

914 

John  X. 

928 

Leo  VI. 

929 

Stephen  VII. 

931 

John  XI. 

936 

LeoVn.   * 

939 

Stephen  VIIL 

942  (?)  Martin  III. 

946 

Agapetus  II. 

955 

John  XII. 

963 

Leo  VIIL 

964 

Benedict  V.  (Anti 

-pope?) 

965 

John  XIII. 

972 

Benedict  VI. 

974 

Boniface  VII.  (?). 

974 

Domnus  II.  (?). 

974 

Benedict  VII. 

983 

John  XIV. 

984 

John  XV. 

996 

Gregory  V. 

996 

John  XVI. 

1000 

Sylvester  IL 

1003 

John  XVII. 

1003 

John  XVIII. 

1009 

Sergius  IV. 

1012 

Benedict  VIIL 

EccLEs.  Power.     DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


317 


Year  of 
Accessiou 
A.D. 

Year  of 
Accession 
A.D. 

1024 

John  XIX. 

1261 

Urban  IV. 

1033 

Benedict  IX. 

1266 

Clement  IV. 

1044 

Sylvester  (Anti-pope). 

1269 

Vacancy. 

1045  (?)  Gregory  VI.                                | 

1271 

Gregory  X. 

1046 

Clement  II. 

1276 

Innocent  V. 

1048 

Damasus  II. 

1276 

Hadrian  V. 

1048 

Leo  IX. 

1277 

John  XX.  or  XXL 

1054 

Victor  II. 

1277 

Nicholas  III. 

1057 

Stephen  IX. 

1281 

Martin  IV. 

1058 

Benedict  X. 

1285 

Honorius  IV. 

1059 

Nicholas  II. 

1289 

Nicholas  IV. 

1061 

Alexander  II. 

1294 

Celestine  V. 

1073 

Gregory  VII.  (Hildebrand). 

1294 

Boniface  VIII. 

1080 

(Clement,  Anti-pope). 

1086 

Victor  III. 

Popes  at  Avignon. 

1087 
1099 

Urban  II. 
Paschal  II. 

1303 
1305 

Benedict  XI. 
Clement  V. 

1118 

Gelasius  II. 

1316 

John  XXL  or  XXIL 

1119 

Calixtus  IL 

1334 

Benedict  XII. 

(Gregory,  Anti-pope). 

1342 

Clement  VI. 

1121 

(Celestine,  Anti-pope). 

1352 

Innocent  VI. 

1124 
1130 

1143 

Honorius  II. 
Innocent  II. 
(Anacletus,  Anti-pope). 
Celestine  II. 

1362 
1370 

U^'ban  V. 
Return  to  Rome. 
Gregory  XL 

1144 

Lucius  II. 

The  great  Schism. 

1145 

Eugenius  III. 

1153 

Anastasius  IV. 

1378 

Urban  VI.,  Clement  VII 

1154 

Hadrian  IV. 

1389 

Boniface  IX. 

1160 

Alexander  III. 

1394 

Benedict  (Anti-pope). 

1160 

(Victor,  Anti-pope). 

1404 

Innocent  VII. 

1164 

(Paschal  III.,  Anti-pope). 

1406 

Gregory  XII. 

1168 

(Calixtus,  Anti-pope). 

1409 

Alexander  V. 

1180 

Lucius  in. 

1410 

John  XXIL  or  XXIIL 

1185 

Urban  III. 

1417 

Martin  V. 

1187 

Gregory  VIII. 

1431 

Eugene  IV. 

1187 

Clement  III. 

1455 

Calixtus  IV. 

1191 

Celestine  III. 

1458 

Pius  IL 

1198 

Innocent  III. 

1464 

Paul  II. 

1216 

Honorius  III. 

1471 

Sixtus  IV. 

1227 

Gregory  IX. 

1484 

Innocent  VIII. 

1241 

Celestine  IV. 

1493 

Alexander  VI. 

1241 

Vacancy. 

1503 

Pius  III. 

1243 

Innocent  IV. 

1503 

Julius  IL 

1255 

Alexander  IV. 

1513 

LeoX. 

§  1.  At  the  irruption  of  the  northern  invaders  into  the 
Roman  Empire  they  found  the  clergy  ah-eady  endowed  with 
extensive  possessions.  Besides  the  spontaneous  oblations 
upon  which  the  ministers  of  the  Christian  Church  had  orig- 
inally subsisted,  they  had  obtained,  even  under  the  pagan 
emperors,  by  concealment  or  connivance — for  the  Roman  law 


318  WEALTH  OF  THE  CHURCH.     Chap.  VII.  Part  1. 

did  not  permit  a  tenure  of  lands  in  mortmain — certain  im- 
movable estates,  the  revenues  of  which  were  applicable  to 
their  own  maintenance  and  that  of  the  poor.  These,  indeed, 
were  precarious,  and  liable  to  confiscation  in  times  of  perse- 
cution. But  it  was  among  the  first  efiects  of  the  conversion 
of  Constantine  to  give  not  only  a  security,  but  a  legal  sanc- 
tion, to  the  territorial  acquisitions  of  the  Church.  The  Edict 
of  Milan,  in  313,  recognizes  the  actual  estates  of  ecclesiastic- 
al corporations.  Another,  published  in  321,  grants  to  all  the 
subjects  of  the  empire  the  power  of  bequeathing  their  prop- 
erty to  the  Church.  His  own  liberality  and  that  of  his  suc- 
cessors set  an  example  which  did  not  want  imitators.  Pass- 
ing rapidly  from  a  condition  of  distress  and  persecution  to 
the  summit  of  prosperity,  the  Church  degenerated  as  rapidly 
from  her  ancient  purity,  and  forfeited  the  I'espect  of  future 
ages  in  the  same  proportion  as  she  acquired  the  blind  ven- 
eration of  her  own.  Covetousness,  especially,  became  almost 
a  characteristic  vice. 

The  devotion  of  the  conquering  nations,  as  it  was  still  less 
enlightened  than  that  of  the  subjects  of  the  empire,  so  was 
it  still  more  munificent.  The  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  never 
received  any  territorial  endowment  by  law,  either  under  the 
Roman  Empire  or  the  kingdoms  erected  upon  its  ruins.  But 
the  voluntary  munificence  of  princes,  as  well  as  their  sub- 
jects, amply  supplied  the  place  of  a  more  universal  provision. 
Large  private  estates,  or,  as  they  were  termed,  patrimonies, 
not  only  within  their  own  dioceses,  but  sometimes  in  distant 
countries,  sustained  the  dignity  of  the  principal  sees,  and  es- 
pecially that  of  Rome.  But  it  must  be  remarked  that  many 
of  these  donations  are  of  lands  uncultivated  and  unappro- 
priated. The  monasteries  acquired  legitimate  riches  by  the 
culture  of  these  deserted  tracts  and  by  the  prudent  manage- 
ment of  their  revenues,  which  were  less  exposed  to  the  or- 
dinary means  of  dissipation  than  those  of  the  laity.  If  the 
possessions  of  ecclesiastical  communities  had  all  been  as  fair- 
ly earned,  we  could  find  nothing  in  them  to  reprehend.  But 
other  sources  of  wealth  were  less  pure,  and  they  derived 
their  wealth  from  many  sources.  Those  who  entered  into 
a  monastery  threw  frequently  their  whole  estates  into  the 
common  stock ;  and  even  the  children  of  rich  parents  were 
expected  to  make  a  donation  of  land  on  assuming  the  cowl. 
Some  gave  their  property  to  the  Church  before  entering  on 
militaiy  expeditions  ;  gifts  were  made  by  some  to  take  efiect 
after  their  lives,  and  bequests  by  many  in  the  terrors  of  dis- 
solution.    Even  those  legacies  to  charitable  purposes,  which 


EccLES.  Power.  ITS  INCREASE.  319 

the  clergy  could  with  more  decency  and  epeciousness  rec- 
ommend, and  of  which  the  administration  was  generally  con- 
fined to  them,  were  frequently  applied  to  their  own  benefit. 
They  failed  not,  above  all,  to  inculcate  upon  the  wealthy  sin- 
ner that  no  atonement  could  be  so  acceptable  to  Heaven  as 
liberal  presents  to  its  earthly  delegates.  To  die  without  al- 
lotting a  portion  of  worldly  wealth  to  pious  uses  was  account- 
ed almost  like  suicide,  or  a  refusal  of  the  last  sacraments ; 
and  hence  intestacy  passed  for  a  sort  of  fraud  upon  the 
Church,  which  she  punished  by  taking  the  administration  of 
the  deceased's  effects  into  her  own  hands.  This,  however, 
was  peculiar  to  England,  and  seems  to  have  been  the  case 
there  only  from  the  reign  of  Henry  IH.  to  that  of  Edward 
HI.,  when  the  bishop  took  a  portion  of  the  intestate's  person- 
al estate  for  the  advantage  of  the  Church  and  poor,  instead 
of  distributing  it  among  his  next  of  kin.  The  canonical  pen- 
ances imposed  upon  repentant  offenders,  extravagantly  se- 
vere in  themselves,  were  commuted  for  money  or  for  immov- 
able possessions — a  fertile  though  scandalous  source  of  mo- 
nastic wealth,  which  the  popes  afterwards  diverted  into  their 
own  coffers  by  the  usage  of  dispensations  and  indulgences. 
The  Church  lands  enjoyed  an  immunity  from  taxes,  though 
not  m  general  from  military  service,  when  of  a  feudal  ten- 
ure.' But  their  tenure  was  frequently  in  what  was  called 
frankalmoigne,  without  any  obligation  of  service.  Hence  it 
became  a  customary  fraud  of  lay  proprietors  to  grant  estates 
to  the  Church,  which  they  received  again  by  way  of  fief  or 
lease,  exempted  from  public  burdens. 

As  an  additional  source  of  revenue,  and  in  imitation  of 
the  Jewish  law,  the  payment  of  tithes  was  recommended  or 
enjoined.  These,  however,  were  not  applicable  at  first  to 
the  maintenance  of  a  resident  clergy.  Parochial  divisions, 
as  they  now  exist,  did  not  take  place,  at  least  in  some  coun- 
tries, till  several  centuries  after  the  establishment  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  rural  churches,  erected  successively  as  the  ne- 
cessities of  a  congregation  required  or  the  piety  of  a  land- 
lord suggested,  were  in  fact  a  sort  of  chapels  dependent  on 
the  cathedral,  and  served  by  itinerant  ministers  at  the  bish- 
op's discretion.  The  bishop  himself  received  the  tithes,  and 
apportioned  them  as  he  thought  fit.  A  capitulary  of  Charle- 
magne, however,  regulates  their  division  into  three  parts : 

>  Palgrave  has  shown  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy  were  not  exempt,  originally  at 
least,  from  the  trinoda  necessitas  imposed  on  all  allodial  proprietors.  They  were  bet- 
ter treated  on  the  Continent ;  and  Boniface  exclaims  that  in  no  part  of  the  world 
waa  such  servitude  imposed  on  the  Church  as  among  the  English. 


320  TITHES.  Chap.  VII.  Paut  I. 

one  for  the  bishop  and  his  clergy,  a  second  for  the  poor,  and 
a  third  for  the  support  of  the  fabric  of  the  Church.  Some 
of  the  rural  churches  obtained  by  episcopal  concessions  the 
privileges  of  baptism  and  burial,  which  were  accompanied 
with  a  fixed  share  of  tithes,  and  seemed  to  imply  the  resi- 
dence of  a  minister.  The  same  privileges  were  gradually 
extended  to  the  rest;  and  thus  a  complete  parochial  divis- 
ion was  finally  established.  But  this  was  hardly  the  case 
in  England  till  near  the  time  of  the  Conquest.^  About  the 
year  1200,  the  obligation  of  paying  tithes,  which  had  been 
originally  confined  to  those  called  predial,  or  the  fruits  of 
the  earth,  was  extended,  at  least  in  theory,  to  every  species 
of  profit,  and  to  the  wages  of  every  kind  of  labor. 

§  2.  Yet  there  were  many  hindrances  that  thwarted  the 
clergy  in  their  acquisition  of  opulence,  and  a  sort  of  reflux 
that  set  sometimes  very  strongly  against  them.  In  times 
of  barbarous  violence  nothing  can  thoroughly  compensate 
for  the  inferiority  of  physical  strength  and  prowess.  The 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  presents  one  long 
contention  of  fraud  against  robbery ;  of  acquisitions  made 
by  the  Church  through  such  means  as  I  have  described,  and 
torn  from  her  by  lawless  power.  Notwithstanding  the  fre- 
quent instances  of  extreme  reverence  for  religious  institu- 
tions among  the  nobility,  we  should  be  deceived  in  suppos- 
ing this  to  be  their  general  character.  Rapacity,  not  less 
insatiable  than  that  of  the  abbots,  was  commonly  united 
with  a  daring  fierceness  that  the  abbots  could  not  resist.^ 

2  The  grant  of  Ethelwolf  m  855  has  appeared  to  some  antiquaries  the  most  proba- 
ble origin  of  the  general  right  to  tithes  in  England.  This  grant  is  recorded  in  two 
charters ;  the  first  transcribed  in  Ingulfus's  "  History  of  Crojiand,"  and  dated  at 
Winchester  on  the  Nones  of  November,  855;  the  second  extant  in  two  chartularies, 
and  bearing  date  at  Wilton,  April  22,  854.  But  the  latter  is  marked  by  Mr.  Kemble 
as  spurious  (Codex  Ang.-Sax.  Diplom.,  ii.,  52) ;  and  the  work  of  Ingulfus  is  also  re- 
garded as  spurious.  The  fact,  however,  that  Ethelwolf  made  some  great  and  gen- 
eral donation  to  the  Church  rests  on  the  authority  of  Asser,  whom  later  writers  have 
principally  copied.  His  words  are,  "  Eodem  quoque  anno  (855)  Adelwolfus  venera- 
bilis,  rex  Occideutalium  Saxonum,  decimam  totius  regni  sui  partem  ab  omni  regali 
servitio  et  tributo  liberavit,  et  in  serapiterno  graflo  in  cruce  Christi,  pro  redemptionc 
animae  suae  et  antecessorum  suorura,  Uni  et  Trino  Deo  immolavit."  (Gale,  XV., 
Script,  iii.,  156.)  It  is  really  difficult  to  infer  any  thing  from  such  a  passage ;  but 
whatever  the  writer  may  have  meant,  or  whatever  truth  there  may  be  in  his  story,  it 
seems  impossible  to  strain  his  words  into  a  grant  of  tithes. 

8  The  Church  was  often  compelled  to  grant  leases  of  her  lauds,  under  the  name  of 
precarioe,  to  laymen  who  probably  rendered  little  or  no  service  in  return,  though  a 
rent  or  census  was  expressed  in  the  instrument.  These  precarice  seem  to  have  been 
for  life,  but  Avere  frequently  renewed.  They  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  terrce 
censuales,  or  lands  let  to  a  tenant  at  rack-rent,  which  of  course  formed  a  considerable 
branch  of  revenue.  The  grant  was  called  j)recaria  from  being  obtained  at  the  prayer 
of  the  grantee ;  and  the  uncertainty  of  its  renewal  seems  to  have  given  rise  to  the 
adjective  precarious.  In  the  ninth  century,  though  the  pretensions  of  the  bishops 
were  never  higher,  the  Church  itself  was  more  pillaged  under  pretext  of  these  pre- 
carioe, and  in  other  ways,  than  at  any  former  time. 


EccLES.  Power.     ECCLESIASTICAL  AUTHORITY.  321 

In  every  country  we  find  continual  lamentation  over  the 
plunder  of  ecclesiastical  possessions.  The  parochial  tithes, 
especially,  as  the  hand  of  robbery  falls  heaviest  upon  the 
weak,  were  exposed  to  unlawful  seizure.  In  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries  nothing  was  more  common  than  to  see 
the  revenues  of  benefices  in  the  hands  of  lay  impropriators, 
who  employed  curates  at  the  cheapest  rate,  an  abuse  that 
has  never  ceased  in  the  Church.  Both  the  bishops  and  con- 
■vents  were  obliged  to  invest  powerful  lay  protectors,  under 
the  name  of  advocates,  with  considerable  fiefs,  as  the  price 
of  their  assistance  against  depredators.  But  these  advo- 
cates became  too  often  themselves  the  spoilers,  and  op- 
pressed the  helpless  ecclesiastics  for  whose  defense  they  had 
been  engaged.  If  it  had  not  been  for  these  drawbacks,  the 
clergy  must,  one  would  imagine,  have  almost  acquired  the 
exclusive  property  of  the  soil.  They  did  enjoy,  according 
to  some  authorities,  nearly  one  half  of  England,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, a  greater  proportion  in  some  countries  of  Europe. 
They  had  reached,  perhaps,  their  zenith  in  respect  of  terri- 
torial property  about  the  conclusion  of  the  twelfth  century.* 
After  that  time  the  disposition  to  enrich  the  clergy  by  pious 
donations  grew  more  languid,  and  was  put  under  certain  le- 
gal restraints,  to  which  I  shall  hereafter  advert ;  but  they 
became  rather  more  secure  from  forcible  usurpations. 

§  3.  The  acquisitions  of  wealth  by  the  Church  were  hard- 
ly so  remarkable,  and  scarcely  contributed  so  much  to  her 
greatness,  as  those  innovations  upon  the  ordinary  course 
of  justice  which  fall  under  the  head  of  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction and  immunity.  Episcopal  jurisdiction,  properly  so 
called,  may  be  considered  as  depending  upon  the  choice  of 
litigant  parties,  upon  their  condition,  and  upon  the  subject- 
matter  of  their  differences. 

1.  Arhitrative  Authority.  —  The  arbitrative  authority  of 
ecclesiastical  pastors,  if  not  coeval  with  Christianity,  grew 
up  very  early  in  the  Church,  and  was  natural,  or  even  neces- 
sary, to  an  insulated  and  persecuted  society.^  Accustomed 
to  feel  a  strong  aversion  to  the  imperial  tribunals,  and  even 
to  consider  a  recurrence  to  them  as  hardly  consistent  with 
their  profession,  the  early  Christians  retained  somewhat  of  a 
similar  prejudice,  even  after  the  establishment  of  their  re- 
ligion. The  arbitration  of  their  bishops  still  seemed  a  less 
objectionable  mode  of  settling  differences.  And  this  arbi- 
trative jurisdiction  was  powerfully  supported  by  a  law  of 

*  The  great  age  of  monasteries  in  England  was  the  reigns  of  Henry  I.,  Stephen, 
and  Henry  II.  *  See  1  Corinth,  vi.,  4. 

14* 


322  ECCLESIASTICAL  AUTHORITY.     Ciiaf.  VII.  Part  1 

Constantine,  which  directed  the  civil  magistrate  to  enforce 
the  execution  of  episcopal  awards.  But  the  Church  had  no 
jurisdiction  in  questions  of  a  temporal  nature,  except  by 
means  of  the  joint  reference  of  contending  parties. 

2.  Coercive  Authority. — If  it  was  considered  almost  as  a 
general  obligation  upon  the  primitive  Christians  to  decide 
their  civil  disjjutes  by  internal  arbitration,  much  more  would 
this  be  incumbent  upon  the  clergy.  The  canons  of  several 
councils,  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  sentence  a  bishop 
or  priest  to  deposition  who  should  bring  any  suit,  civil  or 
even  criminal,  before  a  secular  magistrate.  This  must,  it 
should  appear,  be  confined  to  causes  where  the  defendant 
was  a  clerk;  since  the  ecclesiastical  court  had  hitherto  no 
coercive  jurisdiction  over  the  laity.  But  the  early  Merovin- 
gian kings  adopted  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop 
over  causes  wherein  clerks  were  interested,  without  any  of 
the  checks  which  Justinian  had  provided.  Many  laws  enact- 
ed during  their  reigns,  and  under  Charlemagne,  strictly  pro- 
hibit the  temporal  magistrates  from  entertaining  complaints 
against  the  children  of  the  Church. 

This  jurisdiction  over  the  civil  causes  of  clerks  was  not  im- 
mediately attended  with  an  equally  exclusive  cognizance  of 
criminal  offenses  imputed  to  them,  wherein  the  state  is  so 
deeply  interested,  and  the  Church  could  inflict  so  inadequate 
a  punishment.  Justinian  appears  to  have  reserved  such  of- 
fenses for  trial  before  the  imperial  magistrate,  though  with  a 
material  provision  that  the  sentence  against  a  clerk  should 
not  be  executed  w^ithout  the  consent  of  the  bishop  or  the 
final  decision  of  the  emperor.  The  bishop  is  not  expressly 
invested  with  this  controlling  power  by  the  laws  of  the 
Merovingians ;  but  they  enact  that  he  must  be  present  at  the 
trial  of  one  of  his  clerks;  Avhich  probably  was  intended  to 
declare  the  necessity  of  his  concurrence  in  the  judgment. 
The  episcopal  order  was,  indeed,  absolutely  exempted  from 
secular  jurisdiction  by  Justinian ;  a  privilege  which  it  had 
vainly  endeavored  to  establish  under  the  earlier  emperors. 
France  permitted  the  same  immunity  ;  Chilperic,  one  of  the 
most  arbitrary  of  her  kings,  did  not  venture  to  charge  some 
of  his  bishops  with  treason,  except  before  a  council  of  their 
brethren.  Finally,  Charlemagne  seems  to  have  extended  to 
the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  an  absolute  exemption  from  the 
judicial  authority  of  the  magistrate. 

3.  The  character  of  a  cause,  as  w^ell  as  of  the  parties  en- 
gaged, might  bring  it  within  the  limits  of  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction.    In  all  questions  simply  religious  the  Church  had 


EccLES.  FowER.     POLITICAL  POWER  OF  CLERGY.  323 

an  original  right  of  decision ;  in  those  of  a  temporal  nature 
the  civil  magistrate  had,  by  the  imperial  constitution,  as  ex- 
clusive an  authority.  Later  ages  witnessed  strange  innova- 
tions in  this  respect,  when  the  spiritual  courts  usurped,  under 
sophistical  pretenses,  almost  the  whole  administration  of  jus- 
tice. But  these  encroachments  were  not,  I  apprehend,  very 
striking  till  the  twelfth  century  ;  and  as  about  the  same 
time  measures,  more  or  less  vigorous  and  successful,  began  to 
be  adopted  in  order  to  restrain  them,  I  shall  defer  this  part 
of  the  subject  for  the  present. 

§  4.  In  this  sketch  of  the  riches  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
hierarchy,  I  may  seem  to  have  implied  their  political  influ- 
ence, which  is  naturally  connected  with  the  two  former. 
They  possessed,  however,  more  direct  means  of  acquiring 
temporal  power.  Even  under  the  Roman  emperors  they  had 
found  their  roads  into  palaces  ;  but  they  assumed  a  far  more 
decided  influence  over  the  new  kingdoms  of  the  West.  They 
were  entitled,  in  the  first  place,  by  the  nature  of  those  free 
governments,  to  a  privilege  unknown  under  the  imperial 
despotism,  that  of  assisting  in  the  deliberative  assemblies  of 
the  nation.  Councils  of  bishops,  such  as  had  been  convoked 
by  Constantine  and  his  successors,  were  limited  in  their  func- 
tions to  decisions  of  faith  or  canons  of  ecclesiastical  disci- 
pline. But  the  Northern  nations  did  not  so  well  preserve  the 
distinction  between  secular  and  spiritual  legislation.  The 
laity  seldom,  perhaps,  gave  their  suffrage  to  the  canons  of  the 
Church;  but  the  Church  was  not  so  scrupulous  as  to  tres- 
passing upon  the  province  of  the  laity.  Many  provisions  are 
found  in  the  canons  of  national  and  even  provincial  councils 
which  relate  to  the  temporal  constitution  of  the  state.  Thus 
one  held  at  Calcluith  (an  unknown  place  in  England),  in  787, 
enacted  that  none  but  legitimate  princes  should  be  raised  to 
the  throne,  and  not  such -as  were  engendered  in  adultery  or 
incest.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that,  although  this  synod 
was  strictly  ecclesiastical,  being  summoned  by  the  pope's 
legate,  yet  the  kings  of  Mercia  and  Northumberland,  with 
many  of  their  nobles,  confirmed  the  canons  by  their  signa- 
ture. 

The  bishops  acquired  and  retained  a  great  part  of  their 
ascendency  by  a  very  respectable  instrument  of  power — in- 
tellectual superiority.  As  they  alone  were  acquainted  with 
the  art  of  writing,  they  were  naturally  intrusted  with  polit- 
ical correspondence,  and  with  the  framing  of  the  laws.  As 
they  alone  knew  the  elements  of  a  few  sciences,  the  educa- 
tion of  royal  families  devolved  upon  them   as  a  necessary 


824  SUPEEMACY  OF  THE  STATE.     Chap.  VII.  Part  i. 

duty.  In  the  fall  of  Rome,  their  influence  upon  the  barba- 
rians wore  down  the  asperities  of  conquest,  and  saved  the 
provincials  half  the  shock  of  that  tremendous  revolution. 
As  captive  Greece  is  said  to  have  subdued  her  Roman  con- 
queror, so  Rome,  in  her  own  turn  of  servitude,  cast  the  fetters 
of  a  moral  captivity  upon  the  fierce  invaders  of  the  North. 
Chiefly  through  the  exertions  of  the  bishops,  whose  ambition 
may  be  forgiven  for  its  efiects,  her  religion,  her  language,  in 
part  even  her  laws,  were  transplanted  into  the  courts  of 
Paris  and  Toledo,  which  became  a  degree  less  barbarous  by 
imitation. 

§  5.  Notwithstanding,  however,  the  great  authority  and 
privileges  of  the  Church,  it  was  decidedly  subject  to  the  su- 
premacy of  the  crown,  both  during  the  continuance  of  the 
VYestern  Empire  and  after  its  subversion.  The  emperors 
convoked,  regulated,  and  dissolved  universal  councils ;  the 
kings  of  France  and  Spain  exercised  the  same  right  over  the 
synods  of  their  national  churches.  The  Ostrogoth  kings  of 
Italy  fixed  by  their  edicts  the  limits  within  which  matri- 
mony was  prohibited  on  account  of  consanguinity,  and 
granted  dispensations  from  them.  Though  the  Roman  em- 
perors left  episcopal  elections  to  the  clergy  and  people  of  the 
diocese,  in  which  they  were  followed  by  the  Ostrogoths  and 
Lombards,  yet  they  often  interfered  so  far  as  so  confirm  a 
decision  or  to  determine  a  contest.  The  kings  of  France 
went  farther,  and  seem  to  have  invariably  either  nominated 
the  bishops,  or,  what  was  nearly  tantamount,  recommended 
their  own  candidate  to  the  electors. 

§  6.  But  the  sovereign  who  maintained  with  the  greatest 
vigor  his  ecclesiastical  supremacy  was  Charlemagne.  Most 
of  the  capitularies  of  his  reign  relate  to  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  ;  principally,  indeed,  taken  from  the  ancient  canons, 
but  not  the  less  receiving  an  adcfetional  sanction  from  his 
authority.  Some  of  his  regulations,  which  appear  to  have 
been  original,  are  such  as  men  of  High-church  principles 
would,  even  in  modern  times,  deem  infringements  of  spir- 
itual independence;  that  no  legend  of  doubtful  authority 
should  be  read  in  the  churches,  but  only  the  canonical  books, 
and  that  no  saint  should  be  honored  whom  the  whole  Church 
did  not  acknowledge.  These  were  not  passed  in  a  synod  of 
bishops,  but  enjoined  by  the  sole  authority  of  the  emperor, 
who  seems  to  have  arrogated  a  legislative  power  over  the 
Church  which  he  did  not  possess  in  temporal  aflfairs.  Many 
of  his  other  laws  relating  to  the  ecclesiastical  constitution 
are  enacted  in  a  general  council  of  the  lay  nobility  as  well  as 


EcCLES.  Power.     PRETENSIONS  OF  THE  HIERARCHY.  325 

of  prelates,  and  are  so  blended  with  those  of  a  secular  nature, 
that  the  two  orders  may  apjjear  to  have  equally  consented  to 
the  whole.  His  father  Pepin,  indeed,  left  a  remarkable  prec- 
edent in  a  council  held  in  744,  where  the  Nicene  faith  is  de- 
clared to  be  established,  and  even  a  particular  heresy  con- 
demned, with  the  consent  of  the  bishops  and  nobles.  But 
whatever  share  we  may  imagine  the  laity  in  general  to  have 
had  in  such  matters,  Charlemagne  himself  did  not  consider 
even  theological  decisions  as  beyond  his  province;  and,  in 
more  than  one  instance,  manifested  a  determination  not  to 
surrender  his  own  judgment,  even  in  questions  of  that  na- 
ture, to  any  ecclesiastical  authority. 

§  7.  It  is  highly  probable,  indeed,  that  an  ambitious  hie- 
rarchy did  not  endure  without  reluctance  this  imperial  su- 
premacy of  Charlemagne,  though  it  was  not  expedient  for 
them  to  resist  a  prince  so  formidable,  and  from  whom  they 
had  so  much  to  ejcpect.  But  their  dissatisfaction  at  a  scheme 
of  government  incompatible  with  their  own  objects  of  per- 
fect independence  produced  a  violent  recoil  under  Louis  the 
Debonair,  who  attempted  to  act  the  censor  of  ecclesiastical 
abuses  with  as  much  earnestness  as  his  father,  though  with 
very  inferior  qualifications  for  so  delicate  an  undertaking. 
The  bishops,  accordingly,  were  among  the  chief  instigators 
of  those  numerous  revolts  of  his  children  which  harassed 
this  emperor.  They  set,  upon  one  occasion,  the  first  exam- 
ple of  an  usurpation  which  was  to  become  very  dangerous 
to  society — the  deposition  of  sovereigns  by  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority. Louis,  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  had 
been  intimidated  enough  to  undergo  a  public  penance;  and 
the  bishops  pretended  that,  according  to  a  canon  of  the 
Church,  he  Avas  incapable  of  returning  afterwards  to  a  secu- 
lar life  or  preserving  the  character  of  sovereignty.  Circum- 
stances enabled  him  to  retain  the  empire  in  defiance  of  this 
sentence;  but  the  Church  had  tasted  the  pleasure  of  tram- 
pling upon  crowned  heads,  and  was  eager  to  repeat  the  ex- 
periment. Under  the  disjointed  and  feeble  administration 
of  his  posterity  in  their  several  kingdoms,  the  bishops  availed 
themselves  of  more  than  one  opportunity  to  exalt  their  tem- 
poral power.  Those  weak  Carlovingian  princes,  in  their  mu- 
tual animosities,  encouraged  the  pretensions  of  a  common 
enemy.  Thus  Charles  the  Bald  and  Louis  of  Bavaria,  hav- 
ing driven  their  brother  Lothaire  from  his  dominions,  held 
an  assembly  of  some  bishops,  who  adjudged  him  unworthy 
to  reign,  and,  after  exacting  a  promise  from  the  two  allied 
brothers  to  govern  better  than  he  had  done,  permitted  and 


S26  ENCROACHMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    Cii.  VII.  Tt.  I. 

commanded  them  to  divide  his  territories.  After  concurring 
in  this  unprecedented  encroachment,  Charles  the  Bald  had  lit- 
tle right  to  complain  when,  some  years  afterwards,  an  assem- 
bly of  bishops  declared  himself  to  have  forfeited  his  crown, 
released  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and  transferred  his 
kingdom  to  Louis  of  Bavaria.  But,  in  truth,  he  did  not  pre- 
tend to  deny  the  principle  which  he  had  contributed  to  main- 
tain. Even  in  his  own  behalf  he  did  not  appeal  to  the  rights 
of  sovereigns,  and  of  the  nation  whom  they  represent.  "No 
one,"  says  this  degenerate  grandson  of  Charlemagne,  "ought 
to  have  degraded  me  from  the  throne  to  which  I  was  con- 
secrated, until  at  least  I  had  been  heard  and  judged  by  the 
bishops,  through  whose  ministry  I  was  consecrated,  who  are 
called  the  thrones  of  God,  in  which  God  sitteth,  and  by 
whom  he  dispenses  his  judgments;  to  whose  paternal  chas- 
tisement I  was  willing  to  submit,  and  do  still  submit  myself." 
These  passages  are  very  remarkable,  and  afford  a  decisive 
proof  that  the  power  obtained  by  national  churches,  through 
the  superstitious  prejudices  then  received,  and  a  train  of  fa- 
vorable circumstances,  was  as  dangerous  to  civil  govern- 
ment as  the  subsequent  usurpations  of  the  Roman  pontiff, 
against  which  Protestant  writers  are  apt  too  exclusively  to 
direct  their  animadversions.  Voltaire,  I  think,  has  remarked 
that  the  ninth  century  was  the  age  of  the  bishops,  as  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  ware  of  the  popes.  It  seemed  as  if 
Europe  was  about  to  pass  under  as  absolute  a  domination  of 
the  hierarchy  as  had  been  exercised  by  the  priesthood  of  an- 
cient Egypt  or  the  Druids  of  Gaul.  Thus  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  presiding  as  papal  legate  at  an  assembly  of  the 
clergy  in  1141,  during  the  civil  war  of  Stephen  and  Matilda, 
asserted  the  right  of  electing  a  king  of  England  to  appertain 
principally  to  that  order  ;  and  by  virtue  of  this  unprecedent- 
ed claim,  raised  Matilda  to  the  throne.  England,  indeed,  has 
been  obsequious,  beyond  most  other  countries,  to  the  arro- 
gance of  her  hierarchy,  especially  during  the  Anglo-Saxon  pe- 
riod, when  the  nation  was  sunk  in  ignorance  and  effeminate 
superstition.  Every  one  knows  the  story  of  King  Edwy  in 
some  form  or  other,  though  I  believe  it  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain the  real  circumstances  of  that  controverted  anecdote. 
But,  upon  the  supposition  least  favorable  to  the  king,  the  be- 
havior of  Archbishop  Odo  and  Dunstan  was  an  intolerable 
outrage  of  spiritual  tyranny.^ 

«  Catholic  writers,  for  the  most  part,  contend  that  Elgiva  was  the  mistress  and  not 
the  wife  of  Edwy;  but  it  is  impossible  with  the  extant  evidence  to  arrive  at  any  cer- 
tain conclasion  upon  the  subject.  What  is  manifest  alone  is,  that  a  young  king  was 
persecuted  and  dethroned  by  the  insolence  of  monkery  exciting  a  superstitious  peo- 
ple against  him. 


EccLES.  Power.     RISE  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER.  327 

§  8.  But,  while  the  prelates  of  these  nations,  each  within 
his  respective  sphere,  were  prosecuting  their  system  of  en- 
croachment upon  the  laity,  a  new  scheme  was  secretly  form- 
ing within  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  to  inthrall  both  that  and 
the  temporal  governments  of  the  world  under  an  ecclesias- 
tical monarch.  Long  before  the  earliest  epoch  that  can  be 
fixed  for  modern  history,  and,  indeed,  to  speak  fairly,  almost 
as  far  back  as  ecclesiastical  testimonies  can  carry  us,  the 
bishops  of  Rome  had  been  venerated  as  first  in  rank  among 
the  rulers  of  the  Church.  The  nature  of  this  primacy  is 
doubtless  a  very  controverted  subject.  It  is,  however,  re- 
duced by  some  moderate  Catholics  to  little  more  than  a  prec- 
edency attached  to  the  See  of  Rome  in  consequence  of  its 
foundation  by  the  chief  of  the  apostles,  as  well  as  the  dignity 
of  the  imperial  city.  A  sort  of  general  superintendence  was 
admitted  as  an  attribute  of  this  primacy,  so  that  the  bishops 
of  Rome  were  entitled,  and  indeed  bound,  to  remonstrate, 
when  any  error  or  irregularity  came  to  their  knowledge,  es- 
pecially in  the  Western  churches,  a  greater  part  of  which 
had  been  planted  by  them,  and  were  connected,  as  it  were  by 
filiation,  wath  the  common  capital  of  the  Roman  Empire  and 
of  Christendom.  Various  causes  had  a  tendency  to  prevent 
the  bishops  of  Rome  from  augmenting  their  authority  in  the 
East,  and  even  to  diminish  that  which  they  had  occasionally 
exercised ;  the  institution  of  patriarchs  at  Antioch,  Alexan- 
dria, and  afterwards  at  Constantinople,  with  extensive  rights 
of  jurisdiction;  the  difference  of  rituals  and  discipline;  but, 
above  all,  the  many  disgusts  taken  by  the  Greeks,  which  ul- 
timately produced  an  irreparable  schism  between  the  two 
churches  in  the  ninth  century.  But  within  the  pale  of  the 
Latin  Church  every  succeeding  age  enhanced  the  power  and 
dignity  of  the  Roman  See.  By  the  constitution  of  the 
Church,  such  at  least  as  it  became  in  the  fourth  century,  its 
divisions  being  arranged  in  conformity  to  those  of  the  Empire, 
every  province  ought  to  have  its  metropolitan,  and  every 
vicariate  its  ecclesiastical  exarch  or  primate.  The  Bishop 
of  Rome  presided,  in  the  latter  capacity,  over  the  Roman 
vicariate,  comprehending  Southern  Italy,  and  the  three  chief 
Mediterranean  islands.  But  as  it  happened,  none  of  the  ten 
provinces  forming  this  division  had  any  metropolitan;  so 
that  the  popes  exercised  all  metropolitical  functions  within 
them,  such  'as  the  consecration  of  bishops,  the  convocation 
of  synods,  the  ultimate  decision  of  appeals,  and  many  other 
sorts  of  authority.  These  provinces  are  sometimes  called  the 
Roman  patriarchate,  the    bishops  of  Rome  having  always 


328  ,  GREGORY  I.  Chap.  VII.  1»art  I. 

been  reckoned  one,  generally  indeed  the  first,  of  the  patri- 
archs ;  each  of  whom  was  at  the  head  of  all  the  metropoli- 
tans within  its  limits,  but  without  exercising  those  privileges 
which  by  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  appertained  to  the 
latter.  Though  the  Roman  patriarchate,  properly  so  called, 
was  comparatively  very  small  in  extent,  it  gave  its  chief,  for 
the  reason  mentioned,  advantages  in  point  of  authority  which 
the  others  did  not  possess. 

I  may  perhaps  appear  to  have  noticed  circumstances  inter- 
esting only  to  ecclesiastical  scholars.  But  it  is  important  to 
apprehend  this  distinction  of  the  patriarchate  from  the  pri- 
macy of  Rome,  because  it  was  by  extending  the  boundaries 
of  the  former,  and  by  applying  the  maxims  of  her  admin- 
istration in  the  south  of  Italy  to  all  the  Western  churches, 
that  she  accomplished  the  first  object  of  her  scheme  of  usur- 
pation, in  subverting  the  provincial  system  of  government 
under  the  metropolitans.  Their  first  encroachment  of  this 
kind  was  in  the  province  of  Illyricum,  which  they  annexed 
in  a  manner  to  their  own  patriarchate,  by  not  permitting 
any  bishops  to  be  consecrated  without  their  consent.''  This 
was  before  the  end  of  the  fourth  century.  Their  subsequent 
advances  were,  however,  very  gradual.  About  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century  we  find  them  confirming  the  elections  of 
archbishops  of  Milan.  They  came  by  degrees  to  exercise, 
though  not  always  successfully,  and  seldom  without  opposi- 
tion, an  appellant  jurisdiction  over  the  causes  of  bishops  de- 
posed or  censured  in  provincial  synods.  But,  upon  the  whole, 
the  papal  authority  had  made  no  decisive  progress  in  France, 
or  perhaps  anywhere  beyond  Italy,  till  the  pontificate  of 
Gregory  I.  (a.d.  590-604). 

§  9.  This  celebrated  person  was  not  distinguished  by  learn- 
ing, which  he  affected  to  depreciate,  nor  by  his  literary  per- 
formances, which  the  best  critics  consider  as  below  medioc- 
rity, but  by  qualities  more  necessary  for  his  purpose,  intrepid 
ambition  and  unceasing  activity.  He  maintained  a  perpet- 
ual correspondence  with  the  emperors  and  their  ministers, 
with  the  sovereigns  of  the  AVestern  kingdoms,  with  all  the 
hierarchy  of  the  Catholic  Church — employing,  as  occasion 
dictated,  the  language  of  devotion,  arrogance,  or  adulation. 
Claims  hitherto  disputed,  or  half  preferred,  assumed  under 
his  hands  a  more  definite  forrA ;  and  nations  too  ignorant  to 
compare  precedents  or  discriminate  principles  yielded  to  as- 
sertions confidently  made  by  the  authority  which  they  most 

'  The  ecclesiastical  province  of  Illyricum  included  Macedonia.    Siricius,  the  authoi 
of  this  encroachment,  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  tirst  usurpers. 


EccLKS.  Power.       COUNCIL  OF  FRANKFORT.  329 

respected.  Gregory  dwelt  more  than  his  predecessors  upon 
the  power  of  the  keys,  exclusively,  or  at  least  principally, 
committed  to  St.  Peter,  which  had  been  supposed  in  earlier 
times,  as  it  is  now  by  the  Gallican  Catholics,  to  be  inherent 
in  the  general  body  of  bishops,  joint  sharers  of  one  indivisi- 
ble episcopacy.  And  thus  the  patriarchal  rights,  being  man- 
ifestly of  mere  ecclesiastical  institution,  were  artfully  con- 
founded, or,  as  it  were,  merged,  in  the  more  paramount  su- 
premacy of  the  papal  chair.  From  the  time  of  Gregory  the 
popes  appear  in  a  great  measure  to  have  thrown  away  that 
scaffolding,  and  relied  in  preference  on  the  pious  veneration 
of  the  people,  and  on  the  opportunities  which  might  occur  for 
enforcing  their  dominion  with  the  pretense  of  divine  authority. 
§  10.  It  can  not,  I  think,  be  said  that  any  material  acquisi- 
tions of  ecclesiastical  power  were  obtained  by  the  successors 
of  Gregory  for  nearly  150  years.  As  none  of  them  possessed 
vigor  and  reputation  equal  to  his  own,  it  might  even  appear 
that  the  papal  influence  was  retrograde.  But  in  eflect  the 
principles  which  supported  it  were  taking  deeper  root,  and 
acquiring  strength  by  occasional,  though  not  very  frequent, 
exercise.  Appeals  to  the  pope  were  sometimes  made  by  prel- 
ates dissatisfied  with  a  local  sentence.  National  councils 
were  still  provoked  by  princes,  and  canons  enacted  under 
their  authority  by  the  bishops  who  attended.  The  Church 
of  France,  and  even  that  of  England,  planted  as  the  latter 
had  been  by  Gregory,  continued  to  preserve  a  tolerable  meas- 
ure of  independence.  The  first  striking  infringement  of  this 
was  made  through  the  influence  of  an  Englishman,  Winfrid,. 
better  known  as  St.  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany.  Hav- 
ing undertaken  the  conversion  of  Thuringia,  and  other  still 
heathen  countries,  he  applied  to  the  pope  for  a  commission, 
and  was  consecrated  bishop  without  any  determinate  see. 
Upon  this  occasion  he  took  an  oath  of  obedience,  and  be- 
came ever  afterwards  a  zealous  upholder  of  the  apostolical 
chair.  His  success  in  the  conversion  of  Germany  was  great, 
his  reputation  eminent,  which  enabled  him  to  effect  a  mate- 
rial revolution  in  ecclesiastical  government.  At  a  synod  of 
the  French  and  German  bishops,  held  at  Frankfort  in  742 
by  Boniface  as  legate  of  Pope  Zachary,  it  was  enacted  that, 
as  a  token  of  their  willing  subjection  to  the  See  of  Rome,  all 
metropolitans  should  request  the  pallium  at  the  hands  of  the 
pope,  and  obey  his  lawful  commands.  This  was  construed 
by  the  popes  to  mean  a  promise  of  obedience  before  receiv- 
ing the  pall,  which  was  changed  in  after  times  by  Gregory 
VH.  into  an  oath  of  fealty. 


330  FALSE  DECRETALS.         Chap.  VII.  Part  L 

§  11.  This  Council  of  Frankfort  claims  a  leading  place  as 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  papacy.  I  shall  but  just  glance 
at  the  subsequent  political  revolutions  of  that  period;  the  in- 
vasion of  Italy  by  Pepin,  his  donation  of  the  exarchate  to  the 
Holy  See,  the  conquest  of  Lombardy  by  Charlemagne,  the 
patriarchate  of  Rome  conferred  upon  both  these  princes,  and 
the  revival  of  the  Western  Empire  in  the  person  of  the  lat- 
ter. These  events  had  a  natural  tendency  to  exalt  the  pa 
pal  supremacy,  which  it  is  needless  to  indicate.  But  a  cir- 
cumstance of  a  very  different  nature  contributed  to  this  in  a 
still  greater  degree.  About  the  conclusion  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury there  appeared,  under  the  name  of  one  Isidore,  an  un- 
known person,  a  collection  of  ecclesiastical  canons,  now  com- 
monly denominated  the  False  Decretals.  These  purported 
to  be  rescripts  or  decrees  of  the  early  bishops  of  Rome ;  and 
their  effect  was  to  diminish  the  authority  of  metropolitans 
over  their  suffragans,  by  establishing  an  appellant  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Roman  See  in  all  causes,  and  by  forbidding  na- 
tional councils  to  be  holden  without  its  consent.  Every  bish- 
op, according  to  the  decretals  of  Isidore,  was  amenable  only 
to  the  immediate  tribunal  of  the  pope ;  by  which  one  of  the 
most  ancient  rights  of  the  provincial  synod  was  abrogated. 
Every  accused  person  might  not  only  appeal  from  an  inferior 
sentence, but  remove  an  unfinished  process  before  the  supreme 
pontiff.  New  sees  were  not  to  be  erected,  nor  bishops  trans- 
lated from  one  see  to  another,  nor  their  resignations  accepted, 
without  the  sanction  of  the  pope.  They  were  still,  indeed,  to 
be  consecrated  by  the  metropolitan,  bi)t  in  the  pope's  name. 
It  has  been  plausibly  suspected  that  these  decretals  were 
Torged  by  some  bishop  in  jealousy  or  resentment ;  and  their 
general  reception  may  at  least  be  partly  ascribed  to  such  sen- 
timents. The  archbishops  were  exceedingly  powerful,  and 
might  often  abuse  their  superiority  over  inferior  prelates ;  but 
the  whole  episcopal  aristocracy  had  abundant  reason  to  la- 
ment their  acquiescence  in  a  system  of  which  the  metropol- 
itans were  but  the  earliest  victims.  Upon  these  spurious  de- 
cretals was  built  the  great  fabric  of  papal  supremacy  over 
the  different  national  churches — a  fabric  which  has  stood 
after  its  foundation  crumbled  beneath  it ;  for  no  one  has  pre- 
tended to  deny,  for  the  last  two  centuries,  that  the  imposture 
is  too  palpable  for  any  but  the  most  ignorant  ages  to  credit. 

§  12.  The  Galilean  Church  made  for  some  time  a  spirited 
though  unavailing  struggle  against  this  i-ising  despotism. 
In  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Bald  a  bold  defender  of  ecclesi- 
astical independence  was  found  in  Hincmar,  archbishop  of 


EccLEs  lowER.        PAPAL  ENCROACHMENTS.  331 

Hheims,  the  most  distinguished  statesman  of  his  age.  Equal 
in  ambition,  and  almost  in  public  estimation,  to  any  pontiff, 
he  sometimes  came  off  successfully  in  his  contentions  with 
Rome.  But  time  is  fatal  to  the  unanimity  of  coalitions  ;  the 
French  bishops  were  accessible  to  superstitious  prejudice,  to 
corrupt  influence,  to  mutual  jealousy.  Above  all,  they  were 
conscious  that  a  persuasion  of  the  pope's  omnipotence  had 
taken  hold  of  the  laity.  Though  they  complained  loudly,  and 
invoked,  like  patriots  of  a  dying  state,  names  and  principles 
of  a  freedom  that  was  no  more,  they  submitted  almost  in 
every  instance  to  the  continual  usurpations  of  the  Holy  See. 
One  of  those  which  most  annoyed  their  aristocracy  was  the 
concession  to  monasteries  of  exemption  from  episcopal  au- 
thority. These  had  been  very  uncommon  till  about  the  eighth 
century,  after  which  they  were  studiously  multiplied.  It  was 
naturally  a  favorite  object  with  the  abbots;  and  sovereigns, in 
those  ages  of  blind  veneration  for  monastic  establishments, 
were  pleased  to  see  their  own  foundations  rendered,  as  it  would 
seem,  more  respectable  by  privileges  of  independence.  The 
popes  had  a  closer  interest  in  granting  exemptions,  which  at- 
tached to  them  the  regular  clergy,  and  lowered  the  dignity 
of  the  bishops.  In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  whole 
orders  of  monks  were  declared  exempt  at  a  single  stroke;  and 
the  abuse  began  to  awaken  loud  complaints,  though  it  did 
not  fail  to  be  aggravated  afterwards. 

§  13.  The  principles  of  ecclesiastical  supremacy  were  read- 
ily applied  by  the  popes  to  support  still  more  insolent  usur- 
pations. Chiefs  by  divine  commission  of  the  whole  Church, 
every  earthly  sovereign  must  be  subject  to  their  interference. 
The  first  instance  where  the  Roman"  pontiffs  actually  tried 
the  force  of  their  arms  against  a  sovereign  was  the  excom- 
munication of  Lothaire,  king  of  Lorraine,  and  grandson  of 
Louis  the  Debonair.  This  prince  had  repudiated  his  wife, 
upon  unjust  pretexts,  but  with  the  approbation  of  a  national 
council,  and  had  subsequently  married  his  concubine.  Nich- 
olas I.,  the  actual  pope,  dispatched  two  legates  to  investigate 
this  business,  and  decide  according  to  the  canons.  They  hold 
a  council  at  Metz,  and  confirm  the  divorce  and  marriage.  En- 
raged at  this  conduct  of  his  ambassadors,  the  pope  summons 
a  council  at  Rome,  annuls  the  sentence,  deposes  the  archbish- 
ops of  Treves  and  Cologne,  and  directs  the  king  to  discard 
his  mistress.  After  some  shuffling  on  the  part  of  Lothaire 
he  is  excommunicated  ;  and  in  a  short  time  we  find  both  the 
king  and  his  prelates,  who  had  begun  with  expressions  of  pas- 
sionate contempt  towards  the  pope,  suing  humbly  for  abso- 


832  EXCOMMUNICATIONS.       Chap.  VII.  Part  I 

lution  at  the  feet  of  Adrian  XL,  successor  of  Nicholas,  which 
was  not  granted  without  difficulty. 

Excommunication,  whatever  opinions  may  be  entertained 
as  to  its  religious  efficacy,  was  originally  nothing  more  in 
appearance  than  the  exercise  of  a  right  which  every  society 
claims,  the  expulsion  of  refractory  members  from  its  body. 
No  direct  temporal  disadvantages  attended  this  penalty  for 
several  ages ;  but,  as  it  was  the  most  severe  of  spiritual  cen- 
sures, and  tended  to  exclude  the  object  of  it  not  only  from  a 
participation  in  religious  rites,  but  in  a  considerable  degree 
from  the  intercourse  of  Christian  society,  it  was  used  spar- 
ingly and  upon  the  gravest  occasions.  Gradually,  as  the 
Church  became  more  powerful  and  more  imperious,  excom- 
munications were  issued  upon  every  provocation,  rather  as  a 
weapon  of  ecclesiastical  warfare  than  with  any  regard  to  its 
original  intention.  Princes  who  felt  the  inadequacy  of  their 
own  laws  to  secure  obedience  called  in  the  assistance  of  more 
formidable  sanctions.  Several  capitularies  of  Charlemagne 
denounce  the  penalty  of  excommunication  against  incendi- 
aries or  deserters  from  the  army.  Charles  the  Bald  pro- 
cured similar  censures  against  his  revolted  vassals.  Thus 
the  boundary  between  temporal  and  spiritual  offenses  grew 
every  day  less  distinct ;  and  the  clergy  were  encouraged  to 
fresh  encroachments  as  they  discovered  the  secret  of  render- 
ing them  successful. 

The  civil  magistrate  ought,  undoubtedly,  to  protect  the 
just  rights  and  lawful  jurisdiction  of  the  Church.  It  is  not 
so  evident  that  he  should  attach  temporal  penalties  to  her 
censures.  Excommunication  has  never  carried  such  a  pre- 
sumption of  moral  turpitude  as  to  disable  a  man,  upon  any 
solid  principles,  from  the  usual  privileges  of  society.  Super- 
stition and  tyranny,  however,  decided  otherwise.  The  sup- 
port due  to  Church  censures  by  temporal  judges  is  vaguely 
declared  in  the  capitularies  of  Pepin  and  Charlemagne.  It 
became  in  later  ages  a  more  established  principle  in  France 
and  England,  and,  I  presume,  in  other  countries.  By  our 
common  law,  an  excommunicated  person  is  incapable  of  be- 
ing a  witness  or  of  bringing  an  action,  and  he  may  be  detain- 
ed in  prison  until  he  obtains  absolution.  By  the  Establish- 
ments of  St.  Louis,  his  estate  or  person  might  be  attached 
by  the  magistrate.  These  actual  penalties  were  attended 
by  marks  of  abhorrence  and  ignominy  still  more  calculated 
to  make  an  impression  on  ordinary  minds.  They  were  to  be 
shunned  like  men  infected  with  leprosy,  by  their  servants, 
their  friends,  and  their  families.     Two  attendants  only,  if  we 


EccLES.  fowER.  INTERDICTS.  333 

may  trust  a  current  history,  remained  with  Robert,  king 
of  France,  who,  on  account  of  an  irregular  marriage,  was 
put  to  this  ban  by  Gregory  V.,  and  these  threw  all  the  meats 
which  had  passed  his  table  into  the  fire.  Indeed,  the  mere 
intercourse  with  a  prescribed  person  incurred  what  is  called 
the  lesser  excommunication,  or  privation  of  the  sacraments, 
and  required  penitence  and  absolution.  In  some  places  a  bier 
was  set  before  the  door  of  an  excommunicated  individual, 
and  stones  thrown  at  his  windows :  a  singular  method  of 
compelling  his  submission !  Everywhere  the  excommunica- 
ted w^ere  debarred  of  a  regular  sepulture,  which,  though  ob- 
viously a  matter  of  police,  has,  through  the  superstition  of 
consecrating  burial-grounds,  been  treated  as  belonging  to 
ecclesiastical  control. 

§  14.  But  as  excommunication,  which  attacked  only  one, 
and  perhaps  a  hardened  sinner,  was  not  always  efficacious, 
the  Church  had  recourse  to  a  more  comprehensive  punish- 
ment. For  the  offense  of  a  nobleman  she  put  a  county,  for 
that  of  a  prince  his  entire  kingdom,  under  an  Interdict  or  sus- 
pension of  religious  offices.  No  stretch  of  her  tyranny  was, 
perhaps,  so  outrageous  as  this.  During  an  interdict  the 
churches  were  closed,  the  bells  silent,  the  dead  unburied,  no 
rite  but  those  of  baptism  and  extreme  unction  performed. 
The  penalty  fell  upon  those  who  had  neither  partaken  nor 
could  have  prevented  the  offense ;  and  the  offense  w^as  often 
but  a  private  dispute,  in  which  the  pride  of  a  pope  or  bishop 
had  been  w^ounded.  Interdicts  were  so  rare  before  the  time 
of  Gregory  VII.,  that  some  have  referred  them  to  him  a« 
their  author;  instances  may,  however,  be  found  of  an  earlier 
date,  and  especially  that  which  accompanied  the  above-men- 
tioned excommunication  of  Robert,  king  of  France.  They 
were  afterwards  issued  not  unfrequently  against  kingdoms ; 
but  in  particular  districts  they  continually  occurred. 

This  was  the  mainspring  of  the  machinery  that  the  clergy 
set  in  motion,  the  lever  by  which  they  moved  the  w^orld. 
From  the  moment  that  these  interdicts  and  excommunica 
tions  had  been  tried  the  powers  of  the  earth  might  be  said 
to  have  existed  only  by  sufferance.  Nor  was  the  validity  of 
such  denunciations  supposed  to  depend  upon  their  justice. 
The  imposer,  indeed,  of  an  unjust  excommunication  was  guilty 
of  a  sin ;  but  the  party  subjected  to  it  had  no  remedy  but 
submission.  The  received  theory  of  religion  concerning  the 
indispensable  obligation  and  mysterious  efficacy  of  the  rites 
of  communion  and  confession  must  have  induced  scrupulous 
minds  to  make  any  temporal  sacrifice  rather  than  incur  their 


334  CORRUPTION  OF  MORALS.     Chap.  VH.  Part  1. 

privation.  One  is  rather  surprised  at  the  instances  of  failure 
than  of  success  in  the  employment  of  these  spiritual  weapons 
against  sovereigns  or  the  laity  in  general.  It  was,  perhaps,  a 
fortunate  circumstance  for  Europe  that  they  were  not  intro- 
duced upon  a  large  scale  during  the  darkest  ages  of  super- 
stition. In  the  eighth  or  ninth  centuries  they  would  proba- 
bly have  met  with  a  more  implicit  obedience. 

§  15.  So  high  did  the  popes  carry  their  pretensions,  that 
John  VIII.  (a.d.  872-882)  asserted  very  plainly  a  right  of 
choosing  the  emperor,  and  seems  indirectly  to  have  exercisei 
it  in  the  election  of  Charles  the  Bald,  who  had  not  primogen- 
iture in  his  favor.  This  prince,  whose  restless  ambition  was 
united  with  meanness  as  well  as  insincerity,  consented  to  sign 
a  capitulation,  on  his  coronation  at  Rome,  in  favor  of  the 
pope  and  Church,  a  precedent  which  was  improved  upon  in 
subsequent  ages.  Rome  was  now  prepared  to  rivet  her  fe^ 
ters  upon  sovereigns,  and  at  no  period  have  the  condition 
of  society  and  the  circumstances  of  civil  government  been  so 
favorable  for  her  ambition.  But  the  consummation  was  still 
suspended,  and  even  her  progress  arrested,  for  more  than  150 
years.  This  dreary  interval  is  filled  up,  in  the  annals  of  the 
papacy,  by  a  series  of  revolutions  and  crim-es.  Six  popes 
were  deposed,  two  murdered,  one  mutilated.  Frequently 
two  or  even  three  competitors,  among  whom  it  is  not  always 
possible  by  any  genuine  criticism  to  distinguish  the  true 
shepherd,  drove  each  other  alternately  from  the  city.  A 
few  respectable  names  appear  thinly  scattered  through  this 
darkness;  and  sometimes, perhaps,  a  pope  who  had  acquired 
estimation  by  his  private  virtues  may  be  distinguished  by 
some  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  princes  or  the  privileges 
of  national  churches.  But  in  general  the  pontiffs  of  that 
age  had  neither  leisure  nor  capacity  to  perfect  the  great 
system  of  temporal  supremacy,  and  looked  rather  to  a  vile 
profit  from  the  sale  of  episcopal  confirmations,  or  of  exemp- 
tions to  monasteries. 

The  corruption  of  the  head  extended  naturally  to  all  other 
members  of  the  Church.  All  writers  concur  in  stigmatiz- 
ing the  dissoluteness  and  neglect  of  decency  that  prevailed 
among  the  clergy.  The  bishops,  indeed,  who  were  to  enforce 
them  had  most  occasion  to  dread  their  severity.  They  were 
obtruded  upon  their  sees,  as  the  supreme  pontiffs  were  upon 
that  of  Rome,  by  force  or  corruption.  A  child  of  five  years 
old  was  made  Archbishop  of  Rheinis.  The  See  of  Narbonne 
was  purchased  for  another  at  the  age  of  ten.  By  this  relax- 
ation of  morals  the  priesthood  be^jan  to  lose  its  hold  upon 


EccLES.  Tower.  .  CELIBACY.  335 

the  prejudices  of  mankind.  These  are  nourished  chiefly,  in- 
deed, by  shining  examples  of  piety  and  virtue,  but  also,  in  a 
superstitious  age,  by  ascetic  observances,  by  the  fasting  and 
watching  of  monks  and  hermits.  The  regular  clergy  accord- 
ingly, or  monastic  orders,  retained  at  all  times  a  far  greater 
portion  of  respect  than  ordinary  priests,  though  degenerated 
themselves,  as  was  admitted,  from  their  primitive  strict- 
ness. 

§  16.  Two  crimes,  or  at  least  violations  of  ecclesiastical 
law,  had  become  almost  universal  in  the  eleventh  century, 
and  excited  general  indignation — the  marriage  or  concubin- 
age of  priests,  and  the  sale  of  benefices.  Celibacy  had  been, 
from  very  early  times,  enjoined  as  an  obligation  upon  the 
clergy.  It  was  perhaps  permitted  that  those  already  mar- 
ried for  the  first  time  and  to  a  virgin,  might  receive  ordina- 
tion ;  and  this,  after  prevailing  for  a  length  of  time  in  the 
Greek  Church,  was  sanctioned  by  the  Council  of  Trullo,  in 
691,®  and  has  ever  since  continued  one  of  the  distinguishing 
features  of  its  discipline.  The  Latin  Church,  however,  did 
not  receive  these  canons,  and  has  uniformly  persevered  in  ex- 
cluding the  three  orders  of  priests,  deacons,  and  subdeacons, 
not  only  from  contracting  matrimony,  but  from  cohabiting 
with  wives  espoused  before  their  ordination.  The  prohi- 
bition, however,  during  some  ages  existed  only  in  the  let- 
ter of  her  canons.  In  every  country  the  secular  or  pa- 
rochial clergy  kept  women  in  their  houses,  upon  more  or  less 
acknowledged  terms  of  intercourse,  by  a  connivance  of  their 
ecclesiastical  superiors,  which  almost  amounted  to  a  positive 
toleration.  The  sons  of  priests  were  capable  of  inheriting 
by  the  law  of  France  and  also  of  Castile.  Some  vigorous  ef- 
forts had  been  made  in  England  by  Dunstan,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  King  Edgar,  to  dispossess  the  married  canons,  if  not 
the  parochial  clergy,  of  their  benefices ;  but  the  abuse,  if  such 
it  is  to  be  considered,  made  incessant  progress  till  the  middle 
of  the  eleventh  century.  There  was  certainly  much  reason 
for  the  rulers  of  the  Church  to  restore  this  part  of  their  disci- 
pline, since  it  is  by  cutting  off  her  members  from  the  chari- 
ties of  domestic  life  that  she  secures  their  entire  aftection  to 
her  cause,  and  renders  them,  like  veteran  soldiers,  independ- 
ent of  every  feeling  but  that  of  fidelity  to  their  commander 
and  regard  to  the  interests  of  their  body.     Leo  IX.  accoid- 

«  This  council  was  held  at  Constantinople  in  the  dome  of  the  palace,  called  Trullns 
by  the  Latins.  The  nominative  Trullo,  though  solecistical,  is  used  by  ecclesiastica! 
Writers  in  English.  Bishops  are  not  within  this  permission,  and  can  not  retain  thcit 
ivives  by  the  discipline  of  the  Greek  Church. 


336  SIMONY.  ,     Chap.  VII.  Part  X 

ingly,  one  of  the  first  pontiffs  who  retrieved  the  honor  of  the 
aiiostolic  chair,  after  its  long  period  of  ignominy,  began  in 
good  earnest  the  difficult  work  of  enforcing  celibacy  among 
the  clergy.  His  successors  never  lost  sight  of  this  essen- 
tial point  of  discipline.  It  was  a  struggle  against  the  natu- 
ral rights  and  strongest  affectiorf^  of  mankind,  which  lasted 
for  several  ages,  and  succeeded  only  by  the  toleration  of 
greater  evils  than  those  it  was  intended  to  remove.  The 
laity,  in  general,  took  part  against  the  married  priests,  who 
were  reduced  to  infamy  and  want,  or  obliged  to  renounce 
their  dearest  connections.  In  many  parts  of  Germany  no 
ministers  were  left  to  perform  divine  services.  But  perhaps 
there  was  no  eountry  where  the  rules  of  celibacy  met  with 
so  little  attention  as  in  England.  It  was  acknowledged  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  I.  that  the  greater  and  better  part  of  the 
clergy  were  married,  and  that  prince  is  said  to  have  permit- 
ted them  to  retain  their  wives.^  But  the  hierarchy  never 
relaxed  in  their  efforts ;  and  all  the  councils,  general  or  pro- 
vincial, of  the  twelfth  century,  utter  denunciations  against 
concuMnary  priests.  After  that  age  we  do  not  find  them  so 
frequently  mentioned ;  and  the  abuse  by  degrees,  though 
not  suppressed,  was  reduced  within  limits  at  which  the 
Church  might  connive. 

§  1 7.  Simony,  or  the  corrupt  purchase  of  spiritual  benefices, 
was  the  second  characteristic  reproach  of  the  clergy  in  the 
eleventh  century.  The  measures  taken  to  repress  it  deserve 
particular  consideration,  as  they  produced  effects  of  the  high- 
est importance  in  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Accord- 
ing to  the  primitive  custom  of  the  Church,  an  episcopal  vacan- 
cy was  filled  up  by  election  of  the  clergy  and  people  belonging 
to  the  city  or  diocese.  The  subject  of  their  choice  was,  after 
the  establishment  of  the  federate  or  provincial  system,  to  be 
approved  or  rejected  by  the  metropolitan  and  his  suffrages ; 
and,  if  approved,  he  was  consecrated  by  them.  It  is  proba- 
ble that,  in  almost  every  case,  the  clergy  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  selection  of  their  bishops;  but  the  consent  of  the  laity 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  render  it  valid.  They  were, 
however,  by  degrees  excluded  from  any  real  participation, 
first  in  the  Greek,  and  finally  in  the  Western  Church.  But 
this  was  not  effected  till  pretty  late  times ;  the  people  fully 
preserved  their  elective  rights  at  Milan  in  the  eleventh  cen- 

9  Giraldus  Cambreusis,  about  the  end  of  Henry  II. 's  reign  {a2md  Wright's  "Po- 
litical Songs  .of  England,"  p.  353),  mentions  the  marriage  of  the  parochial  clergy  as 
almost  universal.  They  were  called  focarice,  as  living  at  the  same  hearth,  on  pre- 
tense of  service  ;  but  the  fellowship,  we  perceive,  was  not  confined  to  the  fireside. 


EccLEs.  Power.  EPISCOPAL  ELECTIONS.  337 

tury,  and  traces  of  their  concurrence  may  be  found  both  In 
France  and  Germany  in  the  next  age. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  early  Christian  emperors  in- 
terposed with  the  freedom  of  choice  any  further  than  to  make 
their  own  confirmation  necessary  in  the  great  patriarchal 
sees,  such  as  Rome  and  Constantinople,  which  were  frequent- 
ly the  objects  of  violent  competition,  and  to  decide  in  con- 
troverted elections.  The  Gothic  and  Lombard  kings  of  It- 
aly followed  the  same  line  of  conduct.  But  in  the  French 
monarchy  a  more  extensive  authority  was  assumed  by  the 
sovereign.  Though  the  practice  was  subject  to  some  varia- 
tion, it  may  be  said  generally  that  the  Merovingian  kings, 
the  line  of  Charlemagne,  and  the  German  emperors  of  the 
house  of  Saxony,  conferred  bishoprics  either  by  direct  nomi- 
nation, or,  as  was  more  regular,  by  recommendatory  letters 
to  the  electors.  In  England,  also,  before  the  conquest,  bish- 
ops were  appointed  in  the  witenagemot ;  and  even  in  the 
reign  of  William  it  is  said  that  Lanfranc  was  raised  to  the 
See  of  Canterbury  by  consent  of  Parliament.  But,  independ- 
ently of  this  prerogative,  which  length  of  time  and  the  tacit 
sanction  of  the  people  have  rendered  unquestionably  legiti- 
mate, the  sovereign  had  other  means  of  controlling  the  elec- 
tion of  a  bishop.  Those  estates  and  honors  which  compose 
the  temporalities  of  the  see,  and  without  which  the  naked 
spiritual  privileges  would  not  have  tempted  an  avaricious 
generation,  had  chiefly  been  granted  by  former  kings,  and 
were  assimilated  to  lands  held  on  a  beneficiary  tenure. 
As  they  seemed  to  partake  of  the  nature  of  fiefs,  they  re- 
quired similar  formalities — investiture  by  the  lord,  and  an 
oath  of  fealty  by  the  tenant.  Charlemagne  is  said  to  have 
introduced  this  practice ;  and,  by  way  of  visible  symbol,  as 
usual  in  feudal  institutions,  to  have  put  the  ring  and  crosier 
into  the  hands  of  the  newly  consecrated  bishop.  And  this 
continued  for  more  than  two  centuries  afterwards  without 
exciting  any  scandal  or  resistance. 

The  Church  has  undoubtedly  surrendered  part  of  her  in- 
dependence in  return  for  ample  endowments  and  temporal 
power ;  nor  could  any  claim  be  more  reasonable  than  that 
of  feudal  superiors  to  grant  the  investiture  of  dependent 
fiefs.  But  the  fairest  right  may  be  sullied  by  abuse ;  and 
the  sovereigns,  the  lay-patrons,  the  prelates  of  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries,  made  their  powers  of  nomination  and  in- 
vestiture subservient  to  the  grossest  rapacity.  According 
to  the  ancient  canons,  a  benefice  was  avoided  by  any  simo- 
niacal  payment  or  stipulation.     If  these  were  to  be  enforce-^, 

15 


338  CONFIRMATION  OF  POPES.     Chap.  VII    Part  L 

the  Churcn  must  almost  be  cleaved  of  its  ministers.  Either 
through  bribery  in  places  where  elections  still  prevailed,  or 
through  corrupt  agreements  with  princes,  or  at  least  custom- 
ary presents  to  their  wives  and  ministers,  a  large  proportion 
of  the  bishops  had  no  valid  tenure  in  their  sees.  The  case 
was  perhaps  worse  with  inferior  clerks;  in  the  Church  of 
Milan,  which  was  notorious  for  this  corruption,  not  a  single 
ecclesiastic  could  stand  the  test,  the  archbishop  exacting  a 
price  for  the  collation  of  every  benefice. 

§  18.  The  bishops  of  Rome,  like  those  of  inferior  sees,  were 
regularly  elected  by  the  citizens,  laymen  as  well  as  ecclesi- 
astics. But  their  consecration  was  deferred  until  the  popu- 
lar choice  had  received  the  sovereign's  sanction.  The  Ro- 
mans regularly  dispatched  letters  to  Constantinople  or  to 
the  exarchs  of  Ravenna,  praying  that  their  election  of  a  pope 
might  be  confirmed.  Exceptions,  if  any,  are  infrequent  while 
Rome  was  subject  to  the  Eastern  Empire.  This,  among  oth- 
er imperial  prerogatives,  Charlemagne  might  consider  as  his 
own.  He  possessed  the  city,  especially  after  his  coronation 
as  emperor,  in  full  sovereignty  ;  and  even  before  that  event 
had  investigated,  as  supreme  chief,  some  accusations  preferred 
against  the  Pope  Leo  III.  No  vacancy  of  the  papacy  took 
place  after  Charlemagne  became  emperor;  and  it  must  be 
confessed,  that  in  the  first  which  happened  under  Louis  the 
Debonair,  Stephen  IV.  was  consecrated  in  haste,  without  that 
prince's  approbation.  But  Gregory  lY.,  his  successor,  waited 
till  his  election  had  been  confirmed,  and,  upon  the  whole,  the 
Carlovingian  emperors,  though  less  uniformly  than  their  pred- 
ecessors, retained  that  mark  of  sovereignty.  But  during 
the  disorderly  state  of  Italy  which  followed  the  last  reigns  of 
Charlemagne's  posterity,  while  the  sovereignty  and  even  the 
name  of  an  emperor  were  in  abeyance,  the  supreme  dignity 
of  Christendom  was  conferred  only  by  the  factious  rabble  of 
its  capital.  Otho  the  great,  in  receiving  the  imperial  crown, 
took  upon  him  the  prerogatives  of  Charlemagne.  There  is 
•  even  extant  a  decree  of  Leo  \T[II.,  which  grants  to  him  and 
his  successors  the  right  of  naming  future  popes.  But  the 
authenticity  of  this  instrument  is  denied  by  the  Italians.  It 
does  not  appear  that  the  Saxon  emperors  went  to  such  a 
length  as  nomination,  except  in  one  instance  (that  of  Greg- 
ory v.,  in  996)  ;  but  they  sometimes,  not  uniformly,  confirmed 
the  election  of  a  pope,  according  to  ancient  custom.  An  ex- 
plicit right  of  nomination  was,  however,  conceded  to  the  Em- 
peror Henry  III.,  in  1047,  as  the  only  means  of  rescuing  the 
Koman  Church  from  the  disgrace  and  depravity  into  which 


EccLES.  PowEP  ECREE  OF  NICHOLAS  Il»  339 

it  had  fallen.  Henry  appointed  two  Or  three  very  good 
popes ;  acting  in  this  against  the  warnings  of  a  selfish  policy, 
as  fatal  experience  soon  proved  to  his  family. 

This  high  prerogative  was  perhaps  not  designed  to  extend 
beyond  Henry  himself.  But,  even  if  it  had  been  transmissi- 
ble to  his  successors,  the  infancy  of  his  son,  Henry  IV.,  and 
the  factions  of  that  minority,  precluded  the  possibility  of  its 
exercise.  Nicholas  H.,  in  1059,  published  a  decree  which  re- 
stored the  right  of  election  to  the  Romans,  but  with  a  re- 
markable variation  from  the  original  form.  The  cardinal 
bishops  (seven  in  number,  holding  sees  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Rome,  and  consequently  suffragans  of  the  pope  as  patriarch 
or  metropolitan)  were  to  choose  the  supreme  pontiff,  with 
the  concurrence  first  of  the  cardinal  priests  and  deacons  (or 
ministers  of  the  parish  churches  of  Rome),  and  afterwards  of 
the  laity.  Thus  elected,  the  new  pope  was  to  be  presented 
for  confirmation  to  Henry, "now  king,  and  hereafter  to  be- 
come emperor,"  and  to  such  of  his  successors  as  should  per- 
sonally obtain  that  privilege.  This  decree  is  the  foundation 
of  that  celebrated  mode  of  election  in  a  conclave  of  cardinals 
which  has  ever  since  determined  the  headship  of  the  Church. 
It  was  intended  not  only  to  exclude  the  citizens,  who  had, 
indeed,  justly  forfeited  their  primitive  right,  but  as  far  as 
possible  to  prepare  the  way  for  an  absolute  emancipation  of 
the  papacy  from  the  imperial  control ;  reserving  only  a  pre- 
carious and  personal  concession  to  the  emperors  instead  of 
their  ancient  legal  prerogative  of  confirmation. 

The  real  author  of  this  decree,  and  of  all  other  vigorous 
measures  adopted  by  the  popes  of  that  age,  whether  for  the 
assertion  of  their  independence  or  the  restoration  of  disci- 
pline, was  Hildebrand,  archdeacon  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
by  far  the  most  conspicuous  person  of  the  eleventh  century. 
Acquiring  by  his  extraordinary  qualities  an  unbounded  as- 
cendency over  the  Italian  clergy,  they  regarded  him  as  their 
chosen  leader  and  the  hope  of  their  common  cause.  He  had 
been  empowered  singly  to  nominate  a  pope  on  the  part  of 
the  Romans  after  the  death  of  Leo  IX.,  and  compelled  Henry 
III.  to  acquiesce  in  his  choice  of  Victor  II.  No  man  could 
proceed  more  fearlessly  towards  his  object  than  Hilde- 
brand, nor  with  less  attention  to  conscientious  impediments. 
Though  the  decree  of  Nicholas  H.,  his  own  work,  had  express- 
ly reserved  the  right  of  confirmation  of  the  young  king  of 
Germany,  yet  on  the  death  of  that  pope  Hildebrand  procured 
the  election  and  consecration  of  Alexander  H.,  without  wait- 
ing for  any  authority.     During  this  ponti6cate  he  was  con 


340  Dli  FEKENCES  OF  GREGORY  VII.     Chap.  VII.  Part  L 

sidered  as  something  greater  than  the  pope,  who  acted  en* 
tirely  by  his  counsels.  On  Alexander's  decease,  Hildebrand, 
long  since  the  real  head  of  the  Church,  was  raised  with  en- 
thusiasm to  its  chief  dignity,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Greg- 
ory VII.  (a.d.  1073). 

§  19.  Notwithstanding  the  late  precedent  at  the  election 
of  Alexander  IL,  it  appears  that  Gregory  did  not  yet  con- 
sider liis  plans  sufficiently  mature  to  throw  off  the  yoke  al- 
together, but  declined  to  receive  consecration  until  he  had 
obtained  the  consent  of  the  King  of  Germany.  This  modera- 
tion was  not  of  long  continuance.  The  situation  of  Germany 
speedily  afforded  him  an  opportunity  of  displaying  his  am- 
bitious views.  Henry  lY.,  through  a  very  bad  education, 
was  arbitrary  and  dissolute ;  the  Saxons  were  engaged  in  a 
desperate  rebellion  ;  and  secret  disaffection  had  spread  among 
the  princes  to  an  extent  of  which  the  pope  was  much  better 
aware  than  the  king.  He  began  by  excommunicating  some 
of  Henry's  ministers  on  pretense  of  simony,  and  made  it  a 
ground  of  remonstrance  that  they  were  not  instantly  dis- 
missed. His  next  step  was  to  publish  a  decree,  or  rather  to 
renew  one,  of  Alexander  H.,  against  lay  investitures.  The 
abolition  of  these  was  a  favorite  object  of  Gregory,  and 
formed  an  essential  part  of  his  general  scheme  for  emancipa- 
ting the  spiritual  and  subjugating  the  temporal  power.  The 
ring  and  crosier,  it  was  asserted  by  the  papal  advocates,  were 
the  emblems  of  that  power  which  no  monarch  could  bestow. 
Though  the  estates  of  bishops  might,  strictly,  be  of  temporal 
right,  yet,  as  they  had  been  inseparably  annexed  to  their 
spiritual  office,  it  became  just  that  what  was  first  in  dignity 
and  importance  should  carry  with  it  those  accessory  parts. 

The  contest  about  investitures,  though  begun  by  Gregory 
VH.,  did  not  occupy  a  very  prominent  place  during  his  pon- 
tificate, its  interest  being  suspended  by  other  more  extraor- 
dinary and  important  dissensions  between  the  Church  and 
Empire.  The  pope,  after  tampering  some  time  with  the  dis- 
affected party  in  Germany,  summoned  Henry  to  appear  at 
Rome  and  vindicate  himself  from  the  charges  alleged  by  his 
subjects.  Such  an  outrage  naturally  exasperated  a  young 
and  passionate  monarch.  Assembling  a  number  of  bishops 
and  other  vassals  at  Worms,  he  procured  a  sentence  that 
Gregory  should  no  longer  be  obeyed  as  lawful  pope.  But 
the  time  was  past  for  those  arbitrary  encroachments,  or  at 
least  high  prerogatives,  of  former  emperors.  The  relations 
of  dependency  between  Church  and  State  were  now  about 
to  be  le versed.     Gregory  had  no  sooner  received  accounts 


EccLKS.  Power.  WITH  HENRY  J.V.  S41 

of  the  proceedings  at  Worms  than  he  summoned  a  council 
in  the  Lateran  palace,  and  by  a  solemn  sentence  not  only  ex- 
communicated Henry,  but  deprived  him  of  the  kingdoms  of 
Germany  and  Italy,  releasing  his  subjects  from  their  alle- 
giance, and  forbidding  them  to  obey  him  as  sovereign.  Thus 
Gregory  YII.  obtained  the  glory  of  leaving  all  his  predeces- 
sors behind,  and  astonishing  mankind  by  an  act  of  audacity 
and  ambition  which  the  most  emulous  of  his  successors  could 
hardly  surpass.'" 

The  first  impulses  of  Henry's  mind  on  hearing  this  denun- 
ciation were  indignation  and  resentment.  But,  like  othei 
inexperienced  and  misguided  sovereigns,  he  had  formed  an 
erroneous  calculation  of  his  own  resources.  A  conspiracy, 
long  prepared,  of  which  the  dukes  of  Suabia  and  Carinthia 
were  the  chiefs,  began  to  manifest  itself.  Some  were  alien- 
ated by  his  vices,  and  others  jealous  of  his  family.  The  re- 
bellious Saxons  took  courage;  the  bishops,  intimidated  by 
excommunications,  withdrew  from  his  side,  and  he  suddenly 
found  himself  almost  insulated  in  the  midst  of  his  dominions. 
In  til  is  desertion  he  had  recourse,  through  panic,  to  a  miser- 
able expedient.  He  crossed  the  Alps  with  the  avowed  de- 
termination of  submitting,  and  seeking  absolution  from  the 
pope.  Gregory  was  at  Canossa,  a  fortress  near  Reggio,  be- 
longing to  his  faithful  adherent,  the  Countess  Matilda.  It 
was  in  a  winter  of  unusual  severity.  The  emperor  was  ad- 
mitted, without  his  guards,  into  an  outer  court  of  the  castle, 
and  three  successive  days  remained  from  morning  till  even- 
ing in  a  woollen  shirt  and  with  naked  feet,  while  Gregory, 
shut  up  with  the  countess,  refused  to  admit  him  to  his  pres- 
ence. On  the  fourth  day  he  obtained  absolution;  but  only 
on  condition  of  appearing  on  a  certain  day  to  learn  the  jDope's 
decision  whether  or  no  he  should  be  restored  to  his  kingdom, 
until  which  time  he  promised  not  to  assume  the  ensigns  of 
royalty  (a.d.  1077). 

This  base  humiliation,  instead  of  conciliating  Henry's  ad- 
versaries, forfeited  the  attachment  of  his  friends.  In  his 
contest  with  the  pope  he  had  found  a  zealous  support  in  the 

10  The  sentence  of  Gregory  VII.  against  the  Emperor  Heury  was  directed,  we  should 
always  remember,  to  persons  already  well  disposed  to  reject  his  authority.  Men  are 
glad  to  be  told  that  it  is  their  duty  to  resist  a  sovereign  against  whom  they  are  in 
rebellion,  and  will  not  be  very  scrupulous  in  examining  conclusions  which  fall  in 
with  their  inclinations  and  interests.  Allegiance  was  in  those  turbulent  ages  easily 
thrown  off,  and  the  right  of  resistance  was  in  continual  exercise.  To  the  Germans 
of  the  eleventh  century  a  prince  unfit  for  Christian  communion  would  easily  appear 
unfit  to  reign  over  them  ;  and  though  Henry  had  not  given  much  real  provocation  tn 
the  pope,  his  vices  and  tyranny  might  seem  to  challenge  any  spiritual  censure  yi 
temporal  cbastisemeut 


342  DISPUTE  ABOUT  INVESTITURES.     Chap.  VII.  Part  1. 

principal  Lombard  cities,  among  whom  the  married  and  si- 
moniacal  clergy  had  great  influence.  Indignant  at  his  sub- 
mission to  Gregory,  whom  they  affected  to  consider  as  an 
usurper  of  the  papal  chair,  they  now  closed  their  gates 
against  the  emperor,  and  spoke  openly  of  deposing  him.  In 
this  singular  position  between  opposite  dangers,  Henry  re- 
trod his  late  steps,  and  broke  off  his  treaty  with  the  pope ; 
preferring,  if  he  must  fall,  to  fall  as  the  defender  rather  than 
the  betrayer  of  his  imperial  rights.  The  rebellious  princes' 
of  Germany  chose  another  king,  Rodolph,  duke  of  Suabia,  on 
whom  Gregory,  after  some  delay,  bestowed  the  crown,  with 
a  Latin  verse  importing  that  it  was  given  by  virtue  of  the 
original  commission  of  St.  Peter.  But  the  success  of  this 
pontiff  in  his  immediate  designs  was  not  answerable  to  his 
intrepidity,  Henry  both  subdued  the  German  rebellion, 
and  carried  on  the  war  with  so  much  vigor,  or  rather  so  lit- 
tle resistance,  in  Italy,  that  he  was  crowned  in  Kome  by  the 
antipope  Guibert,  whom  he  had  raised  in  a  council  of  his  par- 
tisans to  the  government  of  the  Church  instead  of  Gregory. 
The  latter  found  an  asylum  under  the  protection  of  Roger 
Guiscard  at  Salerno,  where  he  died  an  exile.  His  mantle, 
however,  descended  upon  his  successors.  But  Henry  Y.  be- 
ing stronger  in  the  support  of  his  German  vassals  than  his 
father  had  been,  none  of  the  popes  with  whom  he  was  en- 
gaged had  the  boldness  to  repeat  the  measures  of  Gregory 
vll.  At  length,  each  party  grown  weary  of  this  ruinous 
contention,  a  treaty  was  agreed  upon  between  the  emperor 
and  Calixtus  II.,  which  put  an  end  by  compromise  to  the 
question  of  ecclesiastical  investitures  (a.d.  1122).  By  this 
compact  the  emperor  resigned  forever  all  pretense  to  invest 
bishops  by  the  ring  and  crosier,  and  recognized  the  liberty 
of  elections.  But  in  return  it  was  agreed  that  elections 
should  be  made  in  his  presence  or  that  of  his  ofiicers,  and 
that  the  new  bishop  should  receive  his  temporalities  from 
the  emperor  by  the  sceptre. 

Both  parties  in  the  concordat  at  Worms  receded  from  so 
much  of  their  pretensions,  that  w*e  might  almost  hesitate  to 
determine  which  is  to  be  considered  as  victorious.  On  the 
one  hand,  in  restoring  the  freedom  of  episcopal  elections  the 
emperors  lost  a  prerogative  of  very  long  standing,  and  al- 
most necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  authority  over  not 
the  least  turbulent  part  of  their  subjects.  And  though  the 
form  of  investiture  by  the  ring  and  crosier  seemed  in  itself 
of  no  importance,  yet  it  had  been  in  effect  a  collateral  secu- 
rity against  the  election  of  obnoxious  persons.     For  the  em- 


EccLES.  Power.  CAPITULAR  ELECTIONS.  343 

perors,  detaining  this  necessary  part  of  the  pontificals  until 
they  should  confer  investiture,  prevented  a  hasty  consecra- 
tion of  the  new  bishop,  after  which,  the  vacancy  being  legal- 
ly filled,  it  would  not  be  decent  for  them  to  withhold  the 
temporalities.  But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  they  preserved 
by  the  concordat  their  feudal  sovereignty  over  the  estates 
of  the  Church,  in  defiance  of  the  language  which  had  recent- 
ly been  held  by  its  rulers.  It  is  evident  that  a  general  im- 
munity from  feudal  obligations  for  an  order  who  possessed 
nearly  half  the  lands  in  Europe  struck  at  the  root  of  those 
institutions  by  which  the  fabric  of  society  was  principally 
held  together.  This  complete  independency  had  been  the 
aim  of  Gregory's  disciples ;  and  by  yielding  to  the  continu- 
ance of  lay  investitures  in  any  shape  Calixtus  may,  in  this 
point  of  view,  appear  to  have  relinquished  the  principal  ob- 
ject of  contention. 

The  emperors  were  not  the  only  sovereigns  whose  prac- 
tice of  investiture  excited  the  hostility  of  Rome,  although 
they  sustained  the  principal  brunt  of  the  war.  A  similar 
contest  broke  out  under  the  pontificate  of  Paschal  II.  with 
Henry  I.  of  England  ;  for  the  circumstances  of  which,  as  they 
contain  nothing  peculiar,  I  refer  to  our  own  historians.  It 
is  remarkable  that  it  ended  in  a  compromise  not  unlike  that 
adjusted  at  Worms;  the  king  renouncing  all  sorts  of  invest- 
itures, while  the  pope  consented  that  the  bishop  should  do 
homage  for  his  temporalities.  This  was  exactly  the  custom 
of  France,  where  investiture  by  the  ring  and  crosier  is  said 
not  to  have  prevailed ;  and  it  answered  the  main  end  of  sov- 
ereigns by  keeping  up  the  feudal  dependency  of  ecclesias- 
tical estates.  But  the  kings  of  Castile  were  more  fortunate 
than  the  rest;  discreetly  yielding  to  the  pride  of  Rome,  they 
obtained  what  w^as  essential  to  their  own  authority,  and  have 
always  possessed,  by  the  concession  of  Urban  II.,  an  absolute 
privilege  of  nomination  to  bishoprics  in  their  dominions. 
An  early  evidence  of  that  indifference  of  the  popes  towards 
the  real  independence  of  national  churches  to  which  subse- 
quent ages  were  to  lend  abundant  confirmation. 

§  20.  When  the  emperors  had  surrendered  their  preten- 
sions to  interfere  in  episcopal  elections,  the  primitive  mode 
of  collecting  the  suffrages  of  clergy  and.  laity  in  conjunction, 
or  at  least  of  the  clergy  with  the  laity's  assent  and  ratifica- 
tion, ought  naturally  to  have  revived.  But  in  the  twelfth 
century  neither  the  people,  nor  even  the  general  body  of  the 
diocesan  clergy,  were  considered  as  worthy  to  exercise  this 
function.     It  soon  devolved  altogether  upon  the  chapters  of 


3H  GENERAL  CONDUCT         Chap.  VII.  Part  1. 

cathedral  churches.  The  original  of  these  may  be  traced 
very  high.  In  the  earliest  ages  we  find  a  college  of  pres- 
bytery consisting  of  the  priests  and  deacons,  assistants  as  a 
council  of  advice,  or  even  a  kind  of  parliament,  to  their  bish- 
ops. Parochial  divisions,  and  fixed  ministers  attached  to 
them,  were  not  established  till  a  later  period.  But  the  can- 
ons, or  cathedral  clergy,  acquired  afterwards  a  more  distinct 
character.  They  were  subjected  by  degrees  to  certain  strict 
observances,  little  diff*ering,  in  fact,  from  those  imposed  on 
monastic  orders.  They  lived  at  a  common  table,  they  slept 
in  a  common  dormitory,  their  dress  and  diet  were  regulated 
by  peculiar  laws.  But  they  were  distinguished  from  monks 
by  the  right  of  possessing  individual  property,  which  was  af- 
terwards extended  to  the  enjoyment  of  separate  prebends  or 
benefices.  These  strict  regulations,  chiefly  imposed  by  Louis 
the  Debonair,  went  into  disuse  through  relaxation  of  disci- 
pline ;  nor  were  they  ever  effectually  restored.  Meantime  the 
chapters  became  extremely  rich,  and  as  they  monopolized 
the  privilege  of  electing  bishops,  it  became  an  object  of 
ambition  with  noble  families  to  obtain  canonries  for  their 
younger  children  as  the  surest  road  to  ecclesiastical  honors 
and  opulence.  Contrary,  therefore,  to  the  general  policy  of 
the  Church,  persons  of  inferior  birth  have  been  rigidly  ex- 
cluded from  these  foundations. 

§  21.  The  object  of  Gregory  VII.,  in  attempting  to  redress 
those  more  flagrant  abuses  which  for  two  centuries  had  de- 
formed the  face  of  the  Latin  Church,  is  not  incapable,  perhaps, 
of  vindication,  though  no  sufficient  apology  can  be  offered 
for  the  means  he  employed.  But  the  disinterested  love  of 
reformation,  to  which  candor  might  ascribe  the  contention 
against  investitures,  is  belied  by  the  general  tenor  of  his 
conduct,  exhibiting  an  arrogance  without  parallel,  and.  an 
ambition  that  grasped  at  universal  and  unlimited  monarchy. 
He  may  be  called  the  common  enemy  of  all  sovereigns,  whose 
dignity  as  well  as  independence  mortified  his  infatuated 
pride.  Thus  we  find  him  menacing  Philip  I.  of  France,  who 
had  connived  at  the  pillage  of  some  Italian  merchants  and 
pilgrims,  not  only  with  an  interdict,  but  a  sentence  of  dep- 
osition. Thus,  too,  he  asserts,  as  a  known  historical  fact, 
that  the  kingdom  of  Spain  had  formerly  belonged,  by  special 
right,  to  St.  Peter ;  and  by  virtue  of  this  imprescriptible 
claim  he  grants  to  a  certain  Count  de  Rouci  all  territories 
which  he  should  reconquer  from  the  Moors,  to  be  held  in 
fief  from  the  Holy  See  by  a  stipulated  rent.  A  similar  pre- 
tension he  makes  to  the  kingdom  of  Hungarj^,  and  bitterly 


EccLEs.  Power.  OF  GREGORY  VII.  345 

reproaches  its  sovereign,  Solomon,  who  had  done  homage  to 
the  emperor,  in  derogation  of  St.  Peter,  his  legitimate  lord. 
It  was  convenient  to  treat  this  apostle  as  a  great  feudal  su- 
zerain, and  the  legal  principles  of  that  age  were  dexterously 
applied  to  rivet  more  forcibly  the  fetters  of  superstition. 

While  temporal  sovereigns  were  opposing  so  inadequate 
a  resistance  to  a  system  of  usurpation  contrary  to  all  prec- 
edent and  to  the  common  principles  of  society,  it  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  national  churches  should  persevere  in 
opposing  pretensionr  for  which  several  ages  had  paved  the 
way.  Gregory  VII.  completed  the  destruction  of  their  lib- 
erties. The  principles  contained  in  the  decretals  of  Isidore, 
hostile  as  they  were  to  ecclesiastical  independence,  were  set 
aside  as  insufficient  to  establish  the  absolute  monarchy  of 
Rome.  By  a  constitution  of  Alexander  II.,  during  whose 
pontificate  Hildebrand  himself  was  deemed  the  effectual 
pope,  no  bishop  in  the  Catholic  Church  was  permitted  to  ex- 
ercise his  functions  until  he  had  received  the  confirmation  of 
the  Holy  See :  a  provision  of  vast  importance,  through  which, 
beyond  perhaps  any  other  means,  Rome  has  sustained,  and 
still  sustains,  her  temporal  influence,  as  well  as  her  ecclesias- 
tical supremacy.  The  national  churches,  long  abridged  of 
their  liberties  by  gradual  encroachments,  now  found  them- 
selves subject  to  an  undisguised  and  irresistible  despotism. 
Instead  of  affording  protection  to  bishops  against  their  met- 
ropolitans, under  an  insidious  pretense  of  which  the  popes 
of  the  ninth  century  had  subverted  the  authority  of  the  lat- 
ter, it  became  the  favorite  policy  of  their  successors  to  ha- 
rass all  prelates  with  citations  to  Rome.  Gregory  obliged 
the  metropolitans  to  attend  in  person  for  the  pallium.  Bish- 
ops were  summoned  even  from  England  and  the  Northern 
kingdoms  to  receive  the  commands  of  the  spiritual  monarch. 
William  the  Conqueror  having  made  a  difficulty  about  per- 
mitting his  prelates  to  obey  these  citations,  Gregory,  though 
in  general  on  good  terms  with  that  prince,  and  treating  him 
with  a  deference  which  marks  the  effect  of  a  firm  character 
in  repressing  the  ebullitions  of  overbearing  pride,  complains 
of  this  as  a  persecution  unheard  of  among  pagans.  The 
great  quarrel  between  Archbishop  Anselm  and  his  two  sover- 
eigns, William  Rufus  and  Henry  I.,  was  originally  founded 
upon  a  similar  refusal  to  permit  his  departure  for  Rome. 

§  22.  This  perpetual  control  exercised  by  the  popes  over 
ecclesiastical,  and  in  some  degree  over  temporal  affairs,  was 
maintained  by  means  of  their  legates,  at  once  the  ambassa- 
dors and  the  lieutenants  of  the  Holy  See.     Previously  to  the 

15* 


346  ADRIAN  IV.  Chap.  VII.  Part  1. 

latter  part  of  the  tenth  age  these  had  been  sent  not  frequent- 
ly and  upon  special  occasions.  The  legatine  or  vicarial  com- 
mission had  generally  been  intrusted  to  some  eminent  metro- 
politan of  the  nation  within  which  it  was  to  be  exercised ; 
as  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  perpetual  legate  in  En- 
gland. But  the  special  commissioners,  or  legates  a  latere^ 
suspending  the  pope's  ordinary  vicars,  took  upon  themselves 
an  unbounded  authority  over  the  national  churches,  holding 
councils,  promulgating  canons,  deposing  the  bishops,  and  is- 
suing interdicts  at  their  discretion.  They  lived  in  splendor 
at  the  expense  of  the  bishops  of  the  province.  This  was  the 
more  galling  to  the  hierarchy,  because  simple  deacons  were 
often  invested  with  this  dignity,  which  set  them  above  pri- 
mates. As  the  sovereigns  of  France  and  England  acquired 
more  courage,  they  considerably  abridged  this  prerogative 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  resisted  the  entrance  of  any  legates  into 
their  dominions  without  their  consent. 

From  the  time  of  Gregory  VII.  no  pontiff  thought  of  await- 
ing the  confirmation  of  the  emperor,  as  in  earlier  ages,  before 
he  was  installed  in  the  throne  of  St.  Peter.  On  the  contra- 
ry, it  was  pretended  that  the  emperor  was  himself  to  be  con- 
firmed by  the  pope.  This  had,  indeed,  been  broached  by 
John  VIII.  two  hundred  years  before  Gregory.  It  was  still 
a  doctrine  not  calculated  for  general  reception  ;  but  the  popes 
availed  themselves  of  every  opportunity  which  the  tempor- 
izing policy,  the  negligence  or  bigotry  of  sovereigns  threw 
into  their  hands.  Lothaire  coming  to  receive  the  imperial 
crown  at  Rome,  this  circumstance  was  commemorated  by 
a  picture  in  the  Lateran  palace,  in  which,  and  in  two  Latin 
verses  subscribed,  he  was  represented  as  doing  homage  to 
the  pope.  When  Frederick  Barbarossa  came  upon  the  same 
occasion,  he  omitted  to  hold  the  stirrup  of  Adrian  IV.,  who, 
in  his  turn,  refused  to  give  him  the  usual  kiss  of  peace ;  nor 
was  the  contest  ended  but  by  the  emperor's  acquiescence, 
who  was  content  to  follow  the  precedents  of  his  predeces- 
sors. The  same  Adrian,  expostulating  with  Frederick  upon 
some  slight  grievance,  reminded  him  of  the  imperial  crown 
which  he  had  conferred,  and  declared  his  willingness  to  be- 
stow, if  possible,  still  greater  benefits.  But  the  phrase  em- 
ployed (majora  beneficia)  suggested  the  idea  of  a  fief;  and 
the  general  insolence  which  pervaded  Adrian's  letter  con- 
firming this  interpretation,  a  ferment  arose  among  the  Ger- 
man princes,  in  a  congress  of  whom  this  letter  was  delivered. 
"  From  whom,  then,"  one  of  the  legates  was  rash  enough 
to  say,  "  does  the  emperor  hold  his  crown,  except  from  the 


EccLES.  Power.  INNOCENT  III.  347 

pope  ?"  which  so  irritated  a  prince  of  Wittelsbach  that  he 
was  with  difficulty  prevented  from  cleaving  the  priest's  head 
with  his  sabre.  Adrian  IV.  was  the  only  Englishman  that 
ever  sat  in  the  papal  chair.  It  might,  perhaps,  pass  for  a  fa- 
vor bestowed  on  his  natural  sovereign,  when  he  granted  to 
Henry  II.  the  kingdom  of  Ireland ;  yet  the  language  of  this 
donation,  wherein  he  asserts  all  islands  to  be  the  exclusive 
property  of  St.  Peter,  should  not  have  had  a  very  pleasing 
sound  to  an  insular  monarch. 

§  23.  I  shall  not  wait  to  comment  on  the  support  given  to 
Becket  by  Alexander  III.,  which  must  be  familiar  to  the  En- 
glish reader,  nor  on  his  speedy  canonization  ;  a  reward  which 
the  Church  has  always  held  out  to  its  most  active  friends, 
and  which  may  be  compared  to  titles  of  nobility  granted  by 
a  temporal  sovereign.  But  the  epoch  when  the  spirit  of  pa- 
pal usurpation  was  most  strikingly  displayed  was  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Innocent  III.  (a,d.  1198-1216).  In  each  of  the  three 
leading  objects  which  Rome  has  pursued — independent  sov- 
ereignty, supremacy  over  the  Christian  Church,  control  over 
the  princes  of  the  earth — it  was  the  fortune  of  this  pontiff  to 
conquer.  He  realized,  as  we  have  seen  in  another  place,  that 
fond  hope  of  so  many  of  his  predecessors,  a  dominion  over 
Rome  and  the  central  parts  of  Italy.  During  his  pontifi- 
cate Constantinople  was  taken  by  the  Latins ;  and  however 
much  he  might  seem  to  regret  a  diversion  of  the  Crusaders 
which  impeded  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land,  he  exulted  in 
the  obedience  of  the  new  patriarch,  and  the  reunion  of  the 
Greek  Church.  Never,  perhaps,  either  before  or  since,  was 
the  great  Eastern  schism  in  so  fair  a  way  of  being  healed  ; 
even  the  kings  of  Bulgaria  and  of  Armenia  acknowledged  the 
supremacy  of  Innocent,  and  permitted  his  interference  with 
their  ecclesiastical  institutions. 

The  maxims  of  Gregory  VII.  were  now  matured  by  more 
than  a  hundred  years,  and  the  right  of  trampling  upon  the 
necks  of  kings  had  been  received,  at  least  among  Church- 
men, as  an  inherent  attribute  of  the  papacy.  "As  the  sun 
and  the  moon  are  placed  in  the  firmament "  (such  is  the  lan- 
guage of  Innocent),  "the  greater  as  the  light  of  the  day,  and 
the  lesser  of  the  night,  thus  are  there  two  powers  in  the 
Church — the  pontifical,  which,  as  having  the  charge  of  souls, 
is  the  greater ;  and  the  royal,  which  is  the  less,  and  to  which 
the  bodies  of  men  only  are  intrusted."  Intoxicated  with 
these  conceptions  (if  we  may  apply  such  a  word  to  success- 
ful ambition),  he  thought  no  quarrel  of  princes  beyond  the 
sphere  of  his  jurisdiction.     On  every  side  the  thunder  of 


348  INNOCENT  III.  Chap.  Vli.  Part  1. 

Rome  broke  over  the  heads  of  princes.  A  certam  Swero  is 
excommunicated  for  usurping  the  crown  of  Norway.  A  le- 
gate, in  passing  through  Hungary,  is  detained  by  the  king : 
Innocent  writes  in  tolerably  mild  terms  to  this  potentate, 
but  fails  not  to  intimate  that  he  might  be  compelled  to  pre- 
vent his  son's  accession  to  the  throne.  The  King  of  Leon 
had  married  his  cousin,  a  princess  of  Castile.  Innocent  sub- 
jects the  kingdom  to  an  interdict.  The  king  gave  way,  and 
sent  back  his  wife.  But  a  more  illustrious  victory  of  the 
same  kind  was  obtained  over  Philip  Augustus,  who,  having 
repudiated  Isemburga  of  Denmark,  had  contracted  another 
marriage.  The  conduct  of  the  king,  though  not  without  the 
usual  excuse  of  those  times,  nearness  of  blood,  was  justly 
condemned ;  and  Innocent  did  not  hesitate  to  visit  his  sins 
upon  the  people  by  a  general  interdict.  This,  after  a  short 
demur  from  some  bishops,  was  enforced  throughout  France ; 
the  dead  lay  unburied,  and  the  living  were  cut  off  from  the 
offices  of  religion,  till  Philip,  thus  subdued,  took  back  his  di- 
vorced wife.  The  submission  of  such  a  prince,  not  feebly  su- 
perstitious, like  his  predecessor  Robert,  nor  vexed  with  sedi- 
tions, like  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.,  but  brave,  firm,  and  vic- 
torious, is  perhaps  the  proudest  trophy  in  the  scutcheon  of 
Rome.  Compared  with  this,  the  subsequent  triumph  of  In- 
nocent over  our  pusillanimous  John  seems  cheaply  gained, 
though  the  surrender  of  a  powerful  kingdom  into  the  vassal- 
age of  the  pope  may  strike  us  as  a  proof  of  stupendous  base- 
ness on  one  side,  and  audacity  on  the  other.'' 

I  have  mentioned  already  that  among  the  new  pretensions 
advanced  by  the  Roman  See  was  that  of  confirming  the  elec- 
tion of  an  emperor.  It  had,  however,  been  asserted  rather 
incidentally  than  in  a  peremptory  manner.  But  the  doubt 
ful  elections  of  Philip  and  Otho  after  the  death  of  Henry  VI. 
gave  Innocent  HI.  an  opportunity  of  maintaining  more  posi- 
tively this  pretended  right.  In  a  decretal  epistle  addressed 
to  the  Duke  of  Zahringen,  the  object  of  which  is  to  direct 
him  to  transfer  his  allegiance  from  Philip  to  the  other  com- 
petitor. Innocent,  after  stating  the  mode  in  which  a  regular 
election  ought  to  be  made,  declares  the  pope's  immediate 
authority  to  examine,  confirm,  anoint,  crown,  and  consecrate 

"  The  stipulated  annual  payment  of  1000  marks  was  seldom  made  by  the  kings  of 
England ;  but  one  is  almost  ashamed  that  it  should  ever  have  been  so.  Henry  III. 
paid  it  occasionally  when  he  had  any  object  to  attain,  and  even  Edward  I.  for  some 
years :  the  latest  payment  on  record  is  in  the  seventeenth  of  his  reign.  After  a  long 
discontinuance,  it  was  demanded  in  the  fortieth  of  Edward  III.  (1366),  but  the  Parlia- 
ment unanimously  declared  that  John  had  no  right  to  subject  the  kingdom  to  a  su- 
perior without  their  consent :  which  put  an  end  forever  to  the  applications. 


EccLES.  Power.  PAPAL  AUTHORITY.  349 

the  elect  emperor,  provided  he  shall  be  worthy;  Or  to  reject 
him  if  rendered  unlit  by  great  crimes,  such  as  sacrilege,  her- 
esy, perjury,  or  persecution  of  the  Church;  in  default  of  elec- 
tion, to  supply  the  vacancy ;  or,  in  the  event  of  equal  suf- 
frages, to  bestow  the  empire  upon  any  person  at  his  discre- 
tion. The  princes  of  Germany  were  not  much  influenced  by 
this  hardy  assumption,  which  manifests  the  temper  of  Inno- 
cent III.  and  of  his  court,  rather  than  their  power.  But 
Otho  IV.,  at  his  coronation  by  the  pope,  signed  a  capitulation, 
which  cut  off  several  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  emperors, 
ever  since  the  concordat  of  Calixtus,  in  respect  of  episcopal 
elections  and  investitures. 


PART  II. 

§  1.  Continual  Progress  of  the  Papacy.  5  2.  Canon  Law.  §  3.  Mendicant  Orders. 
§  4.  Dispensing  Power.  §  5.  Encroachments  on  Rights  of  Patronage,  Mandats, 
Eeserves,  etc.  5  6.  Taxation  of  the  Clergy.  §  7.  General  Disaffection  towards 
the  See  of  Rome  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  §  8.  Progress  of  Ecclesiastical  Juris- 
diction. §  9.  Immunity  of  the  Clergy  in  Criminal  Cases.  §  10.  Restraints  im- 
posed upon  their  Jurisdiction.  §  11.  Upon  their  Acquisition  of  Property.  §  12. 
Boniface  VIII.  His  Quarrel  with  Philip  the  Fair.  Its  Termination.  5  13.  Grad- 
ual Decline  of  Papal  Authority.  Removal  of  the  Papal  Court  to  Avignon.  §  14. 
Louis  of  Bavaria.  §  15.  Conduct  of  Avignon  Popes.  §  16.  Return  to  Rome. 
Contested  Election  of  Urban  and  Clement  produces  the  great  Schism.  §  17. 
Councils  of  Pisa  and  Constance.  §  18.  Council  of  Basle.  §  19.  Methods  adopted 
to  restrain  the  Papal  Usurpations  in  England,  Germany,  and  France.  Liberties 
of  the  Gallican  Church.    §  20.  Decline  of  the  Papal  Influence  in  Italy. 

§  1.  The  noonday  of  papal  dominion  extends  from  the  pon- 
tificate of  Innocent  III.,  inclusively,  to  that  of  Boniface  VIII. ; 
or,  in  other  words,  through  the  thirteenth  century.  Rome 
inspired  during  this  age  all  the  terror  of  her  ancient  name. 
She  was  once  more  the  mistress  of  the  world,  and  kings  were 
her  vassals.  I  have  already  anticipated  the  two  most  con- 
spicuous instances  when  her  temporal  ambition  displayed 
itself,  both  of  which  are  inseparable  from  the  civil  history  of 
Italy.'  In  the  first  of  these,  her  long  contention  with  the 
liouse  of  Suabia,  she  finally  triumphed.  After  his  deposition 
by  the  Council  of  Lyons,  the  affairs  of  Frederick  II.  went 
rapidly  into  decay.  With  every  allowance  for  the  enmity  of 
the  Lombards  and  the  jealousies  of  Germany,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  his  proscription  by  Innocent  IV.  and  Alexander 
IV.  was  the  main  cause  of  the  ruin  of  his  family.  There  is, 
however,  no  other  instance,  to  the  best  of  my  judgment, 
where  the  pretended  right  of  deposing  kings  has  been  success- 

1  See  above,  chapter  iiL 


350  CANON  LAW.  Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

fully  exercised.  Martin  lY.  absolved  the  subjects  of  Peter  of 
Aragon  from  their  allegiance,  and  transferred  his  crown  to  a 
prince  of  France  ;  but  they  did  not  cease  to  obey  their  lawful 
sovereign.  This  is  the  second  instance  which  the  thirteenth 
century  presents  of  interference  on  the  part  of  the  popes  in  a 
great  temporal  quarrel.  As  feudal  lords  of  Naples  and  Sicily, 
they  had,  indeed,  some  pretext  for  engaging  in  the  hostilities 
between  the  houses  of  Anjou  and  Aragon,  as  well  as  for  their 
contest  with  Frederick  II.  But  the  pontiffs  of  that  age,  im- 
proving upon  the  system  of  Innocent  III.,  and  sanguine  with 
past  success,  aspired  to  render  every  European  kingdom  for- 
mally dependent  upon  the  See  of  Rome.  Thus  Boniface  VIII., 
at  the  instigation  of  some  emissaries  from  Scotland,  claimed 
that  monarchy  as  paramount  lord,  and  interposed,  though 
vainly,  the  sacred  panoply  of  ecclesiastical  rights  to  rescue 
it  from  the  arms  of  Edward  I. 

§  2.  This  general  supremacy  effected  by  the  Roman  Church 
over  mankind,  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  de- 
rived material  support  from  the  promulgation  of  the  canon 
law.  The  foundation  of  this  jurisprudence  is  laid  in  the  de- 
crees of  councils,  and  in  the  rescripts  or  decretal  epistles  of 
popes  to  questions  propounded  upon  emergent  doubts  relative 
to  matters  of  discipline  and  ecclesiastical  economy.  As  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  spiritual  tribunals  increased  and  extended 
to  a  variety  of  persons  and  causes,  it  became  almost  necessa- 
ry to  establish  a  uniform  system  for  the  regulation  of  their 
decisions.  After  several  minor  compilations  had  appeared, 
Gratian,  an  Italian  monk,  published,  about  the  year  1140,  his 
Decretum^  or  general  collection  of  canons,  papal  epistles,  and 
sentences  of  fathers,  arranged  and  digested  into  titles  and 
chapters,  in  imitation  of  the  Pandects,  which  very  little  be- 
fore had  beojun  to  be  studied  as^ain  with  ofreat  dilisrence.  This 
work  of  Gratian,  though  it  seems  rather  an  extraordinary 
performance  for  the  age  when  it  appeared,  has  been  censured 
for  notorious  incorrectness  as  well  as  inconsistency,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  authority  given  in  it  to  the  false  decretals  of  Isi- 
dore, and,  consequently,  to  the  papal  supremacy.  It  fell,  how- 
ever, short  of  what  was  required  in  the  progress  of  that  usur- 
pation. Gregory  IX.  caused  the  five  books  of  Decretals  to  be 
published  by  Raimond  de  Pennafort,  in  1234.  These  consist 
almost  entirely  of  rescripts  issued  by  the  later  popes,  espe- 
cially Alexander  III.,  Innocent  III.,Honorius  III.,  and  Gregory 
himself  They  form  the  most  essential  part  of  the  canon  law 
— the  Decretum  of  Gratian  being  comparatively  obsolete.  In 
these  books  we  find  a  regular  and  copious  system  of  juris- 


EccLES.  Power.  (.^ANON  LAW.  351 

prudence,  derived,  in  a  great  measure,  fl'om  the  civil  law, 
but  with  considerable  deviation,  and  possibly  improvement. 
Boniface  VIII.  added  a  sixth  part,  thence  called  the  Sext, 
itself  divided  into  five  books,  in  the  nature  of  a  supplement 
to  the  other  live,  of  which  it  follows  the  arrangement,  and 
composed  of  decisions  promulgated  since  the  pontificate  of 
Gregory  IX.  New  constitutions  were  subjoined  by  Clement 
V.  and  John  XXII.,  under  the  name  of  Clementines  and  Ex- 
travagantes  Johannis  ;  and  a  few  more  of  latei*  pontiffs  are 
included  in  the  body  of  canon  law,  arranged  as  a  second  sup- 
plement, after  the  manner  of  the  Sext,  and  called  Extrava- 
gantes  Communes. 

The  study  of  this  code  became,  of  course,  obligatory  upon 
ecclesiastical  judges.  It  produced  a  new  class  of  legal  prac- 
titioners, or  canonists,  of  whom  a  great  number  added,  like 
their  brethren,  the  civilians,  their  illustrations  and  commen- 
taries, for  which  the  obscurity  and  discordance  of  many  pas- 
sages, more  especially  in  the  Decretum,  gave  ample  scope. 
From  the  general  analogy  of  the  canon  law  to  that  of  Jus- 
tinian, the  two  systems  became,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  col- 
lateral and  mutually  intertwined — the  tribunals  governed  by 
either  of  them  borrowing  their  rules  of  decision  from  the 
other  in  cases  where  their  peculiar  jurisprudence  is  silent  or 
of  dubious  interpretation.  But  the  canon  law  was  almost 
entirely  founded  upon  the  legislative  authority  of  the  pope ; 
the  decretals  are,  in  fact,  but  a  new  arrangement  of  the  bold 
epistles  of  the  most  usurping  pontiffs,  and  especially  of  Inno- 
cent III.,  with  titles,  or  rubrics,  comprehending  the  substance 
of  each  in  the  compiler's  language.  The  superiority  of  ec- 
clesiastical to  temporal  power,  or  at  least  the  absolute  inde- 
pendence of  the  former,  may  be  considered  as  a  sort  of  key- 
note which  regulates  every  passage  in  the  canon  law.  It  is 
expressly  declared  that  subjects  owe  no  allegiance  to  an  ex- 
communicated lord,  if  after  admonition  he  is  not  reconciled 
to  the  Church.  And  the  rubric  prefixed  to  the  declaration 
of  Frederick  IL's  deposition  in  the  Council  of  Lyons,  asserts 
that  the  pope  may  dethrone  the  emperor  for  lawful  causes. 
These  rubrics  to  the  decretals  are  not,  perhaps,  of  direct 
authority  as  part  of  the  law ;  but  they  express  its  sense,  so  as 
to  be  fairly  cited  instead  of  it.  By  means  of  ber  new  juris- 
prudence, Rome  acquired  in  every  country  a  powerful  body 
of  advocates,  who,  though  many  of  them  were  laymen,  would, 
with  the  usual  bigotry  of  lawyers,  defend  every  pretension 
or  abuse  to  which  their  received  standard  of  authority  gave 
sanction. 


352  MENDICANT  ORDERS.      Chap.  VII.  Part  II 

§  3.  Next  to  the  canon  law,  I  should  reckon  the  institu- 
tion of  the  mendicant  orders  among  those  circumstances 
which  principally  contributed  to  the  aggrandizement  of 
Rome.  By  the  acquisition,  and  in  some  respects  the  enjoy- 
ment, or  at  least  ostentation,  of  immense  riches,  the  ancient 
monastic  orders  had  forfeited  much  of  the  public  esteem. 
Austere  principles  as  to  the  obligation  of  evangelical  poverty 
were  inculcated  by  the  numerous  sectaries  of  that  age,  and 
eagerly  received  by  the  people,  already  much  alienated  from 
an  established  hierarchy.  Xo  means  appeared  so  efficacious 
to  counteract  this  efiect  as  the  institution  of  religious  so- 
cieties strictly  debarred  from  the  insidious  temptations  of 
wealth.  Upon  this  principle  were  founded  the  orders  of  men- 
dicant friars,  incapable,  by  the  rules  of  their  foundation,  of 
possessing  estates,  and  maintained  only  by  alms  and  pious 
remunerations.  Of  these  the  two  most  celebrated  were 
formed  by  St.  Dominick  and  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  and  estab- 
lished by  the  authority  of  Honorius  III.  in  1216  and  1223. 
These  great  reformers,  who  have  produced  so  extraordinary 
an  effect  upon  mankind,  were  of  very  different  characters ; 
the  one,  active  and  ferocious,  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
the  crusade  against  the  unfortunate  Albigeois,  and  was 
among  the  first  who  bore  the  terrible  name  of  inquisitor; 
while  the  other,  a  harmless  enthusiast,  pious  and  sincere,  but 
hardly  of  sane  mind,  was  much  rather  accessory  to  the  in- 
tellectual than  to  the  moral  degradation  of  his  species.  Va- 
rious other  mendicant  orders  were  instituted  in  the  thirteenth 
century ;  but  most  of  them  were  soon  suppressed,  and,  be- 
sides the  two  principal,  none  remain  but  the  Augustin  and 
the  Carmelite. 

These  new  preachers  were  received  with  astonishing  ap- 
probation by  the  laity,  whose  religious  zeal  usually  depends 
a  good  deal  upon  their  opinion  of  sincerity  and  disinterest- 
edness in  their  pastors.  And  the  progress  of  the  Dominican 
and  Franciscan  friars  in  the  thirteenth  century  bears  a  re- 
markable analogy  to  that  of  our  English  Methodists.  Not 
deviating  from  the  faith  of  the  Church,  but  professing  rather 
to  teach  it  in  greater  purity,  and  to  observe  her  ordinances 
with  greater  regularity,  while  they  imputed  supineness  and 
corruption  to  the  secular  clergy,  they  drew  round  their  ser- 
mons a  multitude  of  such  listeners  as  in  all  ages  are  attract- 
ed by  similar  means.  They  practised  all  the  stratagems  of 
itinerancy,  preaching  in  public  streets,  and  administering  the 
communion  on  a  portable  altar.  Thirty  years  after  their 
institution  an  historian  complains  that  the  parish  churches 


EccLES.  Power.  PAPAL  DISPENSATIONS.  353 

were  deserted,  that  none  confessed  except  to  these  friars — in 
short,  that  the  regular  discipline  was  subverted.  This  un- 
controlled privilege  of  performing  sacerdotal  functions,  which 
their  modern  anti-types  assume  for  themselves,  was  conceded 
to  the  mendicant  orders  by  the  favor  of  Rome.  Aware  of 
the  powerful  support  they  might  receive  in  turn,  the  pon- 
tiffs of  the  thirteenth  century  accumulated  benefits  upon  the 
disciples  of  Francis  and  Dominick.  They  were  exempted 
from  episcopal  authority ;  they  were  permitted  to  preach  or 
hear  confessions  without  leave  of  the  ordinary,  to  accept  of 
legacies,  and  to  inter  in  their  churches.  Such  privileges 
could  not  be  granted  without  resistance  from  the  other 
clergy ;  the  bishops  remonstrated,  the  University  of  Paris 
maintained  a  strenuous  opposition;  but  their  reluctance 
served  only  to  protract  the  final  decision.  Boniface  VIII. 
appears  to  have  peremptorily  established  the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  the  mendicant  orders  in  1295. 

It  was  naturally  to  be  expected  that  the  objects  of  such  ex- 
tensive favors  would  repay  their  benefactors  by  a  more  than 
usual  obsequiousness  and  alacrity  in  their  service.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  vied  with  each  other 
in  magnifying  the  papal  supremacy.  Many  of  these  monks 
became  eminent  in  canon  law  and  scholastic  theology.  The 
great  lawgiver  of  the  schools,  Thomas  Aquinas,  whose  opin- 
ions the  Dominicans  especially  treat  as  almost  infallible, 
went  into  the  exaggerated  principles  of  his  age  in  favor  of 
the  See  of  Rome.  And  as  the  professors  of  those  sciences 
took  nearly  all  the  learning  and  logic  of  the  times  to  their 
own  share,  it  was  hardly  possible  to  repel  their  arguments 
by  any  direct  reasoning.  But  this  partiality  of  the  new  mo- 
nastic orders  to  the  popes  must  chiefly  be  understood  to  ap- 
ply to  the  thirteenth  century,  circumstances  occurring  in  the 
next  which  gave  in  some  degree  a  different  complexion  to 
their  dispositions  in  respect  of  the  Holy  See. 

§  4.  We  should  not  overlook,  among  the  causes  that  con- 
tributed to  the  dominion  of  the  popes,  their  prerogative  of 
dispensing  with  ecclesiastical  ordinances.  The  most  remark- 
able exercise  of  this  was  as  to  the  canonical  impediments  of 
matrimony.  Such  strictness  as  is  prescribed  by  the  Chris- 
tian religion  with  respect  to  divorce  was  very  "unpalatable 
to  the  barbarous  nations.  They,  in  fact,  paid  it  little  regard ; 
under  the  Merovingian  dynasty,  even  private  men  put  away 
their  wives  at  pleasure.  In  many  capitularies  of  Charle- 
magne we  find  evidence  of  the  prevailing  license  of  repudia- 
tion and  even  polygamy.     The  principles  which  the  Church 


354  PAPAL  DISPENSATIONS.     Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

inculcated  were  in  appearance  the  very  reverse  of  this  laxi- 
ty; yet  they  led  indirectly  to  the  same  effect.  Marriages 
were  forbidden,  not  merely  within  the  limits  which  nature, 
or  those  inveterate  associations  which  we  call  nature,  have 
rendered  sacred,  but  as  far  as  the  seventh  degree  of  collat- 
eral consanguinity,  computed  from  a  common  ancestor.  Not 
only  was  affinity,  or  relationship  by  marriage,  put  upon  the 
same  footing  as  that  by  blood,  but  a  fantastical  connection, 
called  spiritual  affinity,  w^as  invented  in  order  to  prohibit 
marriage  between  a  sponsor  and  godchild.  A  union,  how- 
ever innocently  contracted,  between  parties  thus  circum- 
stanced might  at  any  time  be  dissolved,  and  their  subse- 
quent cohabitation  forbidden.  One  readily  apprehends  the 
facilities  of  abuse  to  which  all  this  led ;  and  history  is  full 
of  dissolutions  of  marriage,  obtained  by  fickle  passion  or 
cold-hearted  ambition,  to  which  the  Church  has  not  scrupled 
to  pander  on  some  suggestion  of  relationship.  It  was  not 
until  the  twelfth  century  that  either  these  laws  as  to  mar- 
riage or  any  other  established  rules  of  discipline  were  sup- 
posed liable  to  arbitrary  dispensation ;  at  least  the  stricter 
Churchmen  had  always  denied  that  the  pope  could  infringe 
canons,  nor  had  he  asserted  any  right  to  do  so.  But  Inno- 
cent III.  laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that  out  of  the  plenitude 
of  his  power  he  might  lawfully  dispense  with  the  law ;  and 
accordingly  granted,  among  other  instances  of  his  preroga- 
tive, dispensations  from  impediments  of  marriage  to  the  Em- 
peror Otho  IV.  Similar  indulgences  were  given  by  his  suc- 
cessors, though  they  did  not  become  usual  for  some  ages. 
The  fourth  Lateran  Council,  in  1215,  removed  a  great  part 
of  the  restraint,  by  permitting  marriages  beyond  the  fourth 
degree,  or  what  we  call  third-cousins;  and  dispensations 
have  been  made  more  easy,  when  it  was  discovered  that  they 
might  be  converted  into  a  source  of  profit.  They  served 
a  more  important  purpose  by  rendering  it  necessary  for  the 
princes  of  Europe,  who  seldom  could  marry  into  one  anoth- 
er's houses  without  transgressing  the  canonical  limits,  to  keep 
on  good  terms  with  the  Court  of  Rome,  which,  in  several 
instances  that  have  been  mentioned,  fulminated  its  censures 
against  sovereigns  who  lived  without  permission  in  what  was 
considered  an  incestuous  union. 

The  dispensing  power  of  the  popes  was  exerted  in  several 
cases  of  a  temporal  nature,  particularly  in  the  legitimation 
of  children,  for  purposes  even  of  succession.  This  Innocent 
III.  claimed  as  an  indirect  consequence  of  his  right  to  remove 
the  canonical  impediment  which  bastardy  offered  to  ordina- 


EccLEs.  Power.       PAPAL  ENCROACHMENTS.  355 

tion  ;  since  it  would  be  monstrous,  he  says,  that  one  who  is  le- 
gitimate for  spiritual  functions  should  continue  otherwise 
in  any  civil  matter.  But  the  most  important  and  mischievous 
species  of  dispensations  was  from  the  observance  of  promis- 
sory oaths.  Two  principles  are  laid  down  in  the  decretals 
— that  an  oath  disadvantageous  to  the  Church  is  not  bind- 
ing ;  and  that  one  extorted  by  force  was  of  slight  obliga- 
tion, and  might  be  annulled  by  ecclesiastical  authority.  As 
the  first  of  these  maxims  gave  the  most  unlimited  privilege 
to  the  popes  of  breaking  all  faith  of  treaties  which  thwarted 
their  interest  or  passion,  a  privilege  which  they  continually 
exercised,  so  the  second  was  equally  convenient  to  princes 
weary  of  observing  engagements  towards  their  subjects  or 
their  neighbors.  They  protested  with  a  bad  grace  against 
the  absolution  of  their  people  from  allegiance  by  an  author- 
ity to  which  they  did  not  scruple  to  repair  in  order  to  bol- 
ster up  their  own  perjuries.  Thus  Edward  I.,  the  strenuous 
asserter  of  his  temporal  rights,  and  one  of  the  first  who  op- 
posed a  barrier  to  the  encroachments  of  the  clergy,  sought 
at  the  hands  of  Clement  Y.  a  dispensation  from  his  oath  to 
observe  the  great  statute  against  arbitrary  taxation. 

§  5.  In  all  the  earlier  stages  of  papal  dominion  the  supreme 
head  of  the  Church  had  been  her  guardian  and  protector; 
and  this  beneficent  character  appeared  to  receive  its  con- 
summation in  the  result  of  that  arduous  struggle  which  re- 
stored the  ancient  practice  of  free  election  to  ecclesiastical 
dignities.  Not  long,  however,  after  this  triumph  had  been 
obtained,  the  popes  began  by  little  and  little  to  interfere 
with  the  regular  constitution.  Their  first  step  was  con- 
formable, indeed,  to  the  prevailing  system  of  spiritual  inde- 
pendency. By  the  concordat  of  Calixtus  it  appears  that 
the  decision  of  contested  elections  was  reserved  to  the  em- 
peror, assisted  hj  the  metropolitan  and  suff'ragans.  But  it 
was  consonant  to  the  prejudices  of  that  age  to  deem  the 
supreme  pontiff  a  more  natural  judge,  as  in  other  cases  of 
appeal.  The  point  was  early  settled  in  England,  where  a 
doubtful  election  to  the  archbishopric  of  York,  under  Ste- 
phen, was  referred  to  Rome,  and  there  kept  five  years  in  lit- 
igation. Otho  TV.  surrendered  this,  among  other  rights  of 
the  empire,  to  Innocent  III.  by  his  capitulation  ;  and  from 
that  pontificate  the  papal  jurisdiction  over  such  controver- 
sies became  thoroughly  recognized.  But  the  real  aim  of  In- 
nocent, and  perhaps  of  some  of  his  predecessors,  was  to  dis- 
pose of  bishoprics,  under  pretext  of  determining  contests,  as 
a  matter  of  patronage.     So  many  rules  were  established,  s6 


356  MANDATS.  Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

many  formalities  required  by  their  constitutions,  incorpo- 
rated afterwards  into  the  canon  law,  that  the  Court  of 
Rome  might  easily  find  means  of  annulling  what  had  been 
done  by  the  chapter,  and  bestowing  the  see  on  a  favorite 
candidate.  The  popes  soon  assumed  not  only  a  right  of  de- 
cision, but  of  devolution ;  that  is,  of  supplying  the  want  of 
election,  or  the  unfitness  of  the  elected,  by  a  nomination  of 
their  own.  Thus  Archbishop  Langton,  if  not  absolutely 
nominated,  was  at  least  chosen  in  an  invalid  and  compulsory 
manner  by  the  order  of  Innocent  III.,  as  we  may  read  in  our 
English  historians.  And  several  succeeding  archbishops  of 
Canterbury  equally  owed  their  promotion  to  the  papal  pre- 
rogative. Some  instances  of  the  same  kind  occurred  in  Ger 
many,  and  it  became  the  constant  practice  in  Naples, 

While  the  popes  were  thus  artfully  depriving  the  chapters 
of  their  right  of  election  to  bishoprics,  they  interfered  in  a 
more  arbitrary  manner  with  the  collation  of  inferior  bene- 
fices. This  began,  though  in  so  insensible  a  manner  as  to 
deserve  no  notice  but  for  its  consequences,  with  Adrian  IV., 
who  requested  some  bishops  to  confer  the  next  benefice  that 
should  become  vacant  on  a  particular  clerk.  Alexander  III. 
used  to  solicit  similar  favors.  These  recommendatory  letters 
were  called  Mwidats.  But  though  such  requests  grew  more 
frequent  than  was  acceptable  to  patrons,  they  were  preferred 
in  moderate  language,  and  could  not  decently  be  refused  to 
the  apostolic  chair.  But,  as  we  find  in  the  history  of  all 
usurping  governments,  time  changes  anomaly  into  system, 
and  injury  into  right;  examples  beget  custom,  and  custom 
ripens  into  law  ;  and  the  doubtful  precedent  of  one  genera- 
lion  becomes  the  fundamental  maxim  of  another.  No  coun- 
try was  so  intolerably  treated  by  the  popes  as  England 
throughout  the  ignominious  reign  of  Henry  III.  Her  Church 
seemed  to  have  been  so  richly  endowed  only  as  the  free  pas- 
ture of  Italian  priests,  who  were  placed,  by  the  mandatory 
letters  of  Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV.,  in  all  the  best  bene- 
fices. If  we  may  trust  a  solemn  remonstrance  in  the  name 
of  the  whole  nation,  they  drew  from  England,  in  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  marks 
every  year — a  sum  far  exceeding  the  royal  revenue.  This 
was  asserted  by  the  English  envoys  at  the  Council  of  Lyons. 
But  the  remedy  was  not  to  be  sought  in  remonstrances  to 
the  Court  of  Rome,  which  exulted  in  the  success  of  its  en- 
croachments. There  was  no  defect  of  spirit  in  the  nation  to 
oppose  a  more  adequate  resistance ;  but  the  weak-minded  in- 
dividual upon  the  throne  sacrificed  the  public  interest  some- 


EccLES.  Power.     PROVISIONS  AND  RESERVES.  357 

times  through  habitual  timidity,  sometimes  through  silly  am- 
bition. If  England,  however,  suffered  more  remarkably,  yet 
other  countries  were  far  from  being  untouched.  A  German 
writer  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  men- 
tions a  cathedral  where,  out  of  about  thirty-iive  vacancies  of 
prebends  that  had  occurred  within  twenty  years,  the  regular 
patron  had  filled  only  two.  The  case  was  not  very  differ- 
ent in  France,  where  the  continual  usurpations  of  the  popes 
produced  the  celebrated  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  St.  Louis 
(a.d.  1268).  This  edict  contains  three  important  provisions  ; 
namely,  that  all  prelates  and  other  patrons  shall  enjoy  their 
full  rights  as  to  the  collation  of  benefices,  according  to  the 
canons;  that  churches  shall  possess  freely  their  rights  of 
election  ;  and  that  no  tax  or  pecuniary  exaction  shall  be 
levied  by  the  pope,  without  consent  of  the  king  and  of  the 
national  Church.  We  do  not  find,  however,  that  the  French 
Government  acted  up  to  the  spirit  of  this  ordinance ;  and 
the  Holy  See  continued  to  invade  the  rights  of  collation  with 
less  ceremony  than  they  had  hitherto  used.  Clement  IV. 
published  a  bull  in  1266,  which,  after  asserting  an  absolute 
prerogative  of  the  supreme  pontiff  to  dispose  of  all  prefer- 
ments, whether  vacant  or  in  reversion,  confines  itself  in  the 
enacting  words  to  the  reservation  of  such  benefices  as  be- 
long to  persons  dying  at  Rome  (vacantes  in  curia).  These 
had  for  some  time  been  reckoned  as  a  part  of  the  pope's 
special  patronage  ;  and  their  number,  when  all  causes  of 
importance  were  drawn  to  his  tribunal,  when  metropolitans 
w^ere  compelled  to  seek  their  pallium  in  person,  and  even,  by 
a  recent  constitution,  exempt  abbots  were  to  repair  to  Rome 
for  confirmation,  not  to  mention  the  multitude  who  flocked 
thither  as  mere  courtiers  and  hunters  after  promotion,  must 
have  been  very  considerable.  Boniface  VIII.  repeated  this 
law  of  Clement  IV.  in  a  still  more  positive  tone ;  and  Clem- 
ent V.  laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that  the  pope  might  freely 
bestow,  as  universal  patron,  all  ecclesiastical  benefices.  In 
order  to  render  these  tenable  by  their  Italian  courtiers,  the 
canons  against  pluralities  and  non-residence  were  dispensed 
with ;  so  that  individuals  were  said  to  have  accumulated 
fifty  or  sixty  preferments.  It  was  a  consequence  from  this 
extravagant  principle,  that  the  pope  might  prevent  the  ordi- 
nary collator  upon  a  vacancy ;  and,  as  this  could  seldom  be 
done  with  sufficient  expedition  in  places  remote  from  his 
court,  that  he  might  make  reversionary  grants  during  the 
life  of  an  incumbent,  or  reserve  certain  benefices  specifically 
for  his  own  nomination. 


358  PAPAL  TAXATION.       Chap.  VII.  Part  II 

§  6.  The  persons  as  well  as  estates  of  ecclesiastics  were 
secure  from  arbitrary  taxation  in  all  kingdoms  founded  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  empire,  both  by  the  common  liberties  of  free- 
men, and  more  particularly  by  their  own  immunities  and  the 
horror  of  sacrilege.  Such,  at  least,  was  their  legal  security, 
whatever  violence  might  occasionally  be  practised  by  tyran- 
nical princes.  But  this  exemption  was  compensated  by  an- 
nual donatives,  probably  to  a  large  amount,  which  the  bish- 
ops and  monasteries  were  accustomed,  and  as  it  were  com- 
pelled, to  make  to  their  sovereigns.  They  were  subject  also, 
generally  speaking,  to  the  feudal  services  and  prestations. 
Henry  I.  is  said  to  have  extorted  a  sum  of  money  from  the 
English  Church,  But  the  first  eminent  instance  of  a  general 
tax  required  from  the  clergy  was  the  famous  Saladine  tithe — 
a  tenth  of  all  movable  estate,  imposed  by  the  kings  of  France 
and  England  upon  all  their  subjects,  with  the  consent  of 
their  great  councils  of  prelates  and  barons,  to  defray  the  ex- 
pense of  their  intended  crusade.  Yet  even  this  contribution, 
though  called  for  by  the  imminent  peril  of  the  Holy  Land  af 
ter  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  was  not  paid  without  reluctance; 
the  clergy  doubtless  anticipating  the  future  extension  of 
such  a  precedent.  Many  years  had  not  elapsed  when  a  new 
demand  was  made  upon  them,  but  from  a  diflferent  quarter. 
Innocent  HI.  (the  name  continually  recurs  when  we  trace  the 
commencement  of  an  usurpation)  imposed  in  1199  upon  the 
whole  Church  a  tribute  of  one-fortieth  of  movable  estate,  to 
be  paid  to  his  own  collectors;  but  strictly  pledging  himself 
that  the  money  should  only  be  applied  to  the  purposes  of  a 
crusade.  This  crusade  ended,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  cap- 
ture of  Constantinople.  But  the  word  had  lost  much  of  its 
original  meaning ;  or  rather,  that  meaning  had  been  extend- 
ed by  ambition  and  bigotry.  Gregory  IX.  preached  a  cru- 
sade against  the  Emperor  Frederick,  in  a  quarrel  which  only 
concerned  his  temporal  principality  ;  and  the  Church  of  En- 
gland was  taxed,  by  his  authority,  to  carry  on  this  holy  war. 
After  some  opposition  the  bishops  submitted,  and  from  that 
time  no  bounds  were  set  to  the  rapacity  of  papal  exactions. 
The  usurers  of  Cahors  and  Lorabardy,  residing  in  London, 
took  up  the  trade  of  agency  for  the  pope ;  and  in  a  few 
years  he  is  said,  partly  by  levies  of  money,  partly  by  the  rev- 
enues of  benefices,  to  have  plundered  the  kingdom  of  950,000 
marks ;  a  sum  equivalent,  perhaps,  to  not  less  than  fifteen  mil- 
lions sterling  at  present.  Henry  III.'s  pusillanimity  would 
not  permit  any  effectual  measures  to  be  adopted ;  and  in- 
deed he  sometimes  shared  in  the  booty,  and  was  indulged 


EccLES.  Power.    DISAFFECTION  TO  THE  CHURCH.  359 

with  the  produce  of  taxes  imposed  upon  his  own  clergy  to 
defray  the  cost  of  his  projected  war  against  Sicily.  A  nobler 
example  was  set  by  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  :  Clement  IV. 
having,  in  1267,  granted  the  tithes  of  its  ecclesiastical  reve- 
nues for  one  of  his  mock  crusades,  King  Alexander  III.,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  Church,  stood  up  against  this  en- 
croachment, and  refused  the  legate  permission  to  enter  his 
dominions. 

§  7.  These  gross  invasions  of  ecclesiastical  property,  how- 
ever submissively  endured,  produced  a  very  general  disaf 
fection  towards  the  Court  of  Rome.  Pillaged  upon  every 
slight  pretense,  without  law  and  without  redress,  the  clergy 
came  to  regard  their  once  paternal  monarch  as  an  arbitrary 
oppressor.  All  writers  of  the  thirteenth  and  following  cen- 
turies complain  in  terms  of  unmeasured  indignation,  and 
seem  almost  ready  to  reform  the  general  abuses  of  the 
Church.  They  distinguished,  however,  clearly  enough  be- 
tween the  abuses  which  oppressed  them  and  those  which  it 
was  their  interest  to  preserve,  nor  had  the  least  intention  of 
waiving  their  own  immunities  and  authority.  But  the  laity 
came  to  more  universal  conclusions.  A  spirit  of  inveterate 
hatred  grew  up  among  them,  not  only  towards  the  papal 
tyranny,  but  the  whole  system  of  ecclesiastical  independ- 
ence. The  rich  envied  and  longed  to  plunder  the  estates  of 
the  superior  clergy;  the  poor  learned  from  the  Waldenses 
and  other  sectaries  to  deem  such  opulence  incompatible  with 
the  character  of  evangelical  ministers.  The  itinerant  min- 
strels invented  tales  to  satirize  vicious  priests,  which  a  pre- 
disposed multitude  eagerly  swallowed.  If  the  thirteenth 
century  was  an  age  of  more  extravagant  ecclesiastical  pre- 
tensions than  any  which  had  preceded,  it  was  certainly  one 
in  which  the  disposition  to  resist  them  acquired  greater  con- 
sistence. 

§  8.  To  resist  had,  indeed,  become  strictly  necessary,  if  the 
temporal  governments  of  Christendom  would  occupy  any 
better  station  than  that  of  officers  to  the  hierarchy.  About 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century  the  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction had  rapidly  encroached  upon  the  secitlar  tribunals, 
and  seemed  to  threaten  the  usurpation  of  an  exclusive  su 
premacy  over  all  persons  and  causes.  The  bishops  gave  the 
tonsure  indiscriminately,  in  order  to  swell  the  list  of  their 
subjects.  This  sign  of  a  clerical  state,  though  below  the 
lowest  of  their  seven  degrees  of  ordination,  implying  no  spir- 
itual office,  conferred  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the 
profession  on  all  who  wore  an  ecclesiastical  habit  and  had 


360  ECCLESIASTICAL  JURISDICTION    Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

only  once  been  married.  Orphans  and  widows,  the  stranger 
and  the  poor,  the  pilgrim  and  the  leper,  under  the  appella- 
tion of  persons  in  distress  (miserabiles  personae),  came  with- 
in the  peculiar  cognizance  and  protection  of  the  Church;  nor 
could  they  be  sued  before  any  lay  tribunal.  And  the  whole 
body  of  Crusaders,  or  such  as  merely  took  the  vow  of  engag- 
ing in  a  crusade,  enjoyed  the  same  clerical  privileges. 

But  where  the  character  of  the  litigant  parties  could  not, 
even  with  this  large  construction,  be  brought  within  their 
pale,  the  bishops  found  a  pretext  for  their  jurisdiction  in  the 
nature  of  the  dispute.  Spiritual  causes  alone,  it  was  agreed, 
could  appertain  to  the  spiritual  tribunal.  But  the  word  was 
indefinite;  and  according  to  the  interpreters  of  the  twelfth 
century  the  Church  was  always  bound  to  prevent  and  chas- 
tise the  commission  of  sin.  By  this  sweeping  maxim,  which 
we  have  seen  Innocent  III.  apply  to  vindicate  his  control 
over  national  quarrels,  the  common  differences  of  individuals, 
which  generally  involve  some  charge  of  willful  injury,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  a  religious  judge.  One  is  almost  surprised 
to  find  that  it  did  not  extend  more  universally,  and  might 
praise  the  moderation  of  the  Church.  Real  actions,  or  suits 
relating  to  the  property  of  land,  were  always  the  exclusive 
province  of  the  lay  court,  even  where  a  clerk  was  the  de- 
fendant. But  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals  took  cognizance 
of  breaches  of  contract,  at  least  where  an  oath  had  been 
pledged,  and  of  personal  trusts.  They  had  not  only  an  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  over  questions  immediately  matrimonial, 
but  a  concurrent  one  with  the  civil  magistrate  in  France, 
though  never  in  England,  over  matters  incident  to  the  nup- 
tial contract,  as  claims  of  marriage-portion  and  of  doAver. 
They  took  the  execution  of  testaments  into  their  hands,  on 
account  of  the  legacies  to  pious  uses  which  testators  were 
advised  to  bequeath.  In  process  of  time,  and  under  favor- 
able circumstances,  they  made  still  greater  strides.  They 
pretended  a  right  to  supply  the  defects,  the  doubts,  or  the 
negligence  of  temporal  judges;  and  invented  a  class  of 
mixed  causes,  whereof  the  lay  or  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
took  possession  according  to  priority.  Besides  this  exten- 
sive authority  in  civil  disputes,  they  judged  of  some  offenses 
which  naturally  belong  to  the  criminal  law,  as  well  as  of 
some  others  which  participate  of  a  civil  and  criminal  nature. 
Such  were  perjury,  sacrilege,  usury,  incest,  and  adultery, 
from  the  punishment  of  all  which  the  secular  magistrate  re- 
frained, at  least  in  England,  after  they  had  become  the  prov- 
ince of  a  separate  jurisdiction.     Excommunication  still  con- 


EccLES.  PowEK.  AND  IxMMUNlTY.  361 

tinued  the  only  chastisement  which  the  Church  could  direct- 
ly inflict.  But  the  bishops  acquired  a  right  of  having  their 
own  prisons  for  lay  offenders,  and  the  monasteries  were  the 
appropriate  prisons  of  clerks.  Their  sentences  of  excommu- 
nication were  enforced  by  the  temporal  magistrate  by  im- 
prisonment or  sequestration  of  effects ;  in  some  cases  by  con- 
fiscation or  death. 

§  9.  The  clergy  did  not  forget  to  secure  along  with  this 
jurisdiction  their  own  absolute  exemption  from  the  crim- 
inal justice  of  the  state.  This  had  been  conceded  to  them 
by  Charlemagne ;  and  this  privilege  was  not  enjoyed  by 
clerks  in  England  before  the  Conquest ;  nor  do  we  find  it 
proved  by  any  records  long  afterwards  ;  though  it  seems,  by 
what  we  read  about  the  constitutions  of  Clarendon,  to  have 
grown  into  use  before  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  About  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  principle  obtained  general 
reception,  and  Innocent  III.  decided  it  to  be  an  inalienable 
right  of  the  clergy,  whereof  they  could  not  be  divested  even 
by  their  own  consent.  Much  less  were  any  constitutions  of 
princes,  or  national  usages,  deemed  of  force  to  abrogate  such 
an  important  privilege.  These,  by  the  canon  law,  were  in- 
valid when  they  affected  the  rights  and  liberties  of  Holy 
Church.  But  the  spiritual  courts  were  charged  with  scan- 
dalously neglecting  to  visit  the  most  atrocious  offenses  of 
clerks  with  such  punishment  as  they  could  inflict.  The 
Church  could  always  absolve  from  her  own  censures;  and 
confinement  in  a  monastery,  the  usual  sentence  upon  criminals, 
was  frequently  slight  and  temporary.  Several  instances  are 
mentioned  of  heinous  outrages  that  remained  nearly  unpun- 
ished through  the  shield  of  ecclesiastical  privilege.  And  as 
the  temporal  courts  refused  their  assistance  to  a  rival  juris- 
diction, the  clergy  had  no  redress  for  their  own  injuries,  and 
even  the  murder  of  a  priest,  at  one  time,  as  we  are  told,  was 
only  punishable  by  excommunication. 

§  10.  Such  an  incoherent  medley  of  laws  and  magistrates, 
upon  the  symmetrical  arrangement  of  which  all  social  econ« 
omy  mainly  depends,  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  violent  col- 
lision. Every  sovereign  was  interested  in  vindicating  the 
authority  of  the  constitution  which  had  been  formed  by  his 
ancestors,  or  by  the  people  whom  he  governed.  But  the 
first  who  undertook  this  arduous  work,  the  first  who  appear- 
ed openly  against  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  was  our  Henry  II. 
That  king,  in  the  constitutions  of  Clarendon,  attempted  in 
three  respects  to  limit  the  jurisdiction  assumed  by  the 
Church ;  asserting  for  his  own  judges  the  cognizance  of  con- 

16 


362  ENDEAVORS  TO  REPEESS      Chap.  VII.  Part  II 

tracts,  however  confirmed  by  oath,  and  of  rights  of  advow- 
son,  and  also  that  of  offenses  committed  by  clerks,  whom,  as  it 
is  gently  expressed,  after  conviction  or  confession  the  Church 
ought  not  to  protect.  These  constitutions  were  the  leading 
subject  of  difference  between  the  king  and  Thomas  a  Becket. 
Most  of  them  were  annulled  by  the  pope,  as  derogatory  to 
ecclesiastical  liberty.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that, 
if  Louis  VII.  had  played  a  more  dignified  part,  the  See  of 
Rome,  which  an  existing  schism  rendered  dependent  upon 
the  favor  of  those  two  monarchs,  might  have  receded  in 
some  measure  from  her  pretensions.  But,  France  implicitly 
giving  way  to  the  encroachments  of  ecclesiastical  power,  it 
became  impossible  for  Henry  completely  to  withstand  them. 
The  constitutions  of  Clarendon,  however,  produced  some 
effect,  and  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  more  unremitted  and 
successful  efforts  began  to  be  made  to  maintain  the  inde- 
pendence of  temporal  government.  The  judges  of  the  King's 
Court  had  until  that  time  been  themselves  principally  ec- 
clesiastics, and  consequently  tender  of  spiritual  privileges. 
But  now,  abstaining  from  the  exercise  of  temporal  jurisdic- 
tion, in  obedience  to  the  strict  injunctions  of  their  canons, 
the  clergy  gave  place  to  common  lawyers,  professors  of  a 
system  very  discordant  from  their  own.  These  soon  began 
to  assert  the  supremacy  of  their  jurisdiction  by  issuing  writs 
of  prohibition  whenever  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals  passed 
the  boundaries  which  approved  use  had  established.  Little 
accustomed  to  such  control,  the  proud  hierarchy  chafed  un- 
der the  bit ;  several  provincial  synods  protest  against  the 
pretensions  of  laymen  to  judge  the  anointed  ministers  whom 
they  were  bound  to  obey ;  the  cognizance  of  rights  of  patron- 
age and  breaches  of  contract  is  boldly  asserted ;  but  firm  and 
cautious,  favored  by  the  nobility,  though  not  much  by  the 
king,  the  judges  receded  not  a  step,  and  ultimately  fixed  a 
barrier  which  the  Church  was  forced  to  respect.  In  the  en- 
suing reign  of  Edward  I.,  an  archbishop  acknowledges  the 

^  abstract  right  of  the  King's  Bench  to  issue  prohibitions  ;  and 
the  statute  entitled  Circumspect^  agatis^  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  that  prince,  while  by  its  mode  of  expression  it  seems 

,  designed  to  guarantee  the  actual  privileges  of  spiritual  juris- 
diction, had  a  tendency,  especially  with  the  disposition  of  the 
judges,  to  yjreclude  the  assertion  of  some  which  are  not  there- 
in mentioned.     Neither  the  right  of  advowson  nor  any  tem- 

"  The  statnte  Circumspeete  agatis,  for  it  is  acknowledged  as  a  statute,  though  not 
drawn  up  in  the  form  of  one,  is  founded  upon  an  answer  of  Edward  I.  to  the  prel- 
ates who  had  petitioned  for  some  modification  of  prohibitions. 


EccLES.  Power.     ECCLESIASTICAL  JURISDICTION.  363 

poral  contract  is  specified  in  this  act  as  pertaining  to  the 
Church ;  and  accordingly  the  temporal  courts  have  ever 
since  maintained  an  undisputed  jurisdiction  over  them. 
They  succeeded  also  partially  in  preventing  the  impunity  of 
crimes  perpetrated  by  clerks.  It  was  enacted  by  the  statute 
of  Westminster,  in  1275,  or  rather  a  construction  was  put 
upon  that  act,  which  is  obscurely  worded,  that  clerks  indicted 
for  felony  should  not  be  delivered  to  their  ordinary  until  an 
inquest  had  been  taken  of  the  matter  of  accusation  ;  and,  if 
they  were  found  guilty,  that  their  real  and  personal  estate 
should  be  forfeited  to  the  crown. 

§  11.  The  vast  acquisitions  of  landed  wealth  made  for  many 
ages  by  bishops,  chapters,  and  monasteries,  began  at  length 
to  excite  the  jealousy  of  sovereigns.  They  perceived  that, 
although  the  prelates  might  send  their  stipulated  proportion 
of  vassals  into  the  field,  yet  there  could  not  be  that  active 
co-operation  which  the  spirit  of  feudal  tenures  required,  and 
that  the  national  arm  was  jjalsied  by  the  diminution  of  mili- 
tary nobles.  Again,  the  reliefs  upon  succession,  and  similar 
dues  upon  alienation,  incidental  to  fiefs,  were  entirely  lost 
when  they  came  into  the  hands  of  these  undying  corpora- 
tions, to  the  serious  injury  of  the  feudal  superior.  Nor  could 
it  escape  reflecting  men,  during  the  contest  about  investi- 
tures, that,  if  the  Church  peremptorily  denied  the  supremacy 
of  the  state  over  her  temporal  wealth,  it  was  but  a  just 
measure  of  retaliation,  or  rather  self-defense,  that  the  state 
should  restrain  her  further  acquisitions.  Prohibitions  of 
gifts  in  mortmain,  though  unknown  to  the  lavish  devotion 
of  the  new  kingdoms,  had  been  established  by  some  of  the 
Koman  emperors  to  check  the  overgrown  wealth  of  the  hie- 
rarchy. The  first  attempt  at  a  limitation  of  this  description 
in  modern  times  was  made  by  Frederick  Barbarossa,  who,  in 
1158,  enacted  that  no  fief  should  be  transferred,  either  to  the 
Church  or  otherwise,  without  the  permission  of  the  superior 
lord.  Louis  IX.  inserted  a  provision  of  the  same  kind  in  his 
Establishments.  Castile  had  also  laws  of  a  similar  tenden- 
cy. A  license  from  the  crown  is  said  to  have  been  necessary 
in  England,  before  the  Conquest,  for  alienation  in  mortmain  ; 
but  however  that  may  be,  there  seems  no  reason  to  imagine 
that  any  restraint  was  put  upon  them  by  the  common  law 
before  Magna  Charta — a  clause  of  which  statute  was  con- 
strued to  prohibit  all  gifts  to  religious  houses  without  the 
consent  of  the  lord  of  the  fee.  And  by  the  7th  Edward  I. 
alienations  in  mortmain  are  absolutely  taken  away ;  though 
the  king  might  always  exercise  his  prerogative  of  granting  a 


364  BONIFACE  VIII.  Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

license,  which  was  not  supposed  to  be  affected  by  the  stat- 
ute. 

§  12.  It  must  appear,  I  think,  to  every  careful  inquirer  that 
the  papal  authority,  though  manifesting  outwardly  more 
show  of  strength  every  year,  had  been  secretly  undermined, 
and  lost  a  great  deal  of  its  hold  upon  public  opinion,  before 
the  accession  of  Boniface  VIII.,  in  1294,  to  the  pontifical 
throne.  The  clergy  were  rendered  sullen  by  demands  of 
money,  invasions  of  the  legal  right  of  patronage,  and  unrea- 
sonable partiality  to  the  mendicant  orders;  a  part  of  the  men- 
dicants themselves  had  begun  to  declaim  against  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  papal  court :  while  the  laity,  subjects  alike  and 
sovereigns,  looked  upon  both  the  head  and  the  members  of 
the  hierarchy  with  jealousy  and  dislike.  Boniface,  full  of  in 
ordinate  arrogance  and  ambition,  and  not  sufficiently  sensi- 
ble of  this  gradual  change  in  human  opinion,  endeavored  to 
strain  to  a  higher  pitch  the  despotic  pretensions  of  former 
pontiffs.  As  Gregory  VII.  appears  the  most  usurping  of 
mankind  till  we  read  the  history  of  Innocent  III.,  so  Inno- 
cent III.  is  thrown  into  shade  by  the  superior  audacity  of 
Boniface  VIII.  But  independently  of  the  less  favorable  dis- 
positions of  the  public,  he  wanted  the  most  essential  quality 
for  an  ambitious  pope — reputation  for  integrity.  He  was 
suspected  of  having  procured  through  fraud  the  resignation 
of  his  predecessor,  Celestine  V.,  and  his  harsh  treatment  of 
that  worthy  man  afterwards  seems  to  justify  the  reproach. 
His  actions,  however,  display  the  intoxication  of  supreme  self- 
Confidence.  If  we  may  credit  some  historians,  he  appeared 
at  the  Jubilee  in  1300 — a  festival  successfully  instituted  by 
himself  to  throw  lustre  around  his  court  and  fill  his  treas- 
ury^— dressed  in  imperial  habits,  with  the  two  swords  borne 
before  him,  emblems  of  his  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  do- 
minion over  the  earth. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  elevation  to  the  pontificate  be- 
fore Boniface  displayed  his  temper.  The  two  most  powerful 
sovereigns  of  Europe,  Philip  the  Fair  and  Edward  I.,  began 
at  the  same  moment  to  attack  in  a  very  arbitrary  manner 
tiie  revenues  of  the  Church.  The  English  clergy  had,  by 
their  own  voluntary  grants,  or  at  least  those  of  the  prelates 
in  their  name,  paid  frequent  subsidies  to  the  crown  from  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.     They  had  nearly  in 

3  The  Jubilee  was  a  centenary  commemoration  in  honor  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
established  by  Boniface  VIII.  on  the  faith  of  an  imaginary  precedent  a  century  be- 
fore. The  period  was  soon  reduced  to  fifty  years,  and  from  thence  to  tw«nty-five,  as 
It  sti\I  continues. 


EccLES.  Power.     DISPUTES  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  365 

effect  waived  the  ancient  exemption,  and  retained  only  the 
common  privilege  of  English  freemen  to  tax  themselves  in  a 
constitutional  manner.  But  Edward  I.  came  upon  them  with 
demands  so  frequent  and  exorbitant,  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  take  advantage  of  a  bull  issued  by  Boniface,  forbid- 
ding  them  to  pay  any  contribution  to  the  state.  The  king 
disregarded  every  pretext,  and  seizing  their  goods  into  his 
hands,  with  other  tyrannical  proceedings,  ultimately  forced 
them  to  acquiesce  in  his  extortion.  It  is  remarkable  that 
the  pope  appears  to  have  been  passive  throughout  this  con- 
test of  Edward  I.  with  his  clergy.  But  it  was  far  otherwise 
in  France.  Philip  the  Fair  had  imposed  a  tax  on  the  eccle- 
siastical order  without  their  consent,  a  measure  perhaps  un- 
precedented, yet  not  more  odious  than  the  similar  exactions 
of  the  King  of  England.  Irritated  by  some  previous  differ- 
ences, the  pope  issued  his  bull  known  by  the  initial  words 
Clericis  laicos,  absolutely  forbidding  the  clergy  of  every 
kingdom  to  pay,  under  whatever  pretext  of  voluntary  grant, 
gift,  or  loan,  any  sort  of  tribute  to  their  government,  with- 
out his  special  permission.  Though  France  was  not  partic- 
ularly named,  the  king  understood  himself  to  be  intended, 
and  took  his  revenge  by  a  prohibition  to  export  money  from 
the  kingdom.  This  produced  angry  remonstrances  on  the 
part  of  Boniface ;  but  the  Galilean  Church  adhered  so  faith- 
fully to  the  crown,  and  showed,  indeed,  so  much  willingness 
to  be  spoiled  of  their  money,  that  he  could  not  insist  upon 
the  most  unreasonable  proj^ositions  of  his  bull,  and  ultimate- 
ly allowed  that  the  French  clergy  might  assist  their  sover- 
eign by  voluntary  contributions,  though  not  by  way  of  tax. 
For  a  very  few  years  after  these  circumstances  the  pope 
and  king  of  France  appeared  reconciled  to  each  other;  and 
the  latter  even  referred  his  disputes  with  Edward  I.  to  the 
arbitration  of  Boniface,  "  as  a  private  person,  Benedict  of 
Gaeta  (his  proper  name),  and  not  as  pontiff;"  an  almost  nu- 
gatory precaution  against  his  encroachment  upon  temporal 
authority.  But  a  terrible  storm  broke  out  in  the  first  year 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  A  bishop  of  Pamiers,  who  had 
been  sent  as  legate  from  Boniface  with  some  complaint,  dis- 
played so  much  insolence  and  such  disrespect  towards  the 
king,  that  Philip,  considering  him  as  his  own  subject,  was 
provoked  to  put  him  under  arrest,  with  the  view  to  institute 
a  criminal  process.  Boniface,  incensed  beyond  measure  at 
this  violation  of  ecclesiastical  and  legatine  privileges,  pub- 
lished several  bulls  addressed  to  the  king  and  clergy  of 
France,  charging  the  former  with  a  variety  of  offenses,  sonie 


366  DISPUTES  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.     Chap.  VII.  Part  II, 

of  them  not  at  all  concerning  the  Church,  and  commanding 
the  latter  to  attend  a  council  which  he  had  summoned  to 
meet  at  Rome.  In  one  of  these  instruments,  the  genuineness 
of  which  does  not  seem  liable  to  much  exception,  he  declares 
in  concise  and  clear  terms  that  the  king  was  subject  to  him 
in  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  matters.  This  proposition 
had  not  hitherto  been  explicitly  advanced,  and  it  was  now 
too  late  to  advance  it.  Philip  replied  by  a  short  letter  in 
the  rudest  language,  and  ordered  his  bulls  to  be  publicly 
burned  at  Paris.  Determined,  however,  to  show  the  real 
strength  of  his  opposition,  he  summoned  representatives  from 
the  three  orders  of  his  kingdom.  This  is  commonly  reck- 
oned the  first  assembly  of  the  States-General.  The  nobility 
and  commons  disclaimed  with  firmness  the  temporal  au- 
thority of  the  pope,  and  conveyed  their  sentiments  to  Rome 
through  letters  addressed  to  the  college  of  cardinals.  The 
clergy  endeavored  to  steer  a  middle  course,  and  were  re- 
luctant to  enter  into  an  engagement  not  to  obey  the  pope's 
summons ;  yet  they  did  not  hesitate  unequivocally  to  deny 
his  temporal  jurisdiction. 

The  council,  however,  opened  at  Rome;  and  notwith- 
standing the  king's  absolute  prohibition,  many  French  prel- 
ates held  themselves  bound  to  be  present.  In  this  assembly 
Boniface  promulgated  his  famous  constitution,  denominated 
Unam  scmctam.  The  Church  is  one  body,  he  therein  de- 
clares, and  has  one  head.  Under  its  command  are  two 
swords,  the  one  spiritual,  the  other  temporal ;  that  to  be 
used  by  the  supreme  pontiff  himself;  this  by  kings  and 
knights,  by  his  license  and  at  his  will.  But  the  lesser  sword 
must  be  subject  to  the  greater,  and  the  temporal  to  the  spir- 
itual authority.  He  concludes  by  declaring  the  subjection 
of  every  human  being  to  the  See  of  Rome  to  be  an  article 
of  necessary  faith.  Another  bull  pronounces  all  persons  of 
whatever  rank  obliged  to  appear  when  personally  cited  be- 
fore the  audience  or  apostolical  tribunal  at  Rome ;  "  since 
such  is  our  pleasure,  who,  by  divine  permission,  rule  the 
world."  Finally,  as  the  rupture  of  Philip  grew  more  evi- 
dently irreconcilable,  and  the  measures  pursued  by  that 
monarch  more  hostile,  he  not  only  excommunicated  him,  but 
offered  the  crown  of  France  to  the  Emperor  Albert  I.  This 
arbitrary  transference  of  kingdoms  was,  like  manj^  other 
pretensions  of  that  age,  an  improvement  upon  the  right  of 
deposing  excommunicated  sovereigns.  Gregory  VJI.  would 
not  have  denied  that  a  nation  released  by  his  authority  from 
its  allegiance  must  re-enter  upon  its  original  right  of  elect- 


EccLEs.  Power.      WITH  THE  KING  OF  FRANCE.     ,  367 

ing  a  new  sovereign.  But  Martin  IV.  had  assigned  the 
crown  of  Aragon  to  Charles  of  Yalois;  the  first  instance,  I 
think,  of  such  an  usurpation  of  power,  but  which  was  de- 
fended by  the  homage  of  Peter  XL,  who  had  rendered  his 
kingdom  feudally  dependent,  like  Naples,  upon  the  Holy  See. 
Albert  felt  no  eagerness  to  realize  the  liberal  promises  of 
Boniface,  who  was  on  the  point  of  issuing  a  bull  absolving 
the  subjects  of  Philip  from  their  allegiance,  and  declaring 
his  forfeiture,  when  a  very  unexpected  circumstance  inter- 
rupted all  his  projects. 

Philip  gave  too  much  the  air  of  a  personal  quarrel  with 
Boniface  to  what  should  have  been  a  resolute  opposition  to 
the  despotism  of  Rome.  Accordingly,  in  an  assembly  of  his 
states  at  Paris,  he  preferred  virulent  charges  against  the 
pope,  denying  him  to  have  been  legitimately  elected,  imput- 
ing to  him  various  heresies,  and  ultimately  appealing  to  a 
general  council  and  a  lawful  head  of  the  Church.  These 
measures  were  not  very  happily  planned;  and  experience 
had  always  shown  that  Europe  would  not  submit  to  change 
the  common  chief  of  her  religion  for  the  purposes  of  a  single 
sovereign.  But  Philip  succeeded  in  an  attempt  apparent- 
ly more  bold  and  singular.  Nogaret,  a  minister  who  had 
taken  an  active  share  in  all  the  proceedings  against  Boni- 
face, was  secretly  dispatched  into  Italy,  and,  joining  with 
some  of  the  Colonna  family,  proscribed  as  Ghibelins,  and 
rancorously  persecuted  by  the  pope,  arrested  him  at  Anag- 
nia,  a  town  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rome,  to  which  he  had 
gone  without  guards.  This  violent  action  was  not,  one 
would  imagine,  calculated  to  place  the  king  in  an  advanta- 
geous light;  yet  it  led  accidentally  to  a  favorable  termina- 
tion of  his  dispute.  Boniface  was  soon  rescued  by  the  in- 
habitants of  Anagnia ;  but  rage  brought  on  a  fever  which 
ended  in  his  death;  and  the  first  act  of  his  successor,  Bene- 
dict XL,  was  to  reconcile  the  King  of  France  to  the  Holy  See. 

§  13.  The  sensible  decline  of  the  papacy  is  to  be  dated 
from  the  pontificate  of  Boniface  VHL,  who  had  strained  its 
authority  to  a  higher  pitch  than  any  of  his  predecessors. 
There  is  a  spell  wrought  by  uninterrupted  good-fortune, 
which  captivates  men's  understandings,  and  persuades  them, 
against  reasoning  and  analogy,  that  violent  power  is  immor- 
tal and  irresistible.  The  spell  is  broken  by  the  first  change 
of  success.  The  tacit  submission  of  the  successors  of  Boni- 
face VHL  to  the  King  of  France  might  have  been  hailed  by 
Europe  as  a  token  that  their  influence  was  beginning  to 
abate.     Imprisoned,  insulted,  deprived  eventually  of  life  by 


368  DECLINE  OF  THE  PAPACY.     Chap.  VII.  Part  M. 

the  violence  of  Philip,  a  prince  excommunicated,  and  who  had 
gone  all  lengths  in  defying  and  despising  the  papal  jurisdic- 
tion, Boniface  had  every  claim  to  be  avenged  by  the  inherit- 
ors of  the  same  spiritual  dominion.  When  Benedict  XI.  re- 
scinded the  bulls  of  his  predecessor,  and  admitted  Philip  the 
Fair  to  communion,  without  insisting  on  any  concessions,  he 
acted  perhaps  prudently,  but  gave  a  fatal  blow  to  the  tem- 
poral authority  of  Rome. 

Benedict  XL  lived  but  a  few  months,  and  his  successor, 
Clement  Y.,  at  the  instigation,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  of 
the  King  of  France,  by  whose  influence  he  had  been  elected, 
took  the  extraordinary  step  of  removing  the  papal  chair  to 
Avignon  (a.d.  1305).  In  this  city  it  remained  for  more  than 
seventy  years ;  a  period  which  Petrarch  and  other  writers 
of  Italy  compare  to  that  of  the  Babylonish  captivity.  The 
majority  of  the  cardinals  w^as  always  French,  and  the  popes 
were  uniformly  of  the  same  nation.  Timidly  dependent 
upon  the  Court  of  France,  they  neglected  the  interests  and 
lost  the  affections  of  Italy.  Rome,  forsaken  by  her  sover- 
eign, nearly  forgot  her  allegiance ;  what  remained  of  papal 
authority  in  the  ecclesiastical  territories  was  exercised  by 
cardinal  legates,  little  to  the  honor  or  advantage  of  the 
Holy  See.  Yet  the  series  of  Avignon  pontiffs  were  far  from 
insensible  to  Italian  politics.  These  occupied,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  greater  part  of  their  attention.  But  engaging  in 
them  from  motives  too  manifestly  selfish,  and  being  regard- 
ed as  a  sort  of  foreigners  from  birth  and  residence,  they  ag- 
gravated that  unpopularity  and  bad  reputation  which  from 
various  other  causes  attached  itself  to  their  court. 

§  14.  Though  none  of  the  supreme  pontiffs  after  Bonifaqe 
YIII.  ventured  upon  such  explicit  assumptions  of  a  general 
jurisdiction  over  sovereigns  by  divine  right  as  he  had  made 
in  his  controversy  with  Philip,  they  maintained  one  memo- 
rable struggle  for  temporal  power  against  the  Emperor  Louis, 
of  Bavaria.  His  predecessor,  Henry  YIL,  whose  measures, 
much  to  the  alarm  of  the  Court  of  Avignon,  were  directed 
towards  the  restoration  of  his  imperial  rights  in  Italy,  had 
conferred  the  rank  of  vicar  of  the  empire  upon  Matteo  Yis- 
conti,  lord  of  Milan.  The  popes  had  for  some  time  pretend- 
ed to  possess  that  vicariate,  during  a  vacancy  of  the  empire; 
and  after  Llenry's  death  insisted  upon  Yisconti's  surrender 
of  the  title.  A  war  ensued  between  the  pope's  legate  and 
the  Yisconti  family.  The  Emperor  Louis  sent  assistance  to 
the  latter,  as  heads  of  the  Ghibelin  or  imperial  party.  This 
interference  cost  him  above  twenty  years  of  trouble.     John 


EccLES.  Power.     PAPAL  COURT  AT  AVIGNON.  369 

XXII.,  a  mail  as  passionate  and  ambitious  as  Boniface  him- 
self, immediately  published  a  bull  in  which  he  asserted  the 
right  of- administering  the  empire  during  its  vacancy  (even 
in  Germany,  as  it  seems  from  the  generality  of  his  expres- 
sion), as  well  as  of  deciding  in  a  doubtful  choice  of  the  elect- 
ors, to  appertain  to  the  Holy  See ;  and  commanded  Louis  to 
lay  down  his  pretended  authority  until  the  supreme  juris- 
diction should  determine  upon  his  election.  Louis's  election 
Iiad,  indeed,  been  questionable  ;  but  that  controversy  was  al- 
ready settled  in  the  field  of  Mnhldorf,  where  he  had  obtained 
a  victory  over  his  competitor,  the  Duke  of  Austria;  nor  had 
the  pope  ever  interfered  to  appease  a  civil  war  during  sev- 
eral years  that  Germany  had  been  internally  distracted  by 
the  dispute.  The  emperor,  not  yielding  to  this  peremptory 
order,  was  excommunicated ;  his  vassals  were  absolved  from 
their  oath  of  fealty,  and  all  treaties  of  alliance  between  him 
and  foreign  princes  annulled  (a.d.  1323).  Germany,  how- 
ever, remained  firm  ;  and  if  Louis  himself  had  manifested 
more  decision  of  mind  and  uniformity  in  his  conduct,  the 
Court  of  Avignon  must  have  signally  failed  in  a  contest 
from  which  it  did  not,  in  fact,  come  out  very  successful.  But 
while  at  one  time  he  went  intemperate  lengths  against 
John  XXII.,  publishing  scandalous  accusations  in  an  assem- 
bly  of  the  citizens  of  Rome,  and  causing  a  Franciscan  friar 
to  be  chosen  in  his  room,  after  an  irregular  sentence  of  depo 
sition,  he  was  always  anxious  to  negotiate  terms  of  accom- 
modation, to  give  up  his  own  active  partisans,  and  to  make 
concessions  the  most  derogatory  to  his  independence  and 
dignity.  From  John,  indeed,  he  had  nothing  to  expect ;  but 
Benedict  XII.  would  gladly  have  been  reconciled,  if  he  had 
not  feared  the  kings  of  France  and  Naples,  political  adversa- 
ries of  the  emperor,  who  kept  the  Avignon  popes  in  a  sort 
of  servitude.  His  successor,  Clement  VI.,  inherited  the  im- 
placable animosity  of  John  XXII.  towards  Louis,  who  died 
without  obtaining  the  absolution  he  had  long  abjectly  so- 
licited. 

§  15.  Though  the  want  of  firmness  in  this  emperor's  char- 
acter gave  sometimes  a  momentary  triumph  to  the  popes,  it 
is  evident  that  their  authority  lost  ground  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  struggle.  Their  right  of  confirming  imperi- 
al elections  was  expressly  denied  by  a  Diet  held  at  Frankfort 
in  1338,  which  established  as  a  fundamental  principle  that  the 
imperial  dignity  depended  upon  God  alone,  and  that  who- 
ever should  be  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  electors  became 
immediately  both  king  and  emperor,  with  all  prerogatives 

16* 


370  RAPACITY  OF  AVIGNON  POPES.     Chap.  VII.  Part  11 

of  that  station,  and  did  not  require  the  approbation  of  the 
pope.  This  law,  confirmed  as  it  was  by  subsequent  usage, 
emancipated  the  German  Empire,  which  was  immediately 
concerned  in  opposing  the  papal  claims.  But  some  who  were 
actively  engaged  in  these  transactions  took  more  extensive 
views,  and  assailed  the  whole  edifice  of  temporal  power  which 
the  Roman  See  had  been  constructing  for  more  than  two 
centuries.  Several  men  of  learning,  among  whom  Dante, 
Ockham,  and  Marsilius  of  Padua  are  the  most  conspicuous, 
investigated  the  foundations  of  this  superstructure,  and  ex- 
posed their  insufficiency.  Literature,  too  long  the  passive 
handmaid  of  spiritual  despotism,  began  to  assert  her  nobler 
birthright  of  ministering  to  liberty  and  truth.  Though  the 
writings  of  these  opponents  of  Rome  are  not  always  rea- 
soned upon  very  solid  principles,  they  at  least  taught  man- 
kind to  scrutinize  what  had  been  received  with  implicit  re- 
spect, and  prepared  the  way  for  more  philosophical  discus^ 
sions.  About  this  time  a  new  class  of  enemies  had  unex- 
pectedly risen  up  against  the  rulers  of  the  Church.  These 
were  a  part  of  the  Franciscan  order  who  had  seceded  from 
the  main  body  on  account  of  alleged  deviations  from  the 
rigor  of  their  primitive  rule.  Their  schism  was  chiefly  found- 
ed upon  a  quibble  about  the  right  of  property  in  things  con- 
sumable, whieh  they  maintained  to  be  incompatible  with  the 
absolute  poverty  prescribed  to  them.  This  frivolous  sophis- 
try was  united  with  the  wildest  fanaticism ;  and  as  John 
XXII.  attempted  to  repress  their  follies  by  a  cruel  persecu- 
tion, they  proclaimed  aloud  the  corruption  of  the  Church, 
fixed  the  name  of  Antichrist  upon  the  papacy,  and  warmly 
supported  the  Emperor  Louis  throughout  all  his  contention 
with  the  Holy  See.* 

Meanwhile,  the  popes  who  sat  at  Avignon  continued  to 
invade  with  surprising  rapaciousness  the  patronage  and  rev- 
enues of  the  Church.  The  mandats,  or  letters,  directing  a 
particular  clerk  to  be  preferred  seem  to  have  given  place  in 
a  great  degree  to  the  more  effectual  method  of  appropria- 
ting benefices  by  reservation  or  provision,  which  was  carried 
to  an  enormous  extent  in  the  fourteenth  century.  John 
XXIL,  the  most  insatiate  of  pontiffs,  reserved  to  himself  all 
the  bishoprics  in  Christendom.  Benedict  XII.  assumed  the 
privilege  for  his  own  life  of  disposing  of  all  benefices  vacant 
by  cession,  deprivation,  or  translation.     Clement  VI.  natural 

•^;  *  The  schism  of  the  rigid  Franciscans  or  Fraticelli  is  one  of  the  most  singular  parts 
'Vf  ecclesiastical  history,  and  had  a  material  tendency  both  to  depress  the  tempora] 
authority  of  the  papacy  and  to  pave  the  way  for  the  Reformation. 


EccLES.  Power.     RAPACITY  OF  AVIGNON  POPES.  371 

ly  thought  that  his  title  was  equally  good  with  his  prede- 
cessors', and  continued  the  same  right  for  his  own  time; 
which  soon  became  a  permanent  rule  of  the  Roman  Chancery. 
Hence  the  appointment  of  a  prelate  to  a  rich  bishopric  was 
generally  but  the  first  link  in  a  chain  of  translation  which  the 
pope  could  regulate  according  to  his  interest.  Another  cap- 
ital innovation  was  made  by  John  XXII.  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  famous  tax  called  A7inates,  or  first-fruits  of  ec- 
clesiastical benefices,  which  he  imposed  for  his  own  benefit. 
These  were  one  year's  value,  estimated  according  to  a  fixed 
rate  in  the  books  of  the  Roman  Chancery,  and  payable  to  the 
papal  collectors  throughout  Europe.  Various  other  devi- 
ces were  invented  to  obtain  money,  which  these  degenerate 
popes,  abandoning  the  magnificent  schemes  of  their  prede- 
cessors, were  content  to  seek  as  their  principal  object.  John 
XXII.  is  said  to  have  accumulated  an  almost  incredible 
treasure,  exaggerated  perhaps  by  the  ill-will  of  his  contem- 
poraries ;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  even  his  avarice 
reflected  greater  dishonor  on  the  Church  than  the  licentious 
profuseness  of  Clement  VI. 

These  exactions  were  too  much  encouraged  by  the  kings  of 
France,  who  participated  in  the  plunder,  or  at  least  required 
a  mutual  assistance  of  the  popes  for  their  own  imposts  on  the 
clergy.  A  manlier  spirit  was  displayed  by  our  ancestors. 
It  was  the  boast  of  England  to  have  placed  the  first  legal 
barrier  to  the  usurpations  of  Rome,  if  we  except  the  insu- 
lated Pragmatic  Sanction  of  St.  Louis,  from  which  the  prac- 
tice of  succeeding  ages  in  France  entirely  deviated.  The 
English  barons  had,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Boniface  VIII., 
absolutely  disclaimed  his  temporal  supremacy  over  their 
crown,  which  he  had  attempted  to  set  up  by  intermeddling 
in  the  quarrel  of  Scotland.  This  letter,  it  is  remarkable,  is 
nearly  coincident  in  point  of  time  with  that  of  the  French 
nobility ;  and  the  two  combined  may  be  considered  as  a 
joint  protestation  of  both  kingdoms,  and  a  testimony  to  the 
general  sentiment  among  the  superior  ranks  of  the  laity.  A 
very  few  years  afterwards  the  Parliament  of  Carlisle  wrote 
a  strong  remonstrance  to  Clement  V.  against  the  system  of 
provisions  and  other  extortions,  including  that  of  first-fruits, 
which  it  was  rumored,  they  say,  he  was  meditating  to  de- 
mand. But  the  Court  of  Avignon  was  not  to  be  moved  by 
remonstrances  ;  and  the  feeble  administration  of  Edward  II. 
gave  way  to  ecclesiastical  usurpations  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad.  His  magnanimous  son  took  a  bolder  line.  After 
complaining  ineffectually  to  Clement  VI.  of  the  enormous 


372  RETURN  OF  POPES  TO  ROME.     Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

abuse  which  reserved  almost  all  English  benefices  to  the 
pope,  and  generally  for  the  benefit  of  aliens,  he  passed,  in  1350, 
the  famous  Statute  of  Provisors.  This  act,  reciting  one 
supposed  to  have  been  made  at  the  Parliament  of  Carlisle, 
which,  however,  does  not  appear,  and  complaining  in  strong 
language  of  the  mischief  sustained  through  continual  reser- 
vations of  benefices,  enacts  that  all  elections  and  collations 
shall  be  free,  according  to  law,  and  that,  in  case  any  provision 
or  reservation  should  be  made  by  the  Court  of  Rome,  the 
king  should  for  that  turn  have  the  collation  of  such  a  bene- 
fice, if  it  be  of  ecclesiastical  election  or  patronage.  This  dev- 
olution to  the  crown,  w^hich  seems  a  little  arbitrary,  was  the 
only  remedy  that  could  be  effectual  against  the  connivance 
and  timidity  of  chapters  and  spiritual  patrons.  We  can  not 
assert  that  a  statute  so  nobly  planned  was  executed  with 
equal  steadiness.  Sometimes  by  royal  dispensation,  some- 
times by  neglect  or  evasion,  the  papal  bulls  of  provision 
were  still  obeyed,  though  fresh  laws  were  enacted  to  the 
same  eflTect  as  the  former.  It  was  found,  on  examination  in 
1367,  that  some  clerks  enjoyed  more  than  twenty  benefices 
by  the  pope's  dispensation.  And  the  Parliaments  both  of 
this  and  of  Richard  IL's  reign  invariably  complain  of  the 
disregard  shown  to  the  statute  of  provisors.  This  led  to 
other  measures,  which  I  shall  presently  mention. 

§  16.  The  residence  of  the  popes  at  Avignon  gave  very 
general  offense  to  Europe,  and  they  could  not  themselves 
avoid  perceiving  the  disadvantage  of  absence  from  their 
proper  diocese,  the  city  of  St.  Peter,  the  source  of  all  their 
claims  to  sovereign  authority.  But  Rome,  so  long  aban- 
doned, ofifered  but  an  inhospitable  reception;  Urban  V.  re- 
turned to  Avignon,  after  a  short  experiment  of  the  capital; 
and  it  was  not  till  1376  that  the  promise,  often  repeated,  and 
long  delayed,  of  restoring  the  papal  chair  to  the  metropolis 
of  Christendom,  was  ultimately  fulfilled  by  Gregory  XL 
His  death,  which  happened  soon  afterwards,  prevented,  it  is 
said,  a  second  flight  that  he  was  preparing  (a.d.  1378).  This 
was  followed  by  the  great  schism,  one  of  the  most  remarka- 
ble events  in  ecclesiastical  history.  It  is  a  diflScult  and  by 
no  means  an  interesting  question  to  determine  the  validity 
of  that  contested  election  Avhich  distracted  the  Latin  Church 
for  so  many  years.  In  one  fi;ict,  however,  there  is  a  common 
agreement,  that  the  cardinals,  of  whom  the  majority  were 
French,  having  assembled  in  conclave  for  the  election  of  a 
successor  to  Gregory  XL,  were  disturbed  by  a  tumultuous 
.populace,  who  demanded,  wdth  menaces,  a  Roman,  or  at  least 


EccLES.  Power.    ORIGIN  OF  THE  GREAT  SCHISM.  373 

an  Italian,  pope.  This  tumult  appears  to  have  been  suffi- 
ciently violent  to  excuse,  and  in  fact  did  produce,  a  consid- 
erable degree  of  intimidation.  After  some  time  the  cardi- 
nals made  choice  of  the  Archbishop  of  Bari,  a  Neapolitan, 
who  assumed  the  name  of  Urban  VI.  His  election  satisfied 
the  populace,  and  tranquillity  was  restored.  The  cardinals 
announced  their  choice  to  the  absent  members  of  their  col- 
lege, and  behaved  towards  Urban  as  their  pope  for  several 
weeks.  But  his  uncommon  harshness  of  temper  giving  them 
offense,  they  withdrew  to  a  neighboring  town,  and,  protest- 
ing that  his  election  had  been  compelled  by  the  violence  of 
the  Roman  populace,  annulled  the  whole  proceeding,  and 
chose  one  of  their  own  number,  who  took  the  pontifical  name 
of  Clement  VII.  Such  are  the  leading  circumstances  which 
produced  the  famous  schism.  The  two  competitors  shared 
the  obedience  of  Europe  in  nearly  equal  proportions.  Urban 
remained  at  Rome,  Clement  resumed  the  station  of  Avignon. 
To  the  former  adhered  Italy,  the  empire,  England,  and  the 
nations  of  the  North ;  the  latter  retained^  in  his  allegiance 
France,  Spain,  Scotland,  and  Sicily.  Fortunately  for  the 
Church,  no  question  of  religious  faith  intermixed  itself  with 
this  schism ;  nor  did  any  other  impediment  to  reunion  exist 
than  the  obstinacy  and  selfishness  of  the  contending  parties. 
As  it  was  impossible  to  come  to  any  agreement  on  the  orig 
inal  merits,  there  seemed  to  be  no  means  of  healing  the  wound 
but  by  the  abdication  of  both  popes  and  a  fresh  undisputed 
election.  This  was  the  general  wish  of  Europe,  but  urged 
with  particular  zeal  by  the  Court  of  France,  and,  above  all, 
by  the  university  of  Paris,  which  esteems  this  period  the 
most  honorable  in  her  annals.  The  cardinals,  however,  of 
neither  obedience  would  recede  so  far  from  their  party  as  to 
suspend  the  election  of  a  successor  upon  a  vacancy  of  the 
pontificate,  which  would  have  at  least  removed  one-half  of 
the  obstacle.  The  Roman  conclave,  accordingly,  placed  three 
pontiffs  successively — Boniface  IX.,  Innocent  VI.,  and  Greg- 
ory XII. — in  the  seat  of  Urban  VI. ;  and  the  cardinals  at  Avig- 
non, upon  the  death  of  Clement  in  1394,  elected  Benedict 
XIII.  (Peter  de  Luna),  famous  for  his  inflexible  obstinacy  in 
prolonging  the  schism.  He  repeatedly  promised  to  sacrifice 
his  dignity  for  the  sake  of  union.  But  there  was  no  subter- 
fuge  to  which  this  crafty  pontiff  had  not  recourse  in  order  to 
avoid  compliance  with  his  word,  though  importuned,  threat- 
ened, and  even  besieged  in  his  palace  at  Avignon.  Fatigued 
by  his  evasions,  France  withdrew  her  obedience,  and  the  Gal- 
ilean Church  continued  for  a  few  years  without  acknovvledg- 


♦ 


37i^  COUNCILS  OF  PISA  AND  CONSTANCE.     Ch  VII.  Pt.  II. 

ing  ny  supreme  head.  But  this  step,  which  was  rather  the 
measure  of  the  University  of  Paris  than  of  the  nation,  it 
seemed  advisable  to  retract ;  and  Benedict  was  again  obey- 
ed, though  France  continued  to  urge  his  resignation.  A  sec- 
ond subtraction  of  obedience,  or  at  least  declaration  of  neu- 
trality, was  resolved  upon,  as  preparatory  to  the  convocation 
of  a  general  council.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  sat  at 
Rome  displayed  not  less  insincerity.  Gregory  XII.  bound 
himself  by  oath,  on  his  accession,  to  abdicate  when  it  should 
appear  necessary.  But  while  these  rivals  were  loading  each 
other  with  the  mutual  reproach  of  schism,  they  drew  on  them- 
selves the  suspicion  of  at  least  a  virtual  collusion  in  order  to 
retain  their  respective  stations.  At  length  the  cardinals  of 
both  parties,  wearied  with  so  much  dissimulation,  deserted 
their  masters,  and  summoned  a  general  council  to  meet  at 
Pisa. 

§  17,  The  council  assembled  at  Pisa  (1409),  deposed  both 
Gregory  and  Benedict,  without  deciding,  in  any  respect,  as  to 
their  pretensions^  and  elected  Alexander  V.  by  its  own  su- 
preme authority.  This  authority,  however,  was  not  univer- 
sally recognized ;  the  schism,  instead  of  being  healed,  became 
more  desperate  ;  for,  as  Spain  adhered  firml}^  to  Benedict,  and 
Gregory  was  not  without  supporters,  there  were  now  three 
contending  pontiffs  in  the  Church.  A  general  council  was 
still,  however,  the  favorite,  and  indeed  the  sole  remedy ;  and 
John  XXIII.,  successor  to  Alexander  V.,  was  reluctantly 
prevailed  upon,  or  perhaps  trepanned,  into  convoking  one  to 
meet  at  Constance  (1414).  In  this  celebrated  assembly  he 
was  himself  deposed — a  sentence  which  he  incurred  by  that 
tenacious  clinging  to  his  dignity,  after  repeated  promises  to 
abdicate,  which  had  already  proved  fatal  to  his  competitors. 
The  deposition  of  John,  confessedly  a  legitimate  pope,  may 
strike  us  as  an  extraordinary  measure.  But,  besides  the  op- 
portunity it  might  afford  of  restoring  union,  the  council  found 
a  pretext  for  this  sentence  in  his  enormous  vices,  which  indeed 
they  seem  to  have  taken  upon  common  fame,  without  any  judi- 
cial process.  The  true  motive,  however,  of  their  proceedings 
against  him  was  a  desire  to  make  a  signal  display  of  a  new 
system,  which  had  rapidly  gained  ground,  and  which  I  may 
venture  to  call  the  whig  principles  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
A  great  question  was  at  issue — whether  the  polity  of  that  es- 
tablishment should  be  an  absolute  or  an  exceedingly  limited 
monarchy.  The  papal  tyranny,  long  endured,  and  still  in- 
creasing, had  excited  an  active  spirit  of  reformation  which  the 
most  distinguished  ecclesiastics  of  France  and  other  coun- 


EccLEs.  Power.  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  375 

tries  encouraged.  They  recurred,  as  far  as  their  knowledge 
allowed,  to  a  more  primitive  discipline  than  the  canon  law, 
and  elevated  the  supremacy  of  general  councils.  But  in  the 
formation  of  these  they  did  not  scruple  to  introduce  material 
innovations.  The  bishops  have  usually  been  considered  the 
sole  members  of  ecclesiastical  assemblies.  At  Constance, 
however,  sat  and  voted  not  only  the  chiefs  of  monasteries, 
but  the  ambassadors  of  all  Christian  princes,  the  deputies 
of  universities,  with  a  multitude  of  inferior  theologians,  and 
even  doctors  of  law.  These  were  naturally  accessible  to  the 
pride  of  sudden  elevation,  which  enabled  them  to  control  the 
strong  and  humiliate  the  lofty.  In  addition  to  this,  the  adver- 
saries of  the  Court  of  Rome  carried  another  not  less  impor- 
tant innovation.  The  Italian  bishops,  almost  universally  in  the 
papal  interests,  were  so  numerous  that,  if  suffrages  had  been 
taken  by  the  head,  their  preponderance  would  have  impeded 
any  measures  of  transalpine  nations  towards  reformation. 
It  was  determined,  therefore,  that  the  council  should  divide 
itself  into  four  nations,  the  Italian,  the  German,  the  French, 
and  the  English,  each  with  equal  rights;  and  that,  every 
proposition  having  been  separately  discussed,  the  majority  of 
the  four  should  prevail.  This  revolutionary  spirit  was  very 
unacceptable  to  the  cardinals,  who  submitted  reluctantly,  and 
with  a  determination  that  did  not  prove  altogether  unavail- 
ing, to  save  their  papal  monarchy  by  a  dexterous  policy. 
They  could  not,  however,  prevent  the  famous  resolutions  of 
the  fourth  and  fifth  sessions,  which  declare  that  the  council 
has  received,  by  Divine  right,  an  authority  to  which  every 
rank,  even  the  papal,  is  obliged  to  submit,  in  matters  of  faith, 
in  the  extirpation  of  the  present  schism,  and  in  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  Church,  both  in  its  head  and  its  members ;  and 
that  every  person,  even  a  pope,  who  shall  obstinately  refuse 
to  obey  that  council,  or  any  other  lawfully  assembled,  is  liable 
to  such  punishment  as  shall  be  necessary.  These  decrees  are 
the  great  pillars  of  that  moderate  theory,  with  respect  to  the 
papal  authority,  which  distinguished  the  Galilean  Church. 

The  purpose  for  which  these  general  councils  had  been  re- 
quired, next  to  that  of  healing  the  schism,  was  the  reformat 
tion  of  abuses.  All  the  rapacious  exactions,  all  the  scandalous 
venality  of  which  Europe  had  complained,  while  unquestioned 
pontiffs  ruled  at  Avignon,  appeared  light  in  comparison  of 
the  practices  of  both  rivals  during  the  schism.  Tenths  re- 
peatedly levied  upon  the  clergy,  annats  rigorously  exacted, 
and  enhanced  by  new  valuations,  fees  annexed  to  the  compli- 
cated formalities  of  the  papal  chancery,  were  the  means  by 


376  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.     Chap.  VII.  Part  1 1. 

, which  each  halt  of  the  Church  was  compelled  to  reimburse 
its  chief  for  the  subtraction  of  the  other's  obedience.  Boni 
face  IX.,  one  of  the  Roman  line,  Avhose  fame  is  a  little  worse 
than  that  of  his  antagonists,  made  a  gross  traffic  of  his  patron- 
age— selling  the  privileges  of  exemption  from  ordinary  juris- 
diction, of  holding  benefices  in  commendam,  and  other  dis- 
pensations, invented  for  the  benefit  of  the  Holy  See.  Noth- 
ing had  been  attempted  at  Pisa  towards  reformation.  At  Con- 
stance the  majority  were  ardent  and  sincere ;  the  representa- 
tives of  the  French,  German,  and  English  Churches  met  witb 
a  determined  and,  as  we  have  seen,  not  always  unsuccessful 
resolution  to  assert  their  ecclesiastical  liberties.  They  ap- 
pointed a  committee  of  reformation,  whose  recommendations, 
if  carried  into  effect,  would  have  annihilated  almost  entirely 
that  artfully  constructed  machinery  by  which  Rome  had  ab- 
sorbed so  much  of  the  revenues  and  patronage  of  the  Church. 
But  men  interested  in  perpetuating  these  abuses,  especially 
the  cardinals,  improved  the  advantages  which  a  skillful  gov- 
ernment always  enjoys  in  playing  against  a  popular  assembly. 
They  availed  themselves  of  the  jealousies  arising  out  of  the 
division  of  the  council  into  nations,  which  exterior  political 
circumstances  had  enhanced.  France,  then  at  war  with  En- 
gland, whose  pretensions  to  be  counted  as  a  fourth  nation  she 
had  warmly  disputed,  and  not  well-disposed  towards  the  Em- 
peror Sigismund,  joined  with  the  Italians  against  the  English 
and  German  members  of  the  council  in  a  matter  of  the  utmost 
importance — the  immediate  election  of  a  pope  before  the  arti- 
cles of  reformation  should  be  finally  concluded.  These  two 
nations,  in  return,  united  with  the  Italians  to  choose  the  Car- 
dinal Colonna,  against  the  advice  of  the  French  divines,  who 
objected  to  any  member  of  the  sacred  college.  The  Court 
of  Rome  were  gainers  in  both  questions.  Martin  V.,  the  new 
2:)ope,  soon  evinced  his  determination  to  elude  any  substantial 
reform.  After  publishing  a  few  constitutions,  tending  to  re- 
dress some  of  the  abuses  that  had  arisen  during  the  schism, 
he  contrived  to  make  separate  conventions  with  the  several 
nations,  and  as  soon  as  possible  dissolved  the  council. 

§  18.  By  one  of  the  decrees  passed  at  Constance,  another 
general  council  was  to  be  assembled  in  five  years,  a  second  at 
the  end  of  seven  more,  and  from  that  time  a  similar  repre- 
sentation of  the  Church  was  to  meet  every  ten  years.  Mar- 
tin V.  accordingly  convoked  a  council  at  Pavia,  which,  on  ac- 
count of  the  plague,  was  transferred  to  Siena;  but  nothing 
of  importance  was  transacted  by  this  assembly.  That  which 
he  summoned  seven  years  afterwards  to  the  city  of  Basle  had 


EccLEs.  Power.  COUNCIL  OF  BASJiE.  377 

very  different  results  (a.d.  1433).  The  pope,  dying  before  the 
meeting  of  this  council,  was  succeeded  by  Eugenius  IV.,  who, 
anticipating  the  spirit  of  its  discussions,  attempted  to  crush 
its  independence  in  the  outset,  by  transferring  the  place  of 
session  to  an  Italian  city.  No  point  was  reckoned  so  mate- 
rial in  the  contest  between  the  popes  and  reformers  as  whetli 
er  a  council  should  sit  in  Italy  or  beyond  the  Alps.  The 
Council  of  Basle  began,  as  it  proceeded,  in  open  enmity  to  the 
Court  of  Rome.  Eugenius,  after  several  years  had  elapsed 
in  more  or  less  hostile  discussions,  exerted  his  prerogative  of 
removing  the  assembly  to  Ferrara,  and  from  thence  to  Flor- 
ence. For  this  he  had  a  specious  pretext  in  the  negotiation, 
then  apparently  tending  to  a  prosperous  issu^,  for  the  re-union 
of  the  Greek  Church  j  a  triumph,  however  transitory,  of  which 
his  council  at  Florence  obtained  the  glory.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  assembly  at  Basle,  though  much  weakened  by  the 
defection  of  those  who  adhered  to  Eugenius,  entered  into 
compacts  Avith  the  Bohemian  insurgents  more  essential  to 
the  interests  of  the  Church  than  any  union  with  the  Greeks, 
and  completed  the  work  begun  at  Constance  by  abolishing 
the  annats,  the  reservations  of  benefices,  and  other  abuses 
of  papal  authority.  In  this  it  received  the  approbation  of 
most  princes ;  but  w^hen,  provoked  by  the  endeavors  of  the 
pope  to  frustrate  its  decrees,  it  proceeded  so  far  as  lo  suspend 
and  even  to  depose  him,  neither  France  nor  Germany  concur- 
red in  the  sentence.  Even  the  Council  of  Constance  had  not 
absolutely  asserted  a  right  of  deposing  a  lawful  pope,  except 
in  case  of  heresy,  though  their  conduct  towards  John  could 
not  otherwise  be  justified.  This  question,  indeed,  of  ecclesi- 
astical public  law  seems  to  be  still  undecided.  The-  fathers 
of  Basle  acted,  however,  with  greater  intrepidity  than  discre- 
tion, and,  not  perhaps  sensible  of  the  change  that  w^as  taking 
place  in  public  opinion,  raised  Amadeus,  a  retired  duke  of 
Savoy,  to  the  pontifical  dignity  by  the  name  of  Felix  V. 
They  thus  renewed  the  schism,  and  divided  the  obedience 
of  the  Catholic  Church  for  a  few  years.  The  empire,  how- 
ever, as  well  as  France,  observed  a  singular  and  not  very 
consistent  neutrality ;  respecting  Eugenius  as  a  lawful  pope, 
and  the  assembly  at  Basle  as  a  general  council.  England 
warmly  supported  Eugenius,  and  even  adhered  to  his  coun- 
cil at  Florence ;  Aragon  and  some  countries  of  smaller  note 
acknowledged  Felix.  But  the  partisans  of  Basle  became 
every  year  weaker;  and  Nicolas  V.,  the  successor  of  Euge- 
nius, found  no  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  cession  of 
Felix,  and  terminating:  this  schism.     This  victory  of  the  Court 


878  COUNCIL  OF  BASLE,       Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

of  Rome  over  the  Coun-cil  of  Basle  nearly  counterbalanced  the 
disadvantageous  events  at  Constance,  and  put  an  end  to  the 
project  of  lixing  permanent  limitations  upon  the  head  of  the 
Church  by  means  of  general  councils.  Though  the  decree 
that  prescribed  the  convocation  of  a  council  every  ten  years 
was  still  unrepealed,  twice  alone  lias  the  Catholic  Church 
been  convoked  since  the  Council  of  Basle. 

It  is  a  natural  subject  of  speculation,  what  would  have 
been  the  effects  of  these  universal  councils,  which  were  so 
popular  in  the  fifteenth  century,  if  the  decree  passed  at  Con- 
stance for  their  periodical  assembly  had  been  regularly  ob- 
served. Many  Catholic  writers,  of  the  moderate  or  Cisal- 
pine school,  have  lamented  their  disuse,  and  ascribed  to  it 
that  irreparable  breach  which  the  Reformation  has  made  in 
the  fabric  of  their  Church.  But  beyond  the  zeal,  unques- 
tionably sincere,  which  animated  their  members,  especially 
at  Basle,  for  the  abolition  of  papal  abuses,  there  is  nothing 
to  praise  in  their  conduct,  or  to  regret  in  their  cessation. 
The  statesman  who  dreaded  the  encroachments  of  priests 
upon  the  civil  government,  the  Christian  who  panted  to  see 
his  rites  and  faith  purified  from  the  corruption  of  ages,  found 
no  hope  of  improvement  in  these  councils.  They  took  upon 
themselves  the  pretensions  of  the  popes  whom  they  attempt- 
ed to  supersede.  By  a  decree  of  the  fathers  at  Constance. 
all  persons,  including  princes,  who  should  oppose  any  obsta- 
cle to  a  journey  undertaken  by  the  Emperor  Sigismund,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  cession  of  Benedict,  are  declared  excom- 
municated, and  deprived  of  their  dignities,  whether  secular 
or  ecclesiastical.  Their  condemnation  of  Huss  and  Jerome 
of  Prague,  and  the  scandalous  breach  of  faith  which  they  in 
duced  Sigismund  to  commit  on  that  occasion,  are  notorious. 
But  perhaps  it  is  not  equally  so  that  this  celebrated  assem- 
bly recognized  by  a  solemn  decree  the  flagitious  principle 
which  it  had  practised,  declaring  that  Huss  was  unworthy, 
through  his  obstinate  adherence  to  heresy,  of  any  privilege ; 
nor  ought  any  faith  or  promise  to  be  kept  with  him,  by  natu- 
ral, divine,  or  human  law,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Catholic 
religion.^     It  will  be  easy  to  estimate  the  claims  of  this  con- 

6  This  proposition  is  the  great  disgrace  of  the  council  in  the  affair  of  Huss.  But 
the  violation  of  his  safe-conduct  being  a  famous  event  in  ecclesiastical  history,  and 
which  has  been  very  much  disputed  with  some  degree  of  erroneous  statement  on 
both  sides,  it  may  be  proper  to  give  briefly  an  impartial  summary.  1.  Huss  came  to 
Constance  with  a  safe-conduct  of  the  emperor  very  loosely  worded,  and  not  direct- 
ed to  any  individuals.  Lenfant,  t.  i.,  p.  59.  2.  This  pass,  however,  was  binding 
upon  the  emperor  himself,  and  was  so  considered  by  him,  when  he  remonstrated 
against  the  arrest  of  Hnss.  Id.,  p.  73,  83:  3.  It  was  not  binding  on  the  council,  who 
Doseessed  no  temporal  power,  but  had  a  right  to  decide  upon  the  question  of  heresy. 


EcCLES.  Power.    STAND  AGAINST  PAPAL  DESPOTISM.  379 

gress  of  theologians  to  our  veneration,  and  to  weigh  the  re- 
trenchment of  a  few  abuses  against  the  formal  sanction  of  an 
atrocious  maxim. 

§  19.  It  was  not,  however,  necessary  for  any  government 
of  tolerable  energy  to  seek  the  reform  of  those  abuses  which 
affected  the  independence  of  national  churches,  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  their  regular  discipline,  at  the  hands  of  a  general 
council.  Whatever  difficulty  there  might  be  in  overturning 
the  principles  founded  on  the  decretals  of  Isidore,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  prescription  of  many  centuries,  the  more  fla^ 
grant  encroachments  of  papal  tyranny  were  fresh  innova- 
tions, some  within  the  actual  generation,  others  easily  to  be 
traced  up,  and  continually  disputed.  The  principal  Euro- 
pean nations  determined,  with  different  degrees  indeed  of 
energy,  to  make  a  stand  against  the  despotism  of  Rome.  In 
this  resistance  England  was  not  only  the  first  engaged,  but 
the  most  consistent ;  her  free  Parliament  preventing,  as  far 
as  the  times  permitted,  that  wavering  policy  to  which  a  court 
is  liable.  We  have  already  seen  that  a  foundation  was  laid 
in  the  statute  of  pro  visors  under  Edward  III.  In  the  next" 
reign  many  other  measui'es  tending  to  repress  the  interfer- 
ence of  Rome  were  adopted,  especially  the  great  statute  of 
praemunire,  which  subjects  all  persons  bringing  papal  bulls 
for  translation  of  bishops,  and  other  enumerated  purposes, 
into  the  kingdom  to  the  penalties  of  forfeiture  and  perpetual 
imprisonment.  This  act  received,  and  probably  was  de- 
signed to  receive,  a  larger  interpretation  than  its  language 
appears  to  warrant.  Combined  with  the  statute  of  provi- 
sors,it  put  a  stop  to  the  pope's  usurpation  of  patronage,  which 
had  impoverished  the  church  and  kingdom  of  England  for 
nearly  two  centuiies.  Several  attempts  were  made  to  over- 
throw these  enactments;  the  first  Parliament  of  Henry  lY. 
gave  a  very  large  power  to  the  king  over  the  statute  of  pro- 
visors,  enabling  him  even  to  annul  it  at  his  pleasure.  This, 
however,  does  not  appear  in  the  statute-book.  Henry  in- 
deed, like  his  predecessors,  exercised  rather  largely  his  pre- 

4.  It  is  not  manifest  by  what  civil  authority  Huss  was  arrested,  nor  can  I  determine 
how  far  the  imperial  safe-conduct  was  a  legal  protection  within  the  city  of  Con- 
stance. 5.  Sigismund  was  persuaded  to  acquiesce  in  the  capital  punishment  of 
Huss,  and  even  to  make  it  his  own  act  (Lenfant,  p.  409) ;  by  which  he  manifestly 
broke  his  engagement.  6.  It  is  evident  that  in  this  he  acted  by  the  advice  and  sanc- 
tion of  the  council,  who  thus  became  accessory  to  the  guilt  of  his  treachery. 

The  great  moral  to  be  drawn  from  the  story  of  John  Huss's  condemnation  is,  that 
no  breach  of  faith  can  be  excused  by  our  opinion  of  ill-desert  in  the  party,  or  by  a 
narrow  interpretation  of  our  own  engagements.    Every  capitulation  ought  to  be 

,  construed  favorably  for  the  weaker  side.    In  such  cases  it  is  emphatically  true  that 

fc-        if  the  letter  killeth,  the  spirit  should  give  life. 


380  EFFORTS  TO  RESTRAIN    Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

rogative  of  dispensing  with  the  law  against  papal  provisions ; 
a  prerogative  which,  as  to  this  point,  was  itself  taken  away  by 
an  act  of  his  own,  and  another  of  his  son,  Henry  Y.  But  the 
statnte  always  stood  unrepealed;  and  it  is  a  satisfactory  proof 
of  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  legislature  that  in  the 
concordat  made  by  Martin  V.,  at  the  Council  of  Constance, 
with  the  English  nation,  we  find  no  mention  of  reservation 
of  benefices,  of  annats,  and  the  other  principal  grievances  of 
that  age  ;  our  ancestors  disdaining  to  accept  by  compromise 
with  the  pope  any  modification,  or  even  confirmation  of  their 
statute  law.  They  had  already  restrained  another  flagrant 
abuse,  the  increase  of  first-fruits  by  Boniface  IX. ;  an  act  of 
Henry  IV.  forbidding  any  greater  sum  to  be  paid  on  that 
account  than  had  been  formerly  accustomed. 

It  will  appear  evident  to  every  person  acquainted  with 
the  contemporary  historians,  and  the  proceedings  of  Parlia- 
ment, that,  besides  partaking  in  the  general  resentment  of 
Europe  against  the  papal  court,  England  was  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  peculiar  hostility  to  the  clergy,  arising  from  the 
dissemination  of  the  principles  of  Wicliff.  All  ecclesiastical 
possessions  were  marked  for  spoliation  by  the  system  of  this 
reformer;  and  the  House  of  Commons  more  than  once  endeav- 
ored to  carry  it  into  eflTect,  pressing  Henry  IV.  to  seize  the 
temporalities  of  the  Church  for  public  exigencies.  This  rec- 
ommendation, besides  its  injustice,  was  not  likely  to  move 
Henry,  whose  policy  had  been  to  sustain  the  prelacy  against 
their  new  adversaries.  Ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  was  kept 
in  better  control  than  formerly  by  the  judges  of  common  law, 
who,  through  rather  a  strained  construction  of  the  statute  of 
praemunire,  extended  its  penalties  to  the  spiritual  courts  when 
they  transgressed  their  limits.  The  privilege  of  clergy  in 
criminal  cases  still  remained  ;  but  it  was  acknowledged  not 
to  comprehend  high  treason. 

Germany,  as  well  as  England,  was  disappointed  of  her 
hopes  of  general  reformation  by  the  Italian  party  at  Con- 
stance; but  she  did  not  supply  the  want  of  the  council's  de- 
crees with  suflicient  decision.  The  concordats  of  Aschaflen- 
burg,  in  1448,  surrendered  great  part  of  the  independence  for 
which  Germany  had  contended.  The  pope  retained  his  an- 
nats, or  at  least  a  sort  of  tax  in  their  place  ;  and  instead  of 
reserving  benefices  arbitrarily,  he  obtained  the  positive  right 
of  collation  during  six  alternate  months  of  every  year.  Epis- 
copal elections  were  freely  restored  to  the  chapters,  except 
in  case  of  translation,  when  the  pope  still  continued  to  nom» 
inate ;  as  he  did  also  if  any  person,  canonically  unfit,  were 


EccLES.  Power.  PAPAL  USURPATIONS.  381 

N 

presented  to  him  for  confirmation.  Rome,  for  the  remainder 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  not  satisfied  with  the  terms  she  had 
imposed,  is  said  to  have  continually  encroached  upon  the 
right  of  election.  But  she  purchased  too  dearly  her  triumph 
over  the  weakness  of  Frederick  III.,  and  the  Hundred  Griev- 
ances of  Germany,  presented  to  Adrian  VI.  by  the  Diet  of 
Nuremberg  in  1522,  manifested  the  working  of  a  long-treas- 
ured resentment,  that  had  made  straight  the  path  before  the 
Saxon  reformer. 

France,  dissatisfied  with  the  abortive  termination  of  her 
exertions  during  the  schism,  rejected  the  concordat  offered 
by  Martin  v.,  which  held  out  but  a  promise  of  imperfect  ref- 
ormation. She  suff*ered  in  consequence  the  papal  exactions  for 
some  years,  till  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Basle  prompted 
lier  to  more  vigorous  efforts  for  independence,  and  Charles 
VII.  enacted  the  famous  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges.  This 
has  been  deemed  a  sort  of  Magna  Charta  of  the  Galilean 
Church  ;  for  though  the  law  was  speedily  abrogated,  its  prin- 
ciple has  remained  fixed  as  the  basis  of  ecclesiastical  liber- 
ties. By  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  a  general  council  was  de- 
clared superior  to  the  pope  ;  elections  of  bishops  were  made 
free  from  all  control ;  mandats  or  grants  in  expectancy,  and 
reservations  of  benefices,  were  taken  away  ;  first-fruits  were 
abolished.  This  defalcation  of  wealth,  which  had  now  be- 
come dearer  than  power,  could  not  be  patiently  borne  at 
Rome.  Pius  II.,  the  same  ^neas  Sylvius  who  had  sold  him- 
self to  oppose  the  Council  of  Basle,  in  whose  service  he  had 
been  originally  distinguished,  used  every  endeavor  to  pro- 
cure the  repeal  of  this  ordinance.  With  Charles  VII.  he  had 
no  success;  but  Louis  XL,  partly  out  of  blind  hatred  to  his 
father's  memory,  partly  from  a  delusive  expectation  that  the 
pope  would  support  the  Angevin  faction  in  Naples,  repealed 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  This  may  be  added  to  other  proofs 
that  Louis  XL,  even  according  to  the  measures  of  worldly 
wisdom,  was  not  a  wise  politician.  His  people  judged  from 
better  feelings ;  the  Parliament  of  Paris  constantly  refused 
to  enregister  the  revocation  of  that  favorite  law,  and  it  con- 
tinued in  many  respects  to  be  acted  upon  until  the  reign  of 
Francis  L  At  the  States-General  of  Tours,  in  1484,  the  in- 
ferior clergy,  seconded  by  the  two  other  orders,  earnestly 
requested  that  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  might  be  confirmed  ; 
but  the  prelates  were  timid  or  corrupt,  and  the  regent  Anne 
was  unwilling  to  risk  a  quarrel  with  the  Holy  See.  This 
unsettled  state  continued,  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  neither 
quite  enforced  nor  quite  repealed,  till  Francis  L,  having  ac- 


382  THE  GxVLLICAN  CHURCH.    Chap.  VII.  Part  II. 

commodated  the  differences  of  his  predecessor  with  Rome, 
agreed  upon  a  final  concordat  with  Leo  X.,  the  treaty  that 
subsisted  for  almost  three  centuries  between  the  papacy  and 
the  kingdom  of  France.  Instead  of  capitular  election  or  pa- 
pal provision,  a  new  method  was  devised  for  filling  the  va. 
cancies  of  episcopal  sees.  The  king  was  to  nominate  a  fit 
person,  whom  the  pope  was  to  collate.  The  one  obtained 
an  essential  patronage,  the  other  preserved  his  theoretical 
supremacy.  Annats  were  restored  to  the  pope;  a  conces- 
sion of  great  importance.  He  gave  up  his  indefinite  preroga- 
tive of  reserving  benefices,  and  received  only  a  small  stipu- 
lated patronage.  This  convention  met  with  strenuous  op- 
position in  France ;  the  Parliament  of  Paris  yielded  only  to 
force  ;  the  university  hardly  stopped  short  of  sedition ;  the 
zealous  Galileans  have  ever  since  deplored  it,  as  a  fatal 
wound  to  their  liberties.  There  is  much  exaggeration  in 
this,  as  far  as  the  relation  of  the  Galilean  Church  to  Rome 
is  concerned;  but  the  royal  nomination  to  bishoprics  im- 
paired of  course  the  independence  of  the  hierarchy. 

From  the  principles  established  during  the  schism,  and  in 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges,  arose  the  far-famed  lib- 
erties of  the  Galilean  Church,  which  honorably  distinguished 
her  from  other  members  of  the  Roman  communion.  These 
liberties  do  not  strictly  fall  within  my  limits ;  and  it  will  be 
suflScient  to  observe  that  they  depended  upon  two  maxims; 
one,  that  the  pope  does  not  possess  any  direct  or  indirect 
temporal  authority;  the  other,  that  his  spiritual  jurisdiction 
can  only  be  exercised  in  conformity  with  such  parts  of  the 
common  law  as  are  received  by  the  kingdom  of  France. 
Hence  the  Galilean  Church  rejected  a  great  part  of  the  Sext 
and  Clementines,  and  paid  little  regard  to  modern  papal  bulls, 
which  in  fact  obtained  validity  only  by  the  king's  approbation. 

The  pontifical  usurpations  which  were  thus  restrained  af 
fected,  at  least  in  their  direct  operation,  rather  the  Church 
than  the  State  ;  and  temporal  governments  would  only  have 
been  half  emancipated,  if  their  national  hierarchies  had  pre- 
served their  enormous  jurisdiction.  England,  in  this  also,  be- 
gan the  work,  and  had  made  a  considerable  progress,  while 
the  mistaken  piety  or  policy  of  Louis  IX.  and  his  successors 
had  laid  France  open  to  vast  encroachments.  But  the  Par- 
liament of  Paris,  instituted  in  1304,  gradually  established  a 
paramount  a\ithority  over  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  tri- 
bunals. Their  progress  was  indeed  very  slow,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  they  devised 
the'r  famous  form  of  procedure,  the  "appeal  because  of  abuse." 


EccLES.  FowER,     DECLINE  OF  PAPAL  INFLUENCE.  383 

This,  in  the  course  of  time,  and  through  the  decline  of  eccle- 
siastical power,  not  only  proved  an  effectual  barrier  against 
encroachments  of  spiritual  jurisdiction,  but  drew  back  again 
to  the  lay  court  the  greater  part  of  those  causes  which  by 
prescription,  and  indeed  by  law,  had  appertained  to  a  differ- 
ent cognizance.  Thus  testamentary,  and  even,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, matrimonial  causes  were  decided  by  the  Parliament; 
and  in  many  other  matters  that  body,  being  the  judge  of  its 
own  competence,  narrowed,  by  means  of  the  appeal  because 
of  abuse,  the  boundaries  of  the  opposite  jurisdiction.  Tliis 
remedial  process  appears  to  have  been  more  extensively  ap- 
plied than  our  English  writ  of  prohibition.  The  latter  mere- 
ly restrains  the  interference  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts  in  mat- 
ters which  the  law  has  not  committed  to  them.  But  the  Par- 
liament of  Paris  considered  itself  as  conservator  of  the  lib- 
erties and  discipline  of  the  Galilean  Church ;  and  interposed 
the  appeal  because  of  abuse,  whenever  the  spiritual  court, 
even  in  its  proper  province,  transgressed  the  canonical  rules 
by  which  it  ought  to  be  governed. 

§  20.  While  the  bishops  of  Rome  were  losing  their  gen- 
eral influence  over  Europe,  they  did  not  gain  more  estimation 
in  Italy.  It  is  indeed  a  problem  of  some  difficulty,  whether 
they  derived  any  substantial  advantage  from  their  temporal 
principality.  From  the  termination  of  the  schism,  as  the 
popes  found  their  ambition  thwarted  beyond  the  Alps,  it  was 
diverted  more  and  more  towards  schemes  of  temporal  sover- 
eignty. In  these  we  do  not  perceive  that  consistent  policy 
which  remarkably  actuated  their  conduct  as  supreme  heads 
of  the  Church.  Men  generally  advanced  in  years,  and  born 
of  noble  Italian  families,  made  the  papacy  subservient  to  the 
elevation  of  their  kindred,  or  to  the  interests  of  a  local  fac- 
tion. For  such  ends  they  mingled  in  the  dark  conspiracies 
of  that  bad  age,  distinguished  only  by  the  more  scandalous 
turpitude  of  their  vices  from  the  petty  tyrants  and  intriguers 
with  whom  they  were  engaged.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  when  all  favorable  prejudices  were  worn  away, 
those  who  occupied  the  most  conspicuous  station  in  Europe 
disgraced  their  name  by  more  notorious  profligacy  than  could 
be  paralleled  m  the  darkest  age  that  had  preceded^  and  at 
the  moment  beyond  which  this  work  is  not  carried — the  in- 
vasion of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII. — I  must  leave  the  pontifi- 
cal tjhroue  in  the  possession  of  Alexander  VL 


384  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  L 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    ANGLO-SAXON   CONSTITUTION. 

PART     I. 

5  I.  Sketch  of  Aiiglo-Saxou  History.  §2.  Succession  to  the  Crown.  §3.  Influence 
of  Provincial  Governors.  §4.  Orders  of  Men.  Thanes  and  Ceorls.  5  5.  Britisfc 
Natives  and  Slaves.  §  6.  Witenagemot.  §  7.  Judicial  System.  Division  into 
Hundreds.  County  Court.  §  8.  Trial  by  Jury.  Its  Antiquity  investigated.  §  9. 
Law  of  Frank-pledge.  Its  several  Stages.  §  10.  Question  of  Feudal  Tenures  be- 
fore the  Conquest. 

§  1.  The  seven  very  unequal  kingdoms  of  the  Saxon  Hep- 
tarchy, formed  successively  out  of  the  countries  wrested  from 
the  Britons,  were  originally  independent  of  each  otlier.  Sev- 
eral times,  however,  a  powerful  sovereign  acquired  a  pre- 
ponderating influence  over  his  neighbors,  marked  perhaps  by 
the  payment  of  tribute.  Seven  are  enumerated  by  Bede  as 
having  thus  reigned  over  the  whole  of  Britain  ;  an  expression 
which  must  be  very  loosely  interpreted/  Three  kingdoms 
became  at  length  predominant  —  those  of  Wessex,  Mercia, 
and  Northumberland.  The  first  rendered  tributary  the  small 
estates  of  the  South-east,  and  the  second  that  of  the  Eastern 
Angles.  But  Egbert,  king  of  Wessex,  not  only  incorporated 
with  his  own  monarchy  the  dependent  kingdoms  of  Kent 
and  Essex,  but  obtained  an  acknowledgment  of  his  superior- 
ity from  Mercia  and  Northumberland;  the  latter  of  which, 
though  the  most  extensive  of  any  Anglo-Saxon  state,  was 
too  much  weakened  by  its  internal  divisions  to  offer  any  re- 
sistance. Still,  however,  the  kingdoms  of  Mercia,  East  An- 
glia,  and  Northumberland  remained  under  their  ancient  line 
of  sovereigns ;  nor  did  either  Egbert  or  his  five  immediate 
successors  assume  the  title  of  any  other  crown  than  Wessex. 

The  destruction  of  those  minor  states  was  reserved  for  a 
different  enemy.  About  the  end  of  the  eighth  century  the 
Northern  pirates  began  to  ravage  the  coast  of  England. 
Scandinavia  exhibited  in  that  age  a  very  singular  condition 
of  society.  Her  population,  continually  redundant  in  those 
barren  regions  which  gave  it  birth,  was  cast  out  in  search  of 
plunder  upon  the  ocean.     Those  who  loved  riot  rather  than 

>  See  Note  L,  "The  Bretwaldas." 


Engt/.sh  Const.  DANISH  INVASION.  385 

famine  embarked  in  large  armaments  under  chiefs  of  legit- 
imate authority  as  well  as  approved  valor.  Sucli  were  the 
Sea-kings,  renowned  in  the  stories  of  the  North — the  young- 
er^branches,  commonly,  of  royal  families,  who  inherited,  as  it 
were,  the  sea  for  their  patrimony.  Without  any  territory 
but  on  the  bosom  of  the  waves,  without  any  dwelling  but 
their  ships,  these  princely  pirates  were  obeyed  by  numerous 
subjects,  and  intimidated  mighty  nations.  Their  invasions  of 
England  became  continually  more  formidable ;  and,  as  their 
confidence  increased,  they  began  first  to  winter,  and  ultimate- 
ly to  form  permanent  settlements  in  the  country.  By  their 
command  of  the  sea,  it  was  easy  for  them  to  harass  every 
part  of  an  island  presenting  such  an  extent  of  coast  as  Brit- 
ian  ;  the  Saxons,  after  a  brave  resistance,  gradually  gave  way, 
and  were  on  the  brink  of  the  same  servitude  or  extermina- 
tion which  their  own  arms  had  already  brought  upon  the 
ancient  possessors. 

From  this  imminent  peril,  after  the  three  dependent  king- 
doms, Mercia,  Northumberland,  and  East  Anglia,  had  been 
overwhelmed,  it  was  the  glory  of  Alfred  to  rescue  the  An- 
glo-Saxon monarchy.  Nothing  less  than  the  appearance  of 
a  hero  so  undesponding,  so  enterprising,  and  so  just,  could 
have  prevented  the  entire  conquest  of  England.  Yet  he 
never  subdued  the  Danes,  nor  became  master  of  the  whole 
kingdom.  The  Thames,  the  Lea,  the  Ouse,  and  the  Roman 
road  called  Watling  Street,  determined  the  limits  of  Alfred's 
dominion.  To  the  north-east  of  this  boundary  were  spread 
the  invaders,  still  denominated  the  armies  of  East  Anglia 
and  Northumberland;  a  name  terribly  expressive  of  foreign 
conquerors,  who  retained  their  warlike  confederacy,  without 
melting  into  the  mass  of  their  subject  population.  Three 
able  and  active  sovereigns,  Edward,  Athelstan,  and  Edmund, 
the  successors  of  Alfred,  pursued  the  course  of  victory,  and 
not  only  rendered  the  English  monarchy  co-extensive  with 
the  present  limits  of  England,  but  asserted  at  least  a  su- 
premacy over  the  bordering  nations.^  Yet  even  Edgar,  the 
most  powerful  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  did  not  venture  to 
interfere  with  the  legal  customs  of  his  Danish  subjects.' 

Under  this  prince,  whose  rare  fortune  as  well  as  judicious 
conduct  procured  him  the  surname  of  Peaceable,  the  king- 
dom appears  to  have  reached  its  zenith  of  prosperity.  But 
liis  premature  death  changed  the  scene.     The  minority  and 

'  See  Note  II.,  "Saxon  Kings  of  all  England." 

<*  It  seems  now  to  be  ascertained,  by  the  comparison  of  dialects,  that  the  inhabit- 
ants from  the  Hnmber,  or  at  least  the  Tyne,  to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  were  chiefly  Danes. 

17 


386  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  L 

feeble  character  of  Etheired  II.  provoked  fresh  incursions  of 
our  enemies  beyond  the  German  Sea.  A  long  series  of  dis- 
asters, and  the  inexplicable  treason  of  those  to  whom  the 
public  safety  was  intrusted,  overthrew  the  Saxon  line,  and 
established  Canute  of  Denmark  upon  the  throne. 

The  character  of  the  Scandinavian  nations  was  in  some 
measure  changed  from  what  it  had  been  during  their  first 
invasions.  They  had  embraced  the  Christian  faith ;  they 
were  consolidated  into  great  kingdoms ;  they  had  lost  some 
of  that  predatory  and  ferocious  spirit  which  a  religion  in- 
vented, as  it  seemed,  for  pirates  had  stimulated.  Those,  too, 
who  had  long  been  settled  in  England  became  gradually 
more  assimilated  to  the  natives,  whose  laws  and  language 
were  not  radically  different  from  their  own.  Hence  the  ac- 
cession of  a  Danish  line  of  kings  produced  neither  any  evil 
nor  any  sensible  change  of  polity.  But  the  English  still  out- 
numbered their  conquerors,  and  eagerly  returned,  when  an 
opportunity  arrived,  to  the  ancient  stock.  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor, notwithstanding  his  Norman  favorites,  was  endeared 
by  the  mildness  of  his  character  to  the  English  nation,  and 
subsequent  miseries  gave  a  kind  of  posthumous  credit  to  a 
reign  not  eminent  either  for  good-fortune  or  wise  govern- 
ment. 

§  2.  In  a  stage  of  civilization  so  little  advanced  as  that  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  under  circumstances  of  such  inces- 
sant peril,  the  fortunes  of  a  nation  chiefly  depend  upon  the 
wisdom  and  valor  of  its  sovereigns.  No  free  people,  there- 
fore, would  intrust  their  safety  to  blind  chance,  and  permit 
an  uniform  observance  of  hereditary  succession  to  prevail 
against  strong  public  expediency.  Accordingly,  the  Saxons, 
like  most  other  European  nations,  while  they  limited  the  in- 
heritance of  the  crown  exclusively  to  one  royal  family,  were 
not  very  scrupulous  about  its  devolution  upon  the  nearest 
heir.  It  is  an  unwarranted  assertion  of  Carte,  that  the  rule 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  monarchy  was  "  lineal  agnatic  succes- 
sion, the  blood  of  the  second  son  having  no  right  until  the 
extinction  of  that  of  the  eldest."*  Unquestionably  the  eld- 
est son  of  the  last  king,  being  of  full  age,  and  not  manifest- 
ly incompetent,  was  his  natural  and  probable  successor; 
nor  is  it,  perhaps,  certain  that  he  always  waited  for  an  elec- 
tion to  take  upon  himself  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  although 
the  ceremony  of  coronation,  according  to  the  ancient  form, 
appears  to  imply  its  necessity.     But  the  public  security  in 

<  Vol.  i.,  p  36.5.  Blackstone  has  labored  to  prove  the  same  proposition;  but  his 
knowledge  of  English  history  was  rather  superficial. 


English  Const.  SUCCESSION  TO  CROWN.  387 

those  times  was  thought  incompatible  with  a  minor  king; 
and  the  artificial  substitution  of  a  regency,  which  stricter  no- 
tions of  hereditary  right  have  introduced,  liad  never  occurred 
to  so  rude  a  people.  Thus,  not  to  mention  those  instances 
which  the  obscure  times  of  the  Heptarchy  exhibit,  Ethelred 
I.,  as  some  say,  but  certainly  Alfred,  excluded  the  progeny 
of  their  elder  brother  from  the  throne.  Alfred,  in  his  tes- 
tament, dilates  upon  his  own  title,  which  he  builds  upon  a 
triple  foundation,  the  will  of  his  father,  the  compact  of  his 
brother  Ethelred,  and  the  consent  of  the  West-Saxon  nobili- 
ty. A  similar  objection  to  the  government  of  an  infant 
seems  to  have  rendered  Athelstan,  notwithstanding  his  re- 
puted illegitimacy,  the  public  choice  upon  the  death  of  Ed- 
ward the  Elder.  Thus,  too,  the  sons  of  Edmund  I.  were  post- 
poned to  their  Uncle  Eldred,  and  again,  preferred  to  his  issue. 
And  happy  might  it  have  been  for  England  if  this  exclusion 
of  infants  had  always  obtained.  But  upon  the  death  of  Ed- 
gar, the  royal  family  wanted  some  prince  of  mature  years  to 
prevent  the  crown  from  resting  upon  the  head  of  a  child; 
and  hence  the  minorities  of  Edward  II.  and  Ethelred  II.  led 
to  misfortunes  which  overwhelmed  for  a  time  both  the  house 
of  Cerdic  and  the  English  nation. 

§  3.  The  Anglo-Saxon  monarchy,  during  its  earlier  period, 
seems  to  have  suffered  but  little  from  that  insubordination 
among  the  superior  nobility  which  ended  in  dismembering 
the  empire  of  Charlemagne.  Such  kings  as  Alfred  and  Ath- 
elstan were  not  likely  to  permit  it.  And  the  English  coun- 
ties, each  under  its  own  alderman,  were  not  of  a  size  to  en- 
courage the  usurpation  of  their  governors.  But  when  the 
whole  kingdom  was  subdued,  there  arose,  unfortunately,  a 
fashion  of  intrusting  great  provinces  to  the  administration 
of  a  single  earl.  Notwithstanding  their  union,  Mercia, 
Northumberland,  and  East  Anglia  were  regarded  in  some 
degree  as  distinct  parts  of  the  monarchy.  A  difference  of 
laws,  though  probably  but  slight,  kept  up  this  separation. 
Alfred  governed  Mercia  by  the  hands  of  a  nobleman  who 
had  married  his  daughter  Ethelfleda ;  and  that  lady  after  her 
husband's  death  held  the  reins  with  a  masculine  energy  till 
her  own,  when  her  brother  Edward  took  the  province  into 
his  immediate  command.  But  from  the  era  of  Edward  II.'s 
succession  the  provincial  governors  began  to  overpower  the 
royal  authority,  as  they  had  done  upon  the  Continent.  En- 
gland under  this  prince  was  not  far  removed  from  the  con- 
dition of  France  under  Charles  the  Bald.  In  the  time  of 
Edward  the    Confessor  the  whole  kino^dom  seems  to  have 


888  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  I. 

Tjeen  divided  among  five  earls  ;^  three  of  whom  were  God- 
win and  his  sons  Harold  and  Tostig.  It  can  not  be  wonder- 
ed at  that  the  royal  line  was  soon  supplanted  by  the  most 
powerful  and  popular  of  these  leaders,  a  prince  well  worthy 
to  have  founded  a  new  dynasty,  if  his  eminent  qualities  had 
not  yielded  to  those  of  a  still  more  illustrious  enemy. 

§  4.  The  proper  division  of  freemen  was  into  Eorls  and 
Ceorls,  a  division  corresponding  to  the  phrase  "  gentle  and 
simple"  of  later  times.  The  eorl  was  a  gentleman,  the  ceorl 
a  yeoman,  but  both  freemen.  The  eorl  did  not  become  a  ti- 
tle of  office  till  the  eleventh  century,  when  it  was  used  as  syn- 
onymous to  alderman  for  the  governor  of  a  county  or  prov- 
ince. After  the  word  became  used  in  this  restricted  sense, 
the  class  of  persons  which  it  originally  designated  was  called 
Thanes,  and  accordingly  we  have  the  twofold  division  of 
freemen  into  Thanes  and  Ceorls. 

Among  all  the  Northern  nations,  as  is  well  known,  the 
weregild,  or  compensation  for  murder,  was  the  standard 
measure  of  the  gradations  of  society.  In  the  Anglo-Saxon 
laws  we  find  two  ranks  of  freeholders ;  the  first,  called  King's 
Thanes,  whose  lives  were  valued  at  1200  shillings;  the  sec- 
ond, of  inferior  degree,  whose  composition  was  half  that  sum. 
That  of  a  ceorl  was  200  shillings.  If  this  proportion  to  the 
value  of  a  thane  points  out  the  subordination  of  rank,  it 
certainly  does  not  exhibit  the  lower  freemen  in  a  state  of 
complete  abasement.  The  ceorl  was  not  bound,  at  least  uni- 
versally, to  the  land  which  he  cultivated.  He  was  occasion- 
ally called  upon  to  bear  arms  for  the  public  safety ;  he 
was  protected  against  personal  injuries,  or  trespasses  on  his 
land ;  he  was  capable  of  property,  and  of  the  privileges  which 
it  conferred.  If  he  came  to  possess  five  hides  of  land  (or 
about  600  acres),  with  a  church  and  mansion  of  his  own, 
he  was  entitled  to  the  name  and  rights  of  a  thane.  And  if 
by  owning  five  hides  of  land  he  became  a  thane,  it  is  plain 
that  he  might  possess  a  less  quantity  without  reaching  that 
rank.  There  were,  therefore,  ceorls  with  land  of  their  own, 
and  ceorls  without  land  of  their  own  ;  ceorls  who  might  com- 
mend themselves  to  what  lord  they  pleased,  and  ceorls  who 
could  not  quit  the  land  on  which  they  lived,  owing  various 
services  to  the  lord  of  the  manor,  but  always  freemen,  and 
capable  of  becoming  gentlemen. 

Nobody  can  doubt  that  the  villani  and  iorc7am  of  Dooms- 
day-book, who  are  always  distinguished  from  the  serfs  of 
the  demesne,  were  the  ceorls  of  Anglo-Saxon  law.     And  I 

»  See  D.  402. 


Enolish  Const.  ORDERS  OF  MEN.  389 

presume  that  the  socmen,  who  so  frequently  occur  in  that 
record,  though  flir  more  in  some  counties  than  in  others, 
were  ceorls  more  fortunate  than  the  rest,  who,  by  purchase, 
had  acquired  freeholds,  or,  by  prescription  and  the  indulgence 
of  their  lords,  had  obtained  such  a  property  in  the  outlands 
allotted  to  them  that  they  could  not  be  removed,  and  in 
many  instances  might  dispose  of  them  at  pleasure.  They 
are  the  root  of  a  noble  plant,  the  free  socage  tenants,  or  En- 
glish yeomanry,  whose  independence  has  stamped  with  pe- 
culiar features  both  our  constitution  and  our  national  char- 
acter/ 

§5.  Beneath  the  ceorls  in  political  estimation  were  the 
conquered  natives  or  Britons.  In  a  war  so  long  and  so  ob- 
stinately maintained  as  that  of  the  Britons  against  their  in- 
vaders, it  is  natural  to  conclude  that  in  a  great  part  of  the 
country  the  original  inhabitants  were  almost  extirpated,  and 
that  the  remainder  w^ere  reduced  into  servitude.  This,  till 
lately,  has  been  the  concurrent  opinion  of  our  antiquaries; 
and,  with  some  qualification,  I  do  not  see  why  it  should  not 
still  be  received.  In  every  kingdom  of  the  Continent  which 
was  formed  by  the  Northern  nations  out  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, the  Latin  language  preserved  its  superiority,  and  has 
much  more  been  corrupted  through  ignorance  and  want  of  a 
standard  than  intermingled  with  their  original  idiom.  But 
our  own  language  is,  and  has  been  from  the  earliest  times 
after  the  Saxon  conquest,  essentially  Teutonic,  and  of  the 
most  obvious  affinity  to  those  Low-German  dialects  which  are 
spoken  along  the  coast  from  Flanders  to  Holstein.  With 
such  as  are  extravagant  enough  to  controvert  so  evident  a 
truth  it  is  idle  to  contend ;  and  those  who  believe  great  part 
of  our  language  to  be  borrowed  from  the  Welsh  may  doubt- 
less infer  that  great  part  of  our  population  is  derived  from 
the  same  source.  If  we  look  through  the  subsisting  Anglo- 
Saxon  records,  there  is  not  very  frequent  mention  of  British 
subjects.  But  some  undoubtedly  there  were  in  a  state  of 
freedom,  and  possessed  of  landed  estate.  A  Welshman  (that 
is,  a  Briton)  who  held  five  hides  was  raised,  like  a  ceorl,  to 
the  dignity  of  thane.  In  the  composition,  however,  for  their 
lives,  and  consequently  in  their  rank  in  society,  they  were 
inferior  to  the  meanest  Saxon  freeman.  The  slaves,  who 
were  frequently  the  objects  of  legislation,  rather  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  their  punishments  than  of  securing  their 
rights,  may  be  presumed,  at  least  in  early  times,  to  have  been 
part  of  the  conquered  Britons.     For  though  his  own  crimes, 

•  For  further  information  upon  these  points,  see  Notk  III.,  "Borl  au3  CeorJ." 


390  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  1 

or  the  tyranny  of  others,  might  possibly  reduce  a  Saxon  ceorl 
to  this  condition,  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  lowest  of  those 
who  won  England  with  their  swords  should,  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  new  kingdoms,  have  been  left  destitute  of  per- 
sonal liberty. 

§  6.  The  great  council  by  which  an  Anglo-Saxon  king  was 
guided  in  all  the  main  acts  of  government  bore  the  appella- 
tion of  WiTENAGEMOT,  or  the  Assembly  of  the  Wise  Men. 
All  their  laws  express  the  assent  of  this  council ;  and  there 
are  instances  where  grants  made  without  its  concurrence 
have  been  revoked.  It  was  composed  of  prelates  and  ab- 
bots, of  the  aldermen  of  shires,  and,  as  it  is  generally  ex- 
pressed, of  the  noble  and  wise  men  of  the  kingdom.  Wheth- 
er the  lesser  thanes,  or  inferior  proprietors  of  lands,  were  en- 
titled to  a  place  in  the  national  council,  as  they  certainly 
were  in  the  Shirgemot,  or  County  Court,  is  not  easily  to  be 
decided.  If,  however,  all  the  body  of  thanes  or  freeholders 
were  admissible  to  the  witenagemot,  it  is  imlikely  that  the 
privilege  should  have  been  fully  exercised.  Very  few,  I  be- 
lieve, at  present  imagine  that  there  was  any  representative 
system  in  that  age;  much  less  that  the  ceorls  or  inferior 
freemen  had  the  smallest  share  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
national  assembly.  Every  argument  which  a  spirit  of  con- 
troversy once  pressed  into  this  service  has  long  since  been 
victoriously  refuted. '^ 

§  7.  It  has  been  justly  remarked  by  Hume  that,  among  a 
people  who  lived  in  so  simple  a  manner  as  these  Anglo-Sax- 
ons, the  judicial  power  is  always  of  more  consequence  than 
the  legislative.  The  liberties  of  these  Anglo-Saxon  thanes 
were  chiefly  secured,  next  to  their  swords  and  their  free  spir- 
its, by  the  inestimable  right  of  deciding  civil  and  criminal 
suits  in  their  owm  County  Court ;  an  institution  which,  having 
survived  the  Conquest,  and  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to 
fix  the  liberties  of  England  upon  a  broad  and  popular  basis, 
by  limiting  the  feudal  aristocracy,  deserves  attention  in  fol- 
lowing the  history  of  the  British  constitution. 

The  division  of  the  kingdom  into  counties,  and  of  these 
into  hundreds  and  decennaries,  for  the  purpose  of  adminis- 
tering justice,  was  not  peculiar  to  England.  In  the  early 
laws  of  France  and  Lombardy,  frequent  mention  is  made  of 
the  Hundred-court,  and,  now  and  then,  of  those  petty  village 
magistrates  who  in  England  were  called  tithing-men.  It 
has  been  usual  to  ascribe  the  establishment  of  this  system 
among  our  Saxon  ancestors  to  Alfred,  upon  the  authority  of 

^  Note  IV.,  "The  Witenagemot" 


English  Const.  JUDICIAL  SYSTEM.  391 

Ingulfus,  a  writer  contemporary  with  the  Conquest,  but  the 
work  which  bears  his  name  is  now  usually  considered  a  for- 
gery. Neither  the  biographer  of  Alfred,  Asserius,  nor  the 
existing  laws  of  that  prince,  attribute  the  system  to  Alfred. 
With  respect,  indeed,  to  the  division  of  counties,  and  their 
government  by  aldermen  and  sheriffs,  it  is  certain  that  both 
existed  long  before  his  time;  and  the  utmost  that  can  be 
supposed  is,  that  he  might  in  some  instances  have  ascertain- 
ed an  unsettled  boundary.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  equal 
evidence  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the  minor  divisions.  Hun- 
dreds, I  think,  are  first  mentioned  in  a  law  of  Edgar,  and  tith- 
ings  ill  one  of  Canute.  But  as  Alfred,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, was  never  master  of  more  than  half  the  kingdom,  the 
complete  distribution  of  England  into  these  districts  can  not, 
upon  any  supposition,  be  referred  to  him. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  circumstance  observable  in  this  division 
which  seems  to  indicate  that  it  could  not  have  taken  place 
at  one  time,  nor  upon  one  system  ;  I  mean  the  extreme  in- 
equality of  hundreds  in  different  parts  of  England.  Wheth- 
er the  name  be  conceived  to  refer  to  the  number  of  free  fom- 
ilies,  or  of  land-holders,  or  of  petty  vills,  forming  so  many  as- 
sociations of  mutual  assurance  or  frank-pledge,  one  can  hard- 
ly doubt  that,  when  the  term  was  first  applied,  a  hundred 
of  one  or  other  of  these  were  comprised,  at  an  average  reck- 
oning, within  the  district.  But  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile 
the  varying  size  of  hundreds  to  any  single  hypothesis.  The 
county  of  Sussex  contains  sixty-five,  that  of  Dorset  forty- 
three  ;  Avhile  Yorkshire  has  only  twenty-six,  and  Lancashire 
but  six.  No  difference  of  population,  though  the  south  of 
England  was  undoubtedly  far  the  best  peopled,  can  be  con- 
ceived to  account  for  so  prodigious  a  disparity  I  know  of 
no  better  solution  than  that  the  divisions  of  the  North,  prop 
erly  called  wapentakes,  were  planned  upon  a  different  sys- 
tem, and  obtained  tlie  denomination  of  hundreds  incorrectly 
after  the  union  of  all  England  under  a  single  sovereign. 

Assuming,  therefore,  the  name  and  partition  of  hundreds 
to  have  originated  in  the  southern  counties,  it  will  rather,  I 
think,  appear  probable  that  they  contained  only  a  hundred 
free  families,  including  the  ceorls  as  well  as  their  landlords. 
If  we  suppose  none  but  the  latter  to  have  been  numbered, 
we  should  find  6000  thanes  in  Kent,  and  6500  in  Sussex — a 
reckoning  totally  inconsistent  with  any  probable  estimate. 
But  though  we  have  little  direct  testimony  as  to  the  popula 
tion  of  those  times,  there  is  one  passage  which  falls  in  very 
sufficiently  with  the  former  supposition.     Bede  says  tnat  iiiQ 


392  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  Vlll.  Part  i. 

kingdom  of  the  South  Saxons,  comprehending  Surrey  as  well 
as  Sussex,  contained  7000  families.  The  county  of  Sussex 
alone  is  divided  into  sixty-five  hundreds,  which  comes  at 
least  close  enough  to  prove  that  free  families,  rather  than 
proprietors,  were  the  subject  of  that  numeration. 

The  Court  of  the  Hundred  was  held,  as  on  the  Conti- 
nent, by  its  own  centenarius,  or  hundied-man,  more  often 
called  alderman,  and,  in  the  Norman  times,  bailiff  or  consta- 
ble, but  under  the  sheriff's  writ.  It  is,  in  the  language  of 
the  law,  the  sheriff's  tourn  and  leet.  And  in  the  Anglo-Sax- 
on age  it  was  a  court  of  justice  for  suitors  within  the  hun- 
dred, though  it  could  not  execute  its  process  beyond  that 
limit.  It  also  punished  small  offenses,  and  was  intrusted 
with  the  "view  of  frank-pledge,"  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
great  police  of  mutual  surety.  In  some  cases — that  is,  when 
the  hundred  was  competent  to  render  judgment — it  seems 
that  the  County  Court  could  only  exercise  an  appellate  ju- 
risdiction for  denial  of  right  in  the  lower  tribunal.  But,  in 
course  of  time,  the  former  and  more  celebrated  court  became 
the  real  arbiter  of  important  suits;  and  the  court -leet  fell  al- 
most entirely  into  disuse  as  a  civil  jurisdiction,  contenting 
itself  with  punisliing  petty  offenses  and  keeping  up  a  local 
police.**  It  was  to  the  County  Court  that  an  English  free- 
man chiefly  looked  for  the  maintenance  of  his  civil  rights. 
In  this  assembly,  held  twice  in  the  year  by  the  bishop  and 
the  alderman,®  or,  in  his  absence,  the  sheriff,  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance was  administered  to  all  freemen,  breaches  of  the  peace 
were  inquired  into,  crimes  were  investigated,  and  claims  were 
determined.  In  this  court  alone,  the  thanes,  to  the  exclusion 
of  inferior  freemen,  were  the  judges  of  civil  controversies. 
The  latter,  indeed,  were  called  upon  to  attend  its  meetings, 
or,  in  the  language  of  our  present  law,  were  suitors  to  the 
court,  and  it  was  penal  to  be  absent.  But  this  was  on  ac- 
count of  other  duties,  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  they  were 
to  take,  or  the  frank-pledges  into  which  they  Avere  to  enter, 
not  in  order  to  exercise  any  judicial  power;  unless  we  con- 

•  Sir  F.  Palgrave,  in  the  "Edinburgh  Review"  for  1822  (xxxvi.,  28T>,  dednces  the 
hundred  from  the  hcerad  of  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  the  integral  unit  of  the 
Scandinavian  commonwealths.  He  points  out  that  the  iuiudred  was  as  much  the  or- 
ganic germ  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  commonwealth  as  the  haerad  was  of  the  Scandina- 
vian. Thus,  the  leet,  held  every  month,  and  composed  of  the  tithing-men  or  head- 
boroughs,  representing  the  inhabitants,  Avere  both  the  inquest  and  the  jury,  possess- 
ing jurisdiction,  as  he  conceives,  in  all  cases,  civil,  criminal,  and  ecclesiastical,  though 
this  was  restrained  after  the  Conquest. 

^  The  alderman  was  the  highest  rank  after  the  royal  ftimily,  to  which  lie  sometimes 
belonged.  Every  county  had  its  alderman ;  but  the  name  is  not  applied  in  written 
documents  to  magistrates  of  boroughs  before  the  Conquest. 


English  Const.  TRIAL  BY  JURY.  393 

ceive  that  the  disputes  of  the  ceorls  were  decided  by  judges 
of  their  own  rank.  No  appeal  could  be  made  to  the  roy- 
al tribunal,  unless  justice  was  denied  in  the  County  Court. 
There  were,  however,  royal  judges,  who,  either  by  way  of  ap- 
peal from  the  lower  courts,  or  in  excepted  cases,  formed  a 
paramount  judicature;  but  how  their  court  was  composed  un- 
der the  Anglo-Saxon  sovereigns,  I  do  not  pretend  to  assert. 

§  8.  It  had  been  a  prevailing  opinion  that  trial  by  jury  may 
be  referred  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  age,  and  common  tradition 
has  ascribed  it  to  the  wisdom  of  Alfred ;  but  this  opinion  is 
now  universally  abandoned.  The  only  passage  in  the  laws  of 
Alfred  bearing  upon  this  point  is  as  follows :  "  If  any  one 
accuse  a  king's  thane  of  homicide,  if  he  dare  to  purge  him- 
self, let  him  do  it  along  with  twelve  king's  thanes."  "  If  any 
one  accuse  a  thane  of  less  rank  than  a  king's  thane,  let  him 
purge  himself  along  with  eleven  of  his  equals,  and  one  king's 
thane."  This  law,  which  some  contend  to  mean  nothing  but 
trial  by  jury,  really  refers  to  that  ancient  usage  of  compurga- 
tion, where  the  accused  sustained  his  own  oath  by  those  of 
a  number  of  his  friends,  who  pledged  their  knowledge,  or  at 
least  their  belief,  of  his  innocence.  Other  passages  in  the 
Saxon  laws  which  have  been  cited  in  favor  of  the  antiquity 
of  trial  by  jury  equally  refer  to  compurgators.  Their  num- 
bers were  sometimes  twelve,  at  other  times  twenty-four,  and 
occasionally  thirty-six. 

The  principle  of  the  whole  law  of  compurgation  is  to  be 
found  in  that  stress  laid  upon  general  character  which  per- 
vades the  Anglo-Saxon  jurisprudence.  The  law  of  frank: 
pledge  proceeded  upon  the  maxim  that  the  best  guaranty  of 
every  man's  obedience  to  the  government  was  to  be  sought 
in  the  confidence  of  his  neighbors. 

The  seeds  of  our  present  form  of  trial  by  jury  may  be  dis- 
covered in  a  law  of  Ethelred  II.,  by  which  a  court  was  to  be 
held  in  every  wapentake,  where  the  sheriff  and  twelve  princi- 
pal thanes  should  swear  that  they  would  neither  acquit  any 
criminal  nor  convict  any  innocent  person.  It  seems  more 
probable  that  these  thanes  were  permanent  assessors  to  the 
sheriff,  like  the  scabini,  so  frequently  mentioned  in  the  oarly 
laws  of  France  and  Italy,  than  jurors  indiscriminately  se- 
lected. Their  duties  were  to  present  offenders,  and  they  bear 
analogy  to  our  grand  juries.  They  must  be  clearly  distin- 
guished from  the  compurgators  already  mentioned. 

The  nearest  approach  to  a  regular  jury  which  has  been  pre- 
served in  our  scanty  memorials  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  age  oc- 
curs in  the  history  of  the  monastery  of  Ramsey.    A  contro- 

17* 


394  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  I. 

versy  relating  to  lands  between  that  society  and  a  certain  no- 
bleman was  brought  into  the  County  Court,  when  each  party 
was  heard  in  his  own  behalf.  After  this  commencement,  on 
account,  probably,  of  the  length  and  difficulty  of  the  investi- 
gation, it  was  referred  by  the  court  to  thirty-six  thanes,  equal- 
ly chosen  by  both  sides.  And  here  we  begin  to  perceive  the 
manner  in  which  those  tumultuous  assemblies  —  the  mixed 
body  of  freeholders  in  their  County  Court  —  slid  gradually 
into  a  more  steady  and  more  diligent  tribunal.  But  this  was 
not  the  work  of  a  single  age.  In  the  Conqueror's  reign  we 
find  a  proceeding  very  similar  to  the  case  of  Ramsey,  in  which 
the  suit  had  been  commenced  in  the  County  Court  before  it 
was  found  expedient  to  remit  it  to  a  select  body  of  freehold- 
ers. In  the  reign  of  William  Rufus,  and  down  to  that  of  Hen- 
ry II.,  when  the  trial  of  writs  of  right  by  the  Grand  Assize  w^as 
introduced,  there  are  other  instances  of  the  original  usage. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  preference  given 
to  twelve,  or  some  multiple  of  it,  in  fixing  the  number  either 
of  judges  or  compurgators.  This  was  not  peculiar  to  En- 
gland— there  are  several  instances  of  it  in  the  early  German 
laws ;  and  that  number  seems  to  have  been  regarded  with 
equal  veneration  in  Scandinavia.  It  is  very  immaterial  from 
what  caprice  or  superstition  this  predilection  arose,  but  its 
general  prevalence  shows  that,  in  searching  for  the  origin  of 
trial  by  jury,  we  can  not  rely  for  a  moment  upon  any  analogy 
which  the  mere  number  affords.  I  am  induced  to  make  this 
observation,  because  some  of  the  passages  which  have  been 
alleged  by  eminent  men  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the 
existence  of  that  institution  before  the  Conquest  seem  to 
have  little  else  to  support  them.'" 

§  9.  There  is  certainly  no  part  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  polity 
which  has  attracted  so  much  the  notice  of  modern  times  as 
the  law  oi  frank-pledge^  or  mutual  responsibility  of  the  mem- 
bers of  a  tithing  for  each  other's  abiding  the  course  of  justice. 
This,  like  the  distribution  of  hundreds  and  tithings  them- 
selves, and  like  trial  by  jury,  has  been  generally  attributed  to 
Alfred ;  and  of  this,  I  suspect,  we  must  also  deprive  him. 

The  peculiar  system  of  frank-pledges  seems  to  have  passed 
through  the  following  very  gradual  stages :  At  first,  an  ac- 
cused person  was  obliged  to  find  bail  for  standing  his  trial. 
At  a  subsequent  period,  his  relations  were  called  upon  to  be- 
come sureties  for  payment  of  the  composition  and  other  fines 
to  which  he  w^as  liable.  They  w^ere  even  subject  to  be  im- 
prisoned until  payment  was  made,  and  thifi  impnsonment 

JO  Note  V.,  "  Trial  by  Jury." 


English  Const.  FRANK-PLEDGE.  395 

was  commutable  for  a  certain  sum  of  money.  The  next 
stage  was,  to  make  persons  already  convicted,  or  of  suspicious 
repute,  give  sureties  for  their  future  behavior.  It  is  not  till 
the  reign  of  Edgar  that  we  find  the  iirst  general  law,  which 
places  every  man  in  the  condition  of  the  guilty  or  suspected, 
and  compels  him  to  find  a  surety,  who  shall  be  responsible 
for  his  appearance  when  judicially  summoned.  This  is  per- 
petually repeated  and  enforced  in  later  statutes,  during  his 
reign  and  that  of  Ethelred.  Finally,  the  laws  of  Canute  de- 
clare the  necessity  of  belonging  to  some  hundred  and  tith- 
ing, as  well  as  of  providing  sureties ;  and  it  may,  perhaps, 
be  inferred  that  the  custom  of  rendering  every  member  of  a 
tithing  answerable  for  the  appearance  of  all  the  rest,  as  it  ex- 
isted after  the  Conquest,  is  as  old  as  the  reign  of  this  Danish 
monarch. 

It  is  an  error  to  suppose,  as  some  have  stated,  that  "the 
members  of  every  tithing  were  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  one  another ;  and  that  the  society,  or  their  leader,  might 
be  prosecuted  and  compelled  to  make  reparation  for  an  inju- 
ry committed  by  any  individual."  In  fact,  the  members  of 
a  tithing  were  no  more  than  perpetual  bail  for  each  other. 
"  The  greatest  security  of  the  public  order  (say  the  laws  as- 
cribed to  the  Confessor)  is  that  every  man  must  bind  him- 
self to  one  of  those  societies  which  the  English  in  general 
call  freeborgs,  and  the  people  of  Yorkshire  ten  men's  tale." 
This  consisted  in  the  responsibility  of  ten  men,  each  for  the 
other,  throughout  every  village  in  the  kingdom ;  so  that,  if 
one  of  the  ten  committed  any  fault,  the  nine  should  produce 
him  in  justice ;  where  he  should  make  reparation  by  his  own 
property  or.  by  personal  punishment.  If  he  fled  from  jus- 
tice a  mode  was  provided  according  to  which  the  tithing 
might  clear  themselves  from  participation  in  his  crime  or 
escape ;  in  default  of  such  exculpation,  and  the  malefactor's 
estate  proving  deficient,  they  were  compelled  to  make  good 
the  penalty.  And  it  is  equally  manifest,  from  every  other 
passage  in  which  mention  is  made  of  this  ancient  institu- 
tion, that  the  obligation  of  the  tithing  was  merely  that  of 
permanent  bail,  responsible  only  indirectly  for  the  good  be- 
havior of  their  members. 

Every  freeman  above  the  age  of  twelve  years  was  required 
to  be  enrolled  in  some  tithing.  In  order  to  enforce  this  es- 
sential part  of  police,  the  courts  of  the  tourn  and  leet  were 
erected,  or  rather,  perhaps,  separated  from  that  of  the  coun- 
ty. The  periodical  meetings  of  these,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  tithings,  whence  they  were  called 


396  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     C.iap.  VIII.   Part  I 

the  view  of  frank-pledge,  are  regulated  in  Magna  Charta. 
But  this  custom,  which  seems  to  have  been  in  full  vigor 
when  Bracton  wrote,  and  is  enforced  by  a  statute  of  Edward 
II.,  gradually  died  away  in  succeeding  times. 

§  10.  It  remains  only,  before  we  conclude  this  sketch  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  system,  to  consider  the  once  famous  ques- 
tion respecting  the  establishment  of  feudal  tenures  in  En- 
gland before  the  Conquest. 

The  distribution  of  landed  property  in  England  by  the  An- 
glo-Saxons is  clearly  explained  by  Mr.  Allen,  in  his  inquiry 
into  the  "Rise  and  Growth  of  the  Royal  Prerogative." 
"Part  of  the  lands  they  acquired  was  converted  into  estates 
of  inheritance  for  individuals ;  part  remained  the  property 
of  the  public,  and  was  left  to  the  disposal  of  the  state.  The 
former  was  called  Bodand  ;  the  latter  Folcland. 

"  Folcland^  as  the  word  imports,  was  the  land  of  the  folk^ 
or  people.  It  was  the  property  of  the  community.  It  might 
be  occupied  in  common,  or  possessed  in  severalty.  But, 
while  it  continued  to  be  folcland,  it  could  not  be  alienated 
in  perpetuity ;  and  therefore,  on  the  expiration  of  the  term 
for  which  it  had  been  granted,  it  reverted  to  the  community, 
and  was  again  distributed  by  the  same  authority. 

"  Bodand  was  held  by  hooh^  or  charter.  It  was  land  that 
had  been  severed  by  an  act  of  government  from  the  folcland, 
and  converted  into  an  estate  of  perpetual  inheritance.  It 
might  belong  to  the  Church,  to  the  king,  or  to  a  subject.  It 
might  be  alienable  and  devisable  at  the  will  of  the  proprie- 
tor. It  might  be  limited  in  its  descent  without  any  power 
of  alienation  in  the  possessor.  It  was  often  granted  for  a 
single  life,  or  for  more  lives  than  one,  with  remainder  in  per- 
petuity  to  the  Church.  It  was  forfeited  for  various  delin- 
quencies to  the  state. 

"Folcland  was  subject  to  many  burdens  and  exactions 
from  which  bocland  was  exempt.  The  possessors  of  folcland 
were  bound  to  assist  in  the  reparation  of  royal  vills  and  in 
other  public  works.  They  were  liable  to  have  travellers  and 
others  quartered  on  them  for  subsistence.  They  were  re- 
quired to  give  hospitality  to  kings  and  great  men  in  their 
progresses  through  the  country,  to  furnish  them  with  car- 
riages and  relays  of  horses,  and  to  extend  the  same  assistance 
to  their  messengers,  followers,  and  servants,  and  even  to  the 
persons  who  had  charge  of  their  hawks,  horses,  and  hounds. 
Such,  at  least,  are  the  burdens  from  which  lands  are  libera- 
ted when  converted  by  charter  into  bocland. 

"  Bocland  wae  liable  to  none  of  these  exactions.     It  was 


English  Const.  FEUDAL  TENURES.  397 

released  from  all  services  to  the  public,  with  the  exception 
of  contributing  to  military  expeditions,  and  to  the  repara- 
tion of  castles  and  bridges.  These  duties  or  services  were 
comprised  in  the  phrase  of  trinoda  oiecessitas^  which  were 
said  to  be  incumbent  on  all  persons,  so  that  none  could  be 
excused  from  them.  The  Church  indeed  contrived,  in  some 
cases,  to  obtain  an  exemption  from  them  ;  but  in  general  its 
lands,  like  those  of  others,  were  subject  to  them"  (p.  142). 

The  obligations  of  the  trinoda  necessitas,  and  especially 
that  of  military  service,  have  beea  sometimes  thought  to  de- 
note a  feudal  tenure.  There  is,  however,  a  confusion  into 
which  we  may  fall  by  not  sufficiently  discriminating  the  rights 
of  a  king  as  chief  lord  of  his  vassals,  and  as  sovereign  of  his 
subjects.  In  every  country  the  supreme  power  is  entitled 
to  use  the  arm  of  each  citizen  in  the  public  defense.  The 
usage  of  all  nations  agrees  with  common  reason  in  establish- 
ing this  great  principle.  There  is  nothing,  therefore,  peculiar- 
ly feudal  in  this  military  service  of  land-holders ;  it  was  due 
from  the  allodial  proprietors  upon  the  Continent ;  it  was  de- 
rived from  their  German  ancestors  ;  it  had  been  fixed,  proba- 
bly, by  the  legislatures  of  the  Heptarchy  upon  the  first  set- 
tlement in  Britain. 

It  is  material,  however,  to  observe  that  a  thane  forfeited 
his  hereditary  freehold  by  misconduct  in  battle — a  penalty 
more  severe  than  was  inflicted  upon  allodial  proprietors  on 
the  Continent.  We  even  find  in  the  earliest  Saxon  laws  that 
the  sithcundman,  who  seems  to  have  corresponded  to  the 
inferior  thane  of  later  times,  forfeited  his  land  by  neglect  of 
attendance  in  war ;  for  which  an  allodialist  in  France  would 
only  have  paid  his  heribannum,or  penalty.  Nevertheless,  as 
the  policy  of  different  states  may  enforce  the  duties  of  sub- 
jects by  more  or  less  severe  sanctions,  I  do  not  know  that  a 
law  of  forfeiture  in  such  cases  is  to  be  considered  as  positive- 
ly implying  a  feudal  tenure. 

But  a  much  stronger  presumption  is  afforded  by  passages 
that  indicate  a  mutual  relation  of  lord  and  vassal  among  the 
free  proprietors.  The  most  powerful  subjects  have  not  a 
natural  right  to  the  service  of  other  freemen.  But  in  the 
laws  enacted  during  the  Heptarchy  we  find  that  the  sith- 
cundman, or  petty  gentleman,  might  be  dependent  on  a  su- 
perior lord.  This  is  more  distinctly  expressed  in  some  eccle- 
siastical canons,  apparently  of  the  tenth  century,  which  dis- 
tinguish the  king's  thane  from  the  land-holder,  who  depend- 
ed upon  a  lord.  Other  proofs  of  this  might  be  brought  from 
the  Anglo-Saxon  laws.     It  is  not,  however,  sufficient  to  provie 


398  ANGLO-SAXON  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Fart  L 

a  mutual  relation  between  the  higher  and  lower  order  of 
gentry,  in  order  to  establish  the  existence  of  feudal  tenures. 
For  this  relation  was  often  personal,  and  bore  the  name  of 
commendation.  And  no  nation  was  so  rigorous  as  the  En- 
glish in  compelling  every  man,  from  the  king's  thane  to  the 
ceorl,  to  place  himself  under  a  lawful  superior.  Hence  the 
question  is  not  to  be  hastily  decided  on  the  credit  of  a  few 
passages  that  express  this  gradation  of  dependence ;  feudal 
vassalage^  the  object  of  our  inquiry,  being  of  a  7'eal^r\ot  2i  per- 
sonal nature,  and  resulting  entirely  from  the  tenure  of  partic- 
ular lands.  But  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  personal  relation 
of  client,  if  I  may  use  that  word,  might  in  a  multitude  of 
cases  be  changed  into  that  of  vassal.  And,  certainly,  many 
of  the  motives  which  operated  in  France  to  produce  a  very 
general  commutation  of  allodial  into  feudal  tenure,  might 
have  a  similar  influence  in  England,  where  the  disorderly 
condition  of  society  made  it  the  interest  of  every  man  to  ob- 
tain the  protection  of  some  potent  lord. 

The  word  thane  corresponds  in  its  derivation  to  vassal ; 
and  the  latter  term  is  used  by  Asserius,  the  contemporary 
biographer  of  Alfred,  in  speaking  of  the  nobles  of  that  prince. 
In  their  attendance,  too,  upon  the  royal  court,  and  the  fidel- 
ity which  was  expected  from  them,  the  king's  thanes  seem 
exactly  to  have  resembled  that  class  of  followers  who,  under 
diflerent  appellations,  were  the  guards,  as  w^ell  as  courtiers, 
of  the  Frank  and  Lombard  sovereigns.  But  I  have  remarked 
that  the  word  thane  is  not  applied  to  the  whole  body  of  gen- 
try in  the  more  ancient  laws,  where  the  word  earl  is  opposed 
to  the  ceorl,  or  roturier,  and  that  of  sUhcundma?i  to  the  royal 
thane.  It  would  be  too  much  to  infer,  from  the  extension  of 
this  latter  word  to  a  large  class  of  persons,  that  we  should 
interpret  it  with  a  close  attention  to  etymology,  a  very  un- 
certain guide  in  almost  all  investigations. 

For  the  age  immediately  preceding  the  Norman  invasion 
we  can  not  have  recourse  to  a  better  authority  than  Dooms- 
day-book. That  incomparable  record  contains  the  names  of 
every  tenant,  and  the  conditions  of  his  tenure,  under  the  Con- 
fessor, as  well  as  at  the  time  of  its  compilation,  and  seems  to 
give  little  countenance  to  the  notion  that  a  radical  change 
in  the  system  of  our  laws  had  been  effected  during  the  inter- 
val. In  almost  every  page  we  meet  with  tenants  either  of 
the  crown  or  of  other  lords,  denominated  thanes,  freeholders 
(liberi  homines),  or  socagers  (socmanni).  Some  of  these,  it  is 
stated,  might  sell  their  lands  to  whom  they  pleased ;  others 
were  restricted  from  alienation.     Some,  as  it  is  expressed, 


English  Const.  FEUDAL  TENURES.  399 

might  go  with  their  lands  whither  they  would ;  by  which  I 
understand  the  right  of  commending  themselves  to  any  pa- 
tron of  their  choice.  These,  of  course,  could  not  be  feudal  ten- 
ants in  any  proper  notion  of  that  term.  Others  could  not 
depart  from  the  lord  whom  they  served  ;  not,  certainly,  that 
they  were  personally  bound  to  the  soil,  but  that,  so  long  as 
they  retained  it,  the  seigniory  of  the  superior  could  not  be 
defeated.  But  I  am  not  aware  that  military  service  is  speci* 
fied  in  any  instance  to  be  due  from  one  of  these  tenants; 
though  it  is  difficult  to  speak  as  to  a  negative  proposition  of 
this  kind,  with  any  confidence. 

No  direct  evidence  appears  as  to  the  ceremony  of  homage, 
or  the  oath  of  fealty,  before  the  Conquest.  The  feudal  ex- 
action of  aid,  in  certain  prescribed  cases,  seems  to  have  been 
unknown.  Still  less  could  those  of  wardship  and  marriage 
prevail,  which  w^ere  no  general  parts  of  the  great  feudal  sys- 
tem. The  English  lawyers,  through  an  imperfect  acquaint- 
ance with  the  history  of  feuds  upon  the  Continent,  have  treat- 
ed these  unjust  innovations  as  if  they  had  formed  essential 
parts  of  the  system,  and  sprung  naturally  from  the  relation 
between  lord  and  vassal.  And,  with  reference  to  the  pres- 
ent question.  Sir  Henry  Spelman  has  certainly  laid  too  much 
stress  upon  them  in  concluding  that  feudal  tenures  did  not 
exist  among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  because  their  lands  were  not 
in  ward,  nor  their  persons  sold  in  marriage. 

It  has  been  shown  in  another  place  how  the  right  of  terri- 
torial jurisdiction  was  generally,  and  at  last  inseparably,  con- 
nected with  feudal  tenure.  Of  this  right  we  meet  frequent 
instances  in  the  laws  and  records  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  And 
Doomsday-book  is  full  of  decisive  proofs  that  the  English 
lords  had  their  courts  wherein  they  rendered  justice  to  their 
suitors,  like  the  Continental  nobility  —  privileges  which  are 
noticed  with  great  precision  in  that  record,  as  part  of  the  sta- 
tistical survey.  For  the  right  of  jurisdiction,  at  a  time  when 
punishments  were  almost  wholly  pecuniary,  was  a  matter 
of  property,  and  sought  from  motives  of  rapacity  as  well  as 
pride. 

Whether,  therefore,  the  law  of  feudal  tenures  can  be  said 
to  have  existed  in  England  before  the  Conquest,  must  be  left 
to  every  reader's  determination.  Perhaps  any  attempt  to 
decide  it  positively  would  end  in  a  verbal  dispute.  In  trac- 
ing the  history  of  every  political  institution,  three  things  are 
to  be  considered — the  principle,  the  form,  and  the  name.  The 
last  will  probably  not  be  found  in  any  genuine  Anglo-Saxon 
record.      Of  the  form,  or  the  peculiar  ceremonies  and  inci- 


400 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


Part  I. 


dents  of  a  regular  fief,  there  is  some,  though  not  much,  ap- 
pearance. But  those  who  reflect  upon  the  dependence  in 
which  free  and  even  noble  tenants  held  their  estates  of  other 
subjects,  and  upon  the  privileges  of  territorial  jurisdiction, 
will,  I  think,  perceive  much  of  the  intrinsic  character  of  the 
feudal  relation,  though  in  a  less  mature  and  systematic  shape 
than  it  assumed  after  the  Norman  Conquest.'* 

'i  It  will  probably  be  never  disputed  again  that  lands  were  granted  by  a  military 
tenure  before  the  Conquest.  But  the  general  tenure  of  lauds  was  still  allodial.  We 
may  probably  not  err  very  much  in  supposing  that  the  state  of  tenures  in  England 
under  Canute  or  the  Confessor  was  a  good  deal  like  those  in  France  under  Charle- 
magne or  Charles  the  Bald— an  allodial  trunk  with  numerous  branches  of  feudal 
benefice  grafted  into  it.  But  the  conversion  of  the  one  mode  of  tenure  into  the  oth- 
er, so  frequent  iu  France,  does  not  appear  by  evidence  to  have  prevailed  on  this  side 
of  the  Channel.  Ou  this  question  Professor  Stubbs  remarks  ("  Select  Charters,"  etc., 
p.  13) :  "From  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  a  change  sets  in  which  might  ultimately, 
by  a  slow  and  steady  series  of  causes  and  consequences,  have  produced  something 
like  Continental  feudalism.  The  great  position  taken  by  Edgar  and  Canute,  to 
whom  the  princes  of  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  island  submitted  as  vassals,  had  the 
effect  of  centralizing  the  government  and  increasing  the  power  of  the  king.  Early 
in  the  eleventh  century  he  seems  to  have  entered  on  the  right  of  disposing  of  the 
public  land  without  reference  to  the  witan,  and  of  calling  up  to  his  own  court  by  writ 
suits  which  had  not  yet  exhausted  the  powers  of  the  lower  tribunals.  The  number 
of  royal  vassals  was  thus  greatly  increased,  and  with  them  the  power  of  royal  and 
noble  jurisdictions.  Canute  proceeded  so  far  in  the  direction  of  imperial  feudalism 
as  to  rearrange  the  kingdom  under  a  very  small  number  of  great  earls,  who  were 
strong  enough  in  some  cases  to  transmit  their  authority  to  their  children,  though 
not  without  new  investiture,  and  who,  had  time  been  given  for  the  system  to  work, 
would  have  no  doubt  developed  the  same  sort  of  feudality  as  prevailed  abroad.  Al- 
ready by  subinfeudation  or  by  commendation  great  portions  of  the  land  of  the  coun- 
try were  being  held  by  a  feudal  tenure,  and  the  allodial  tenure,  which  had  once  been 
universal,  was  becoming  the  privilege  of  a  few  great  nobles  too  strong  to  be  unseat- 
ed, or  a  local  usage  in  a  class  of  land-owners  too  humble  to  be  dangerous," 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII.— Part  I. 


'  I.  THE  BRETVl'ALDAS. 

These  seven  princes  enumerated  by  Bede 
have  been  called  Bretwaldas,  and  they 
have,  by  some  late  historians,  been  ad- 
vanced to  higher  importance  and  to  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  power  than,  as  it  appears 
to  me,  there  is  any  sufficient  ground  to 
bestow  on  them.  Bede  is  the  original 
witness  for  the  seven  monarchs  who  be- 
fore his  time  had  enjoyed  a  preponder- 
ance over  the  Anglo-Saxons  south  of  the 
Humbert:  "Qui  cunctis  australibus  gen- 
tis  Anglorum  provinciis,  quas  Humbrse  flu- 
vio  et  contiguis  ei  terminis  sequestrantur 
a  Borealibus,  imperarunt."  (Hist.  Eccl., 
lib.  ii.,  c.  5.)  The  four  first-named  had  no 
authority  over  Northunibria;  but  the  last 
three  being  sovereign.*  of  that  kingdom. 


their  sway  would  include  the  whole  of 
England. 

The  Saxon  Chronicle,  under  the  reign 
of  Egbert,  says  that  he  was  the  eighth 
who  had  a  dominion  over  Britain  ;  using 
the  remarkable  word  Bretwalda,  which 
is  found  nowhere  else.  This,  by  its  root, 
waldan,  a  Saxon  verb,  to  rule  (whence  our 
word  wield),  implies  a  ruler  of  Britain  or 
the  Britons.  The  Chronicle  then  copies 
the  enumeration  of  the  other  seven  in 
Bede,  with  a  little  abridgment.  The 
kings  mentioned  by  Bede  are  MUi  or 
Ella,  founder  of  the  kingdom  of  the  South- 
Sax(ms  about  477 ;  Ceaulin,  of  Wessex,  af- 
ter the  interval  of  nearly  a  century  ;  Ethels 
bert,  of  Kent,  the  first  Christian  king; 
Redwald,  of  East  Anglia;  after  him  three 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


401 


Northumbrian  kings  in  succession,  Ed- 
win, Oswald,  Oswin,  We  have,  therefore, 
sufficient  testimony  that  before  the  mid- 
dle of  the  seventh  century  four  Icings, 
from  four  Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms,  had,  at 
intervals  of  time,  become  superior  to  the 
rest ;  excepting,  however,  the  Northum- 
brians, whom  Bede  distinguishes,  and 
whose  subjection  to  a  southern  prince 
does  not  appear  at  all  probable.  None, 
therefore,  of  these  conld  well  have  been 
called  Bretwalda,  or  ruler  of  the  Britons, 
while  not  even  his  own  countrymen  were 
wholly  under  his  sway. 

We  now  come  to  three  Northumbrian 
kings,  Edwin,  Oswald,  and  Oswin,  who 
ruled,  in  Bede's  language,  with  greater 
power  than  the  preceding,  over  all  the  in- 
habitants of  Britain,  both  English  and 
British,  with  the  sole  exception  of  the 
men  of  Kent.  This  he  reports  in  anoth- 
er place  with  respect  to  Edwin,  the  first 
Northumbrian  convert  to  Christianity; 
whose  worldly  power,  he  says,  increased 
go  much  that,  what  no  English  sovereign 
had  done  before,  he  extended  his  domin- 
ion to  the  farthest  bounds  of  Britain, 
*rhether  inhabited  by  Euglisli  or  by  Brit- 
ons. (Hist.  Eccl.,  lib.  ii.,  c.  9.)  There  is  a 
remarkable  confirmation  of  this  testimony 
of  Bede  in  a  life  of  St.  Columba,  publish- 
ed by  the  BoUandists,  in  which  Oswald  is 
called  "  totius  Britanniae  imperator  ordi- 
natus  a  Deo."  (Acta  Sanctorum,  Jun.  23.) 
We  have  here  probably  a  distinct  recog- 
nition of  the  Saxon  word  Bretwalda  ;  for 
what  else  could  answer  to  emperor  of 
Britain  ?  And,  as  far  as  I  know,  it  is  the 
•  mly  one  that  exists.  It  seems  more  like- 
ly that  this  writing  refers  to  a  distinct  ti- 
tle bestowed  on  Oswald  by  his  subjects, 
than  that  he  means  to  assert  as  a  fact 
that  he  truly  ruled  over  all  Britain.  This 
is  not  very  credible,  notwithstanding  the 
language  of  Bede,  who  loves  to  amplify 
the  power  of  favorite  monarchs.  For 
though  it  may  be  admitted  that  these 
Northumbrian  kings  enjoyed  at  times  a 
preponderance  over  the  other  Anglo-Sax- 
on principalities,  we  know  that  both  Ed- 
win and  Oswald  lost  their  lives  in  great 
defeats  by  Penda  of  Mercia.  Nor  were 
the  Strathcluyd  Britons  in  any  perma- 
nent subjection.  The  name  of  Bretwal- 
da, as  applied  to  these  three  kings,  though 
not  so  absurd  as  to  make  it  incredible  that 
they  assumed  it,  asserts  an  untruth. 

Rapin  was  the  first  who  broached  the 
theory  of  an  elective  Bretwalda,  possess- 
ing a  sort  of  monarchical  supremacy  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Heptarchy  ;  something 
like,  as  he  says,  the  dignity  of  stadtholder 
of  the  Netherlands.    It  was  taken  up  in 


later  times  by  Turner,  Liugard,  Palgrave, 
and  Lappenberg.  But  for  this  there  is 
certainly  no  evidence  whatever ;  nor  do  I 
perceive  in  it  any  thing  but  the  very  re 
verse  of  probability,  especially  in  the  ear- 
lier instances.  With  what  we  read  in 
Bede  we  may  be  content,  confirmed  as 
with  respect  to  a  Northumbrian  sover- 
eign it  appears  to  be  by  the  Life  of  Co- 
lumba; and  the  plain  history  will  be  no 
more  than  this— that  four  princes  from 
among  the  southern  Anglo-Saxon  king- 
doms, at  difterent  times  obtained,  proba- 
bly by  force,  a  superiority  over  the  rest ; 
that  afterwards  three  Northumbrian  kings 
united  a  similar  supremacy  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  their  own  dominions;  and 
that,  having  been  successful  in  reduciui.- 
the  Britons  of  the  north  and  also  the  Scots 
into  subjection,  they  assumed  the  title  of 
Bretwalda,  or  ruler  of  Britain.  This  title 
was  not  taken  by  any  later  kings,  though 
some  in  the  eighth  century  were  very 
powerful  in  England ;  nor  did  it  attract 
much  attention,  since  we  find  the  word 
only  once  employed  by  an  historian,  and 
never  in  a  charter.  The  consequence  I 
should  draw  is,  that  too  great  prominence 
has  been  given  to  the  appellation,  and  un- 
due inferences  sometimes  derived  from  it, 
by  the  eminent  writers  above  mentioned. 

IT.  SAXOX  KINGS  OF  ALL  ENGLAND. 

The  reduction  of  all  England  under  a 
single  sovereign  was  accomplished  by  Ed- 
ward the  Elder,  who  may,  therefore,  be 
reckoned  the  founder  of  our  monarchy 
more  justly  than  Egbert.  From  this  time 
a  striking  change  is  remarkable  in  the 
style  of  our  kings.  Edward,  of  whom  we 
have  no  extant  charters  after  these  great 
submissions  of  the  native  princes,  calls 
himself  only  "  Angul-Saxonum  rex."  But 
in  those  of  his  son  Athelstan,  such  as  are 
reputed  genuine  (for  the  tone  is  still  more 
pompous  in  some  marked  by  Mr.  Kemble 
with  an  asterisk),  \s-e  meet,  as  early  as  927, 
with  "totius  Britannise  monarchus,  rex, 
rector,  or  basileus;"  "totius  Britanniae 
Bolio  sublimatus ;"  and  other  phrases  of 
itiHular  sovereignty.  What  has  been  at- 
tributed to  the  imaginary  Bretwaldas,  be- 
longed truly  to  the  kings  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury. And  the  grandiloquence  of  their  ti- 
tles is  sometimes  almost  ridiculous.  They 
affected  particularly  that  of  Basileus  as 
something  more  imperial  than  king,  and 
less  easily  understood.  Edwy  and  Edgar 
are  remarkable  for  th's  pomp,  which  shows 
itself  also  in  the  spurious  charters  of  older 
kings.  But  Edmund  and  Edred  with  more 
truth  and  simplicity  had  generally  denom- 
inated themselves  "rex  Anglorum,  c«te« 


402 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIIL 


roramque  in  circuitu  persistentium  guber- 
nator  et  rector."  An  expressiou  which 
was  retained  sometimes  by  Edgar.  And 
though  these  exceedinglypompousphrases 
eeem  to  have  become  less  frequent  in  the 
next  century,  we  find  "totius  Albionis 
rex,"  and  equivalent  terms,  in  all  the 
charters  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

"As  a  general  rule  it  may  be  observed 
that  before  the  tenth  century  the  proem 
is  comparatively  simple  ;  that  about  that 
time  the  influence  of  the  Byzantine  court 
began  to  be  felt ;  and  that  from  the  latter 
half  of  that  century  pedantry  and  absurd- 
ity struggle  for  the  mastery."  (Kemble's 
Introduction  to  vol.  ii.,  p.  x.) 

III.  EORLS  AND  CEORLS. 

It  has  been  remarked  in  the  text  that 
the  proper  division  of  freemen  was  into 
EoBLS  and  Ceorls:  ge  eorle — ge  ceorle;  ge 
eorlische — ge  ceorlische,  corresponding  to 
the  phrase  "gentle  and  simple"  of  later 
times.  The  Eorlcundman  was  generally, 
though  not  necessarily,  a  freeholder ;  he 
might,'uuless  restrained  by  special  tenure, 
depart  from  or  alienate  his  land ;  he  was,  if 
a  freeholder,  a  judge  in  the  County  Court ; 
he  might  marry,  or  become  a  priest,  at  his 
discretion;  his  oath  weighed  heavily  in 
compurgation;  above  all,  his  life  was 
valued  at  a  high  composition ;  we  add,  of 
course,  the  general  respect  which  attaches 
itself  to  the  birth  and  position  of  a  gentle- 
man. Two  classes  indeed  there  were,  both 
Eorlcund,  or  of  gentle  birth,  and  so  called 
in  opposition  to  ceorls,  but  in  a  relative 
subordination.  Sir  F.  Palgrave  has  point- 
ed out  the  distinction  in  the  following  pas- 
sage :  "  The  whole  scheme  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxcm  law  is  founded  upon  the  presump- 
tion that  every  freeman,  not  being  a  Hla- 
ford*  was  attached  to  a  superior,  to  whom 
he  was  bound  by  fealty,  and  from  whom 
he  could  claim  a  legal  protection  or  war- 
ranty, when  accused  of  any  transgression 
or  crime.  If,  therefore,  the  eorlcund  indi- 
vidual did  not  possess  the  real  property 
which,  either  from  its  tenure  or  its  extent, 
was  such  as  to  constitute  a  lordship,  he 
was  then  ranked  in  the  very  numerous 
class  whose  members,  in  Wessex  and  its 
dependent  states,  were  originally  known 
by  the  name  of  sUhcundmen,  an  appella- 
tion which  we  may  paraphrase  by  the  he- 
raldic expression,  'gentle  by  birth  and 


•  Hlaford  was  the  chief,  "  the  Loafgiver,  a  name 
which,  through  a  series  of  softenings  and  contractions, 
and  with  a  complete  forgetfulness  of  its  primitive 
meaning,  has  settled  down  into  the  modern  form  of 
Zord."— Freeman's  "  Hist,  of  the  Norman  Conquest," 
L,93. 


blood.'*  The  term  of  sithcundman,  hovri 
ever,  was  only  in  use  in  the  earlier  periods. 
After  the  reign  of  Alfred  it  is  lost;  and 
the  most  comprehensive  and  significant 
denomination  given  to  this  class  is  that 
of  sixh(endmen,  indicating  their  position 
between  the  highest  and  lowest  law-wor- 
thy classes  of  society.  Other  designations 
were  derived  from  their  services  and  ten- 
ures. Radechnights,  and  lesser  thanes, 
seem  to  be  included  in  this  rank,  and  to 
which,  in  many  instances,  the  general 
name  of  sokemen  was  applied.  But,  how- 
ever designated,  the  sithcundman,  or  six- 
hoeridman,  appears  in  every  instance  in  the 
same  relative  position  in  the  community 
—  classed  among  the  nobility,  whenever 
the  eorl  and  the  ceorl  are  placed  in  direct 
opposition  to  each  other;  always  con- 
sidered below  the  territorial  aristocracy, 
and  yet  distinguished  from  the  villenage 
by  the  important  right  of  selecting  his 
hlaford  at  his  will  and  pleasure.  By  com- 
mon right  the  sixhcendwan  was  not  to  be 
annexed  to  the  glebe.  To  use  the  expres- 
sions employed  by  the  compilers  of  Dooms- 
day, he  could  '  go  with  his  land  whereso- 
ever he  chose,'  or,  leaving  his  land,  he 
might  'commend'  himself  to  any  hlaford 
who  would  accept  his  fealty"  (L,  14). 

The  influence  of  Danish  connections  pro- 
duced great  change  in  the  nomenclature 
of  ranks.  Eorl  lost  its  general  sense  of 
good  birth  and  became  an  ofllcial  title,  for 
the  most  part  equivalent  to  alderman,  the 
governor  of  a  shire  or  district.  It  is  used 
in  this  sense,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  laws 
of  Edward  the  Elder,  and  in  the  time  of 
Edgar  it  had  fully  acquired  its  secondary 
meaning ;  in  its  original  sense  it  seems  to 
have  been  replaced  by  Thane.  Certain  it 
is  that  we  find  thane  opposed  to  ceorl  in 
the  later  period  of  Anglo-Saxon  monu- 
ments, as  eorl  is  in  the  earlier— as  if  the 
law  knew  no  other  broad  line  of  demarka- 
tion  among  laymen,  saving  always  the  of- 
ficial dignities  and  the  royal  family.t  And 
the  distinction  between  the  greater  and 
the  lesser  thaues  was  not  lost,  though  they 
were  put  on  a  level  as  to  composition. 


*  Is  not  the  word  sithcundman  properly  descriptive 
of  his  dependence  on  a  lord,  from  the  Saxon  verb  githi- 
an,  to  follow  ? 

t  "  That  the  thane,  at  least  originally,  was  a  military 
follower,  a  holder  by  military  service,  seems  certain  ; 
though  in  later  times  the  rank  seems  to  have  been  en- 
joyed by  all  great  land-holders,  as  the  natural  concomi- 
tant of  possession  to  a  certain  value.  By  Mercian  law, 
he  appears  as  a  '  twelf hynde  '  man,  his  'wer'  being 
1200  shillings.  That  this  dignity  ceased  from  being 
exclusively  of  a  military  character  is  evident  from 
numerous  passages  in  the  laws,  where  thanes  are  men- 
tioned  in  a  judicial  capacity,  and  as  civil  officers."-* 
Thorpe's  "  Glossary  to  Ancient  Laws,"  voc.  Thegen. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VI J  I. 


403 


Meantime  the  composition  for  an  earl, 
whether  we  confine  that  word  to  office  or 
suppose  that  it  extended  to  the  wealthiest 
land-holders,  was  far  higher  in  the  later 
period  than  that  for  a  thane,  as  was  also 
his  heriot  when  that  came  into  use.  The 
heriot  of  the  king's  thane  was  above  that 
of  what  was  called  a  medial  thane,  or 
mesne  vassal,  the  sithcuudman,  or  syx- 
hynder,  as  I  apprehend,  of  an  earlier 
style. 

In  the  laws  of  the  Continental  Saxons 
we  find  the  rank  corresponding  to  the 
Eorlcunde  of  our  own  country  denomi- 
nated Edelingi  or  noble,  as  opposed  to  the 
Frilingi  or  ordinary,  freemen.  This  ap- 
pellation was  not  lost  in  England,  and  was 
perhaps  sometimes  applied  to  nobles ;  but 
we  find  it  generally  reserved  for  the  royal 
family.  FAhel  or  noble,  sometimes  con- 
tracted, forms,  as  is  well  known,  the  pe- 
culiar prefix  to  the  names  of  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  royal  house.  And  the  word  Athe- 
limj  was  used,  not  as  in  Germany  for  a 
noble,  but  a  prince;  and  his  composition 
was  not  only  above  that  of  a  thane,  but  of 
an  alderman.  He  ranked  as  an  archbishop 
in  this  respect,  the  alderman  as  a  bishop. 
It  is  necessary  to  mention  this,  lest,  in 
speaking  of  the  words  eorl  and  ceorl  as 
originally  distributive,  I  should  seem  to 
have  forgotten  the  distinctive  superiority 
of  the  royal  family.  But  whether  this  had 
always  been  the  case  I  am  not  prepared  to 
determine.  The  aim  of  the  later  kings,  I 
mean  after  Alfred,  was  to  carry  the  mo- 
narchical principle  as  high  as  the  temper 
of  the  nation  would  permit.  Hence  they 
prefer  to  the  name  of  king,  which  was  as- 
sociated in  all  the  Germanic  nations  with  a 
limited  power,  the  more  indefinite  appella- 
tions of  imperator  and  basileus.  And  the 
latter  of  these  they  borrowed  from  the  By- 
zantine court,  liking  it  rather  better  than 
the  other,  not  merely  out  of  the  pompous 
aff'ectation  characteristic  of  their  style  in 
that  period,  but  because,  being  less  intelli- 
gible, it  served  to  strike  more  awe,  and  also 
probably  because  the  title  of  Western  em- 
peror seemed  to  be  already  appropriated  in 
Germany.  It  was  natural  that  they  would 
endeavor  to  enhance  the  superiority  of 
all  atheliugs  above  the  surrounding  nobil- 
ity. 

In  Doomsday-book,  which  is  a  record  of 
the  state  of  Anglo-Saxon  orders  of  society 
under  Edward  the  Confessor,  we  find  new 
denominations.  The  word  Ceorl  does  not 
occur,  but  is  represented  by  VUlantis,  which 
is  also  distinguishable.  And  this  word  is 
frequently  used  in  the  first  Anglo-Norman 
reigns  as  the  equivalent  of  ceorl.  No  one 
ought  to  doubt  that  they  expressed  the 


same  persons.  In  Doomsday-book  the 
number  of  Villani  is  108,000.  We  find 
also  a  very  numerous  class,  above  82,000, 
styled  Bordarii,  who  must  have  been  also 
Ceorls,  distinguished  by  some  legal  differ- 
ence, some  peculiarity  of  service  or  tenure, 
well  understood  at  the  time.  A  small  num- 
ber are  denominated  Coscetz,  or  Cosceti. 
There  are  also  several  minor  denomina- 
tions in  Doomsday,  all  of  which,  as  they  do 
not  denote  slaves.and  certainly  not  thanes, 
must  have  been  varieties  of  the  Ceorl  kind. 
The  most  frequent  of  these  appellations  is 
Cutarii. 

But,  besides  these  peasants,  there  are 
two  appellations  which  it  is  less  easy, 
though  it  would  be  more  important,  to 
define.  These  are  the  Libert  Homines  and 
the  Socmanni.  Of  the  former  there  are  in 
Doomsday-book  about  12,300 ;  of  the  lat- 
ter, about  23,000;  forming  together  about 
one-eighth  of  the  whole  population,  that 
is,  of  male  adults.  It  is  remarkable  that 
in  Norfolk  alone  we  have  44ST  liberi  homi- 
nes and  4588  socmen — the  whole  enumer- 
ated population  being  2T,087.  But  in  Suf- 
folk, out  of  a  population  of  20,491,  we  find 
7470  liberi  homines,  with  1060  socmen. 
Thus  these  two  counties  contained  al- 
most all  the  liberi  homines  of  the  kingdom. 
In  Lincolnshire,  on  the  other  hand,  where 
11,504  are  returned  as  socmen,  the  word 
liber  homo  does  not  occur.  These  Lincoln- 
shire socmen  are  not,  as  usual  in  other 
counties,  mentioned  among  occupiers  of 
the  demesne  lands,  but  mingled  with  the 
villeins  and  bordars ;  sometimes  not  stand- 
ing first  in  the  enumeration,  so  as  to  show 
that,  in  one  county,  they  were  both  a  more 
numerous  and  more  subordinate  class  than 
in  the  rest  of  the  realm. 

The  concise  distinction  between  what  we 
should  call  freehold  and  copyhold  is  made 
by  the  forms  of  entering  each  manor 
throughout  Doomsday-book.  Liberi  ho- 
mines invariably,  and  socmen,  I  believe, 
except  in  Ltacolnshire,  occupied  the  one, 
villani  and  bordarii  the  other.  Hence 
liberum  tenementum  and  villenagium. 
What  then,  in  Anglo-Saxon  language,  was 
the  kind  of  the  two  former  classes  ?  We 
must,  upon  the  whole,  I  conceive,  take 
them  for  ceorls  more  fortunate  than  the 
rest,  who  had  acquired  some  freehold  land, 
or  to  whose  ancestors  possibly  it  had  been 
allotted  in  the  original  settlement.  It  indi- 
cates a  remarkable  variety  in  the  condition 
of  these  East-Anglian  counties,  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk,  and  a  more  difl"used  freedom 
in  their  inhabitants.  The  population,  it 
must  strike  us,  was  greatly  higher,  rel- 
atively to  their  size,  than  in  any  other  part 
of  England ;  and  the  multitude  of  small 


404 


KOTES  TO  CIIArTER  VIII. 


manors  and  of  parish  churches,  which  still 
continue,  bespeaks  this  progress.  The  -soc- 
men, as  well  as  the  liberi  homines,  in  whose 
condition  there  may  have  been  little  dif- 
ference, except  in  Lincolnshire,  where  we 
have  seen  that,  for  whatever  cause,  those 
denominated  socmen  were  little,  if  at  all, 
better  than  the  villani,  were  all  commend- 
ed; they  had  all  some  lord,  though  bear- 
ing to  him  a  relation  neither  of  lief  nor  of 
villenage  ;  they  could  in  general,  though 
with  some  exceptions,  alienate  their  lands 
at  pleasure  ;  it  has  been  thought  that  they 
might  pay  some  small  rent  in  acknowl- 
edgment of  commendation ;  but  the  one 
class  undoubtedly,  and  probably  the  other, 
were  freeholders  in  every  legal  sense  of 
the  word,  holding  by  that  ancient  and  re- 
spectable tenure,  free  and  common  socage, 
or  iu  a  manner  at  least  analogous  to  it. 
Though  socmen  are  chiefly  mentioned  in 
the  Danelage,  other  obscure  denomina- 
tions of  occupiers  occur  in  Wessex  and 
Mercia,  which  seem  to  have  denoted  a 
similar  class. 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  many  of 
our  modern  writers  draw  too  unfavorable 
a  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  ceorl.  Few,  indeed,  fall  into  the 
capital  mistake  of  Mr.  Sharon  Turner,  by 
speaking  of  him  as  legally  in  servitude, 
like  the  villein  of  Bracton's  age.  But  we 
often  And  a  tendency  to  consider  him  as  in 
a  very  uncomfortable  condition,  little  car- 
ing "  to  what  lion's  paw  he  might  fall,"  as 
Boliugbroke  said  in  1T45,  and  treated  by 
his  lord  as  a  miserable  dependent.  Half 
a  century  since,  in  the  days  of  Sir  William 
Jones,  Granville  Sharp,  and  Major  Cart- 
wright,  the  Anglo-Saxon  constitution  was 
built  on  universal  suffrage ;  every  man  iu 
his  tithing  a  partaker  of  sovereignty,  and 
sending  from  his  rood  of  land  an  annual 
representative  to  the  witenagemot.  Such 
a  theory  could  not  stand  the  first  glimmer- 
ings of  historical  knowledge  in  a  mind 
tolerably  sound.  But  while  we  absolutely 
deny  political  privileges  of  this  kind  to  the 
ceorl,  we  need  not  assert  his  life  to  have 
been  miserable.  He  had  very  definite  le- 
gal rights,  and  acknowledged  capacities  of 
acquiring  more ;  that  he  was  sometimes 
exposed  to  oppression  is  probable  enough  ; 
but,  in  reality,  the  records  of  all  kinds 
that  have  descended  to  us  do  not  speak  in 
such  strong  language  of  this  as  we  may 
read  in  those  of  the  Continent.  We  have 
uo  insurrection  of  the  ceorls,  no  outrages 
by  themselves,  no  atrocious  punishment 
by  their  masters,  as  in  Normandy.  Per- 
haps we  are  a  little  too  much  struck  by 
their  obligation  to  reside  on  the  lands 
which  tbey  cultivated  ;  the  term  aacriptus 


I  glebce  denotes,  in  our  apprehension,  an 
!  ignoble  servitude.     It  is,  of  course,  incon- 
sistent with  our  modern  equality  of  rights ; 
,  but   we   are   to  remember  that  he   who 
;  deserted  his  land,  and  consequently  his 
I  lord,  did  so  in  order  to  become  a  thief. 
i  Hla/ordlesmen,  of  whom  we  read  so  much, 
I  were  invariably  of  this  character  — men 
without  land,  lord,  or  law,  who  lived  upon 
what  they  could  take.    For  the  sake  ot 
protecting  the  honest  ceorl  from  such  men, 
as  well  as  of  protecting  the  lord  in  what, 
if  property  be  regarded  at  all,  must  be  pro- 
tected—his rights  to  services  legally  due- 
it  was  necessary  to  restrain  the  cultivator 
fron^  quitting  his  land.    Exceptions  to  this 
might  occur,  as  we  find  among  the  liberi 
Tiomines  and  others  in  Doomsday ;  but  it 
was  the  general  rule.    We  might  also  ask 
whether  a  lessee  for  years  at  present  is 
not  in  one  sense  ascrtptus  glebai?    It  is 
true  that  he  may  go  wherever  he  will, 
and,  if  he  continue  to  pay  his  rent  and 
perform  his  covenants,  no  more  can  be 
said.    But  if  he  does  not  this,  the  law  will 
follow  his  person,  and,  though  it  can  not 
I  force  him  to  return,  will  make  it  by  no 
means  his  interest  to  desert  the  premises. 
Such  remedies  as  the  law  now  furnishes 
were  not  in  the  power  of  the  Saxon  land- 
lord ;  but  all  that  any  lord  could  desire 
was  to  have  the  services  performed,  or  to 
receive  a  compensation  for  them. 

IV.  THE  WITENAGEMOT. 

The  best  explanation  of  the  history  of 
the  Witenagemot  has  been  given  by  Mr. 
Freeman  in  his  "  Hist,  of  the  Norman  Con- 
quest" (i.,  106  seq.).    Mr.  Freeman  points 
out  that  every  freeman  had  a  theoretical 
right  to  attend  the  assembly  of  the  king- 
dom, as  well  as  the  assembly  of  the  shire, 
but  such  a  right  of  attendance  became,  of 
course,  purely  nugatory.     "The  mass  of 
the  people  could  not  attend,  they  would 
i  not  care  to  attend,  they  would  find  them- 
I  selves  of  no  account  if  they  did  attend. 
They  would,  therefore,  without  any  formal 
abrogation  of  their  right,  gradually  cease 
from  attending.    The  idea  of  representa- 
tion had  not  yet  arisen ;  those  who  did  not 
appear  in  person,  had  no  means  of  appear- 
ing by  deputy ;  of  election  or  delegation 
there  is  not  the  slightest  trace,  though  it 
might  often  happen  that  those  who  staid 
j  away  might  feel  that  their  rich  or  oftici«l 
I  neighbors  who  went  would  attend  to  their 
j  wishes,  and  would  fairly  act  in  their  iii- 
1  terests.    By    this    process,  an    originally 
democratic  assembly,  without  any  formal 
exclusion  of  any  class  of  its  members, 
I  gradually  shrunk  up  into  an  aristocratic 
i  assembly.  •  •  *  *    Thus  an  assembly  of 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


405 


all  the  freemen  of  Wessex,  when  those 
freemen  could  not  attend  personally,  and 
when  they  had  no  means  of  attending  by 
representatives,  gradually  changed  into  an 
assembly  attended  by  few  or  none  but  the 
king's  thegns.  The  great  officers  of  church 
and  state,  earldormen,  bishops,  abbots, 
would  attend ;  the  ordinary  thegns  would 
attend  more  laxly,  but  still  in  considerable 
numbers;  the  king  would  preside  ;  a  few 
leading  men  would  discuss ;  the  general 
mass  of  the  thegns,  whether  they  formally 
voted  or  not,  would  make  their  approval  or 
disapproval  practically  fell ;  no  doubt  the 
form  still  remained  of  at  least  announcing 
the  resolutions  taken  to  any  of  the  ordinary 
freemen,  whom  curiosity  had  drawn  to  the 
spot ;  most  likely  the  form  still  remained 
of  demanding  their  ceremonial  assent, 
though  without  any  fear  that  the  habitual 
'  yea,  yea,'  would  ever  be  exchanged  for 
'nay,  nay.'  It  is  thus  that,  in  the  absence 
of  representation,  a  democratic  franchise, 
as  applied  to  a  large  country,  gradually 
becomes  unreal  or  delusive.  •  *  »  • 

"As  to  the  constitution  of  these  great 
councils  in  any  English  kingdom,  our  in- 
formation is  of  the  vaguest  kind.  The 
members  are  always  described  in  the 
loosest  way.  We  find  the  witan  con- 
stantly assembling,  constantly  passing 
laws,  but  we  find  no  law  prescribing  or 
defining  the  constitution  of  the  assembly 
itself.  We  find  no  trace  of  representation 
or  election  ;  we  find  no  trace  of  any  prop- 
erty qualification ;  we  find  no  trace  of 
nomination  by  the  crown,  except  in  so  far 
as  all  the  great  oflicers  of  the  court  and  the 
kingdom  were  constantly  present.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  have  seen  that  all  the  lead- 
ing men,  earldormen,  bishops,  abbots,  and 
a  considerable  body  of  other  thegns,  did 
attend  ;  we  have  seen  that  the  people  as  a 
body  were  in  some  M'ay  associated  with  the 
legislative  acts  of  their  chiefs,  that  those 
acts  were  in  some  sort  the  acts  of  the  peo- 
ple themselves,  to  which  they  had  them- 
selves assented,  not  merely  the  edicts  of 
superiors  which  they  had  to  obey.  We 
have  seen  that,  on  some  particular  occa- 
sions, some  classes  at  least  of  the  people 
did  actually  take  a  part  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  national  council ;  thus  the  citizens 
of  London  are  more  than  once  recorded  to 
have  taken  a  share  in  the  election  of  kings. 
No  theory  that  I  know  of  will  explain  all 
these  phenomena,  except  that  which  I  have 
just  tried  to  draw  out.  This  is,  that  every 
freeman  had  an  abstract  right  to  be  pres- 
ent, but  that  any  actual  participation  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  assembly  had,  gradually 
and  imperceptibly,  come  to  be  confined  to 
the  leading  men,  to  the  king's  thegns. 


strengthened,  under  peculiarly  favorablo 
circumstances,  by  the  i)resence  of  excep- 
tional classes  of  freemen,  like  the  London 
citizens." 

V.  TRIAL  BY  JURY. 

The  following  note  relates  to  the  subse. 
quent  history  of  trial  by  jury. 

In  the  "  Leges  Henrici  Primi,"  a  treatise 
compiled  probably  early  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  IL  [Stubbs],  and  not  intended  to 
pass  for  legislative,*  are  numerous  state- 
ments as  to  the  usual  course  of  procedure, 
especially  on  criminal  eharges*.  In  this 
treatise  we  find  no  allusion  to  juries  ;  the 
trial  was  either  before  the  Court  of  the 
Hundred  or  that  of  the  territorial  judge, 
assisted  by  his  free  vassals.  But  we  do 
find  the  great  original  principle,  trial  by 
peers,  and,  as  it  is  axWec],  jter  pais ;  that  is, 
in  the  presence  of  the  country,  opposed 
to  a  distant  and  unknown  jurisdiction — a 
principle  truly  derived  from  Saxon,  though 
consonant  also  to  Norman  law,  dear  to 
both  nations,  and  guaranteed  to  both,  as  it 
was  claimed  by  both,  in  the  29th  section  of 
Magna  Charta.  "  Unasquisque  per  pares 
suos  judicandus  est,  et  ejusdem  provinciae, 
peregrina  autem  judicia  modis  omnibus 
submovemus."    (Leges  H.  I.,  c.  31). 

As  the  court  had  no  function  but  to  see 
that  the  formalities  of  the  combat,  the 
ordeal,  or  the  compurgation  were  duly  re- 
garded, and  to  observe  whether  the  party 
succeeded  or  succumbed,  no  oath  from 
them,  nor  any  reduction  of  their  numbers, 
could  be  required.  But  the  law  of  Nor- 
mandy had  already  established  the  inquest 
by  sworn  recognitors,  twelve  or  twenty- 
four  in  number,  who  were  supposed  to  be 
well  acquainted  with  the  facts  ;  and  this  in 
civil  as  well  as  criminal  proceedings.  We 
have  seen  an  instance  of  it,  not  long  before 
the  Conquest,  among  ourselves,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  monk  of  Ramsey.  [See  p.  393.] 
It  was  in  the  development  of  this  amelio- 
ration in  civil  justice  that  we  find  instances 
during  this  period  where  a  small  number 
have  been  chosen  from  the  County  Court 
and  sworn  to  declare  the  truth,  when  the 
judge  might  suspect  the  partiality  or  igno- 
rance of  the  entire  body.  Thus  in  suits 
for  the  recovery  of  property  the  public 
mind  was  gradually  accustomed  to  see  the 


*  It  may  be  here  observed,  that,  in  all  probability, 
the  title  "  Leges  Henrici  Primi "  has  been  continued 
to  the  whole  book  from  the  first  two  chapters,  which 
do  really  contain  laws  of  Henry  I.,  namely,  his  gener- 
al charter,  and  that  to  the  city  of  London.  A  similar 
inadvertence  has  caused  the  well-known  book  com- 
monly ascribed  to  Thomas  a  Kempis  to  be  called  "  De 
Imitatione  Chrijti,"  which  is  merely  the  title  of  the 
flrst  chapter. 


406 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


jurisdiction  of  tlie  freeliolders  in  their 
court  trangferred  to  a  more  select  number 
of  sworn  and  well-informed  men.  But 
tiiis  was  not  yet  a  matter  of  riglit,  nor 
even  probably  of  very  common  usage.  It 
was  in  this  state  of  things  that  Henry  II. 
brought  in  the  Assize  of  Novel  DissAzin. 

This  gave  an  alternative  to  the  tenant  on 
a  suit  for  the  recovery  of  land,  if  he  chose 
not  to  risk  the  combat,  of  putting  himself 
on  the  assize ;  that  is,  of  being  tried  by 
four  knights  summoned  by  the  sheriff  and 
twelve  more  selected  by  them,  forming  the 
sixteen  sworn  recognitors,  as  they  were 
called,  by  whose  verdict  the  cause  was  de- 
termined. This  may  be  regarded  as  the 
first  step  to  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases.  An 
assize  of  novel  disseizin  was  always  held 
in  the  King's  Court  or  that  of  the  justices 
itinerant,  and  not  before  the  County  or 
Hundred,  whose  jurisdiction  began  in  cou- 
eequence  rapidly  to  decline. 

Changes  not  less  important  were  effected 
in  criminal  jirocesses  during  the  second 
part  of  the  Norman  period,  which  wc  con- 
sider as  terminating  with  the  accession  of 
Edward  I.  Henry  II.  abolished  the  ancient 
privilege  of  compurgation  by  the  oaths  of 
friends,  the  manifest  fountain  of  unblush- 
ing perjury ;  though  it  long  afterwards  was 
preserved  in  London  and  in  boroughs  by 
some  exemption  which  does  not  appear. 
This,  however,  left  the  favorite,  or  at  least 
the  ancient  and  English,  mode  of  defense 
by  chewing  consecrated  bread,  handling 
hot  iron,  and  other  tricks  called  ordeals. 
But  near  the  beginning  of  Henry  III.'s 
reign  the  Church,  grown  wiser  and  more 
fond  of  her  system  of  laws,  abolished  all 
kinds  of  ordeal  in  the  fourth  Lateran  coun- 
cil. The  combat  remained  ;  but  it  was  not 
applicable  unless  an  injured  prosecutor  or 
appellant  came  forward  to  demand  it.  In 
cases  where  a  party  was  only  charged  on 
vehement  suspicion  of  a  crime,  it  was  nec- 
essary to  find  a  substitute  for  the  forbid- 
den superstition.  He  might  be  compelled, 
by  a  statute  of  Henry  II.,  to  abjure  the 
realm.  A  writ  of  3  Henry  III.  directs  that 
those  against  whom  the  suspicions  were 
very  strong  should  be  kept  in  safe  custody. 
But  this  was  absolutely  incompatible  with 
English  liberty  and  with  Magna  Charta. 
"No  further  enactment,"  says  Sir  F.  Pal- 
grave,  "  was  made ;  and  the  usages  which 
already  prevailed  led  to  a  general  adoption 
of  the  proceedings  which  had  hitherto  ex- 
isted as  a  privilege  or  as  a  favor— that  is 
to  say,  of  proving  or  disproving  the  testi- 
mony of  the  first  set  of  inquest-men  by  the 
testimony  of  a  second  array— and  the  indi- 
vidual accused  by  the  appeal,  or  presented 
by  the  general  opinion  of  the  hundred. 


was  allowed  to  defend  himself  by  the  pa^. 
ticular  testimony  of  the  hundred  to  which 
he  belonged.  For  this  purpose  another 
inquest  was  impanelled,  sometimes  com- 
posed of  twelve  persons  named  from  the 
'  visnc '  and  three  from  each  of  the  adjoin- 
ing  townships ;  and  sometimes  the  very 
same  jurymen  who  had  presented  the  of- 
fense might,  if  the  culprit  thought  fit,  be 
examined  a  second  time,  as  the  witnesses 
or  inquest  of  the  points  in  issue.  Bnt  it 
seems  worthy  of  remark  that '  trial  by  in- 
quest' in  criminal  cases  never  seems  to 
have  been  introduced  except  into  those 
courts  which  acted  by  the  king's  writ  or 
commission.  The  presentment  or  decla- 
ration of  those  officers  which  fell  within 
the  cognizance  of  the  hundred  jury  or  the 
leet  jury,  the  representatives  of  the  ancient 
cchevins,  was  final  and  conclusive ;  no 
traverse,  or  trial  by  a  second  jury,  in  the 
nature  of  a  petty  jury,  being  allowed" 
(p.  269). 

Thus  trial  by  a  petty  jury  upon  criminal 
charges  came  in  ;  itisof  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.,  and  not  earlier.  And  it  is  to  be  re- 
marked, as  a  confirmation  of  this  view, 
that  no  one  was  compellable  to  plead; 
that  is,  the  inquest  was  to  be  of  his  own 
choice.  But  if  he  declined  to  endure  it  he 
was  remanded  to  prison,  and  treated  with 
a  severity  which  the  statute  of  Westmin- 
ster 1,  in  the  third  year  of  Edward  I.,  calls 
peine  forte  et  dure:  extended  afterwards, 
by  a  cruel  interpretation,  to  that  atrocious 
punishment  on  those  who  refused  to  stand 
a  trial,  commonly  in  order  to  preserve  their 
lands  from  forfeiture,  which  was  not  taken 
away  by  law  till  the  last  century. 

Thus  was  trial  by  jury  established,  both 
in  real  actions,  or  suits  affecting  property 
in  land,  and  in  criminal  procedure,  the 
former  preceding  by  a  little  the  latter. 
But  a  new  question  arises  as  to  the  prov- 
ince of  these  early  juries;  and  the  view 
lately  taken  is  very  different  from  that 
which  has  been  commonly  received. 

"Trial  by  jury,"  says  Sir  F,  Palgrave, 
"according  to  the  old  English  law,  was  a 
proceeding  essentially  different  from  the 
modern  tribunal,  still  bearing  the  same 
name,  by  which  it  has  been  replaced. 
Jurymen  in  the  present  day  are  triers  of 
the  issue  ;  they  are  individuals  who  found 
their  opinion  upon  the  evidence,  whether 
oral  or  written,  adduced  before  them  ;  and 
the  verdict  delivered  by  them  is  their  dec- 
laration of  the  judgment  which  they  have 
formed.  But  the  ancient  jurymen  were 
not  impanelled  to  examine  into  the  credi- 
bility of  the  evidence:  the  question  was 
not  discussed  and  argued  before  them . 
they,  the  jurymen,  were  the   witnesses 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


407 


them53lves,  and  the  verdict  was  substan- 
tially the  examiuatiou  of  these  witnesses, 
who  of  their  own  knowledge,  aud  without 
the  aid  of  other  testimony,  afforded  their 
evidence  respecting  the  facts  in  question 
to  the  best  of  their  belief.  In  its  primitive 
form  a  trial  by  jury  was  therefore  only  a 
trial  by  witnesses ;  and  jurymen  were  dis- 
tinguished from  any  other  witnesses  only 
by  customs  which  imposed  upon  them  the 
obligation  of  an  oath  and  regulated  their 
number. 

"I  And  it  necessary  to  introduce  this 
description  of  the  ancient '  Trial  by  Jury,' 
because,  unless  the  real  functions  of  the 
original  jurymen  be  distinctly  presented 
to  the  reader,  his  familiar  knowledge  of 
the  existing  course  of  jurisprudence  will 
lead  to  the  most  erroneous  conclusions. 
Many  of  those  who  have  descanted  upon 
the  excellence  of  our  venerated  national 
franchise  seem  to  have  sitpposed  that  it 
has  descended  to  us  unchanged  from  the 
days  of  Alfred  ;  aud  the  patriot  who  claims 
the  jury  as  the  'judgment  by  his  peers' 
secured  by  Magna  Charta  can  never  have 
suspected  how  distinctly  the  trial  is  re- 
solved into  a  mere  examination  of  wit- 
nesses "  (i.  243). 

This  theory  is  sustained  by  a  great  dis- 
play of  erudition,  which  fully  establishes 
that  the  jurors  had  such  a  knowledge, 
however  acquired,  of  the  facts  as  enabled 
them  to  render  a  verdict  without  hearing 
any  other  testimony  in  open  court  than 
that  of  the  parties  themselves,  fortified,  if 
it  might  be,  by  written  documents  adduced. 
Hence  the  knights  of  the  grand  assize  are 
called  Recognitors,  a  name  often  given  to 
others  sworn  on  an  inquest. 

At  what  precise  period  witnesses  distinct 
from  the  jury  themselves,  and  who  had 
no  voice  in  the  verdict,  first  began  to  be 
regularly  summoned,  can  not  -be  ascer- 
tained. The  first  trace  of  such  a  practice 
occurs  in  the  23d  year  of  Edward  III.,  and 
had  probably  been  creeping  in  previously. 
That  it  was  perfectly  established  by  the 
middle  of  the  15th  century  we  have  clear 
evidence  from  Fortescue's  treatise  'De 
Laudibus  Legura  Anglite '  (c.  26),  written 
soon  after  1450 : 

"Twelve  good  and  true  men  being 
sworn  as  in  the  manner  above  related, 
legally  qualified — that  is,  having,  over  and 
besides  their  movable  possessions,  in  land 


sufficient  (as  was  said)  wherewith  to  main- 
tain  their  rank  and  station — neither  sus- 
pected by  nor  at  variance  with  either  of 
the  parties ;  all  of  the  neighborhood ; 
there  shall  be  read  to  them  in  English  by 
the  court  the  record  and  nature  of  the  plea 
at  length  which  is  dependingbetween  the 
parties ;  and  the  issue  thereupon  shall  be 
plainly  laid  before  them,  concerning  the 
truth  of  which  those  who  are  so  sworn  are 
to  certify  the  court ;  which  done,  each  of 
the  parties,  by  themselves  or  their  counsel, 
in  presence  of  the  court,  shall  declare  and 
lay  open  to  the  jury  all  and  singular  the 
matters  and  evidences  whereby  they  think 
they  may  be  able  to  inform  the  court  con- 
cerning the  truth  of  the  point  in  question  ; 
after  which  each  of  the  parties  has  a  liberty 
to  produce  before  the  court  all  such  wit- 
nesses as  they  please,  or  can  get  to  appear 
on  their  behalf,  who,  being  charged  upon 
their  oaths,  shall  give  in  evidence  all  that 
they  know  touching  the  truth  of  the  fiict 
concerning  which  the  parties  are  at  issue. 
And  if  necessity  so  require,  the  witnesses 
may  be  heard  and  examined  apart,  till 
they  shall  have  deposed  all  that  they  have 
to  give  in  evidence,  so  that  what  the  one 
has  declared  shall  not  inform  or  induce 
another  witness  of  the  sam'e  side  to  give 
his  evidence  in  the  same  words,  or  to  the 
very  same  effect.  The  whole  of  the  evi- 
dence being  gone  through,  the  jurors  shall 
confer  together  at  their  pleasure,  as  they 
shall  think  most  convenient,  upon  the 
truth  of  the  issue  before  them,  with  as 
much  deliberation  and  leisure  as  they  can 
well  desire;  being  all  the  while  in  the 
keeping  of  an  officer  of  the  court,  in  a  place 
assigned  them  for  that  purpose,  lest  any 
one  should  attempt  by  indirect  methods  to 
influence  them  as  to  their  opinion,  which 
they  are  to  give  in  to  the  court.  Lastly, 
they  are  to  return  into  court  and  certify 
the  justices  upon  the  truth  of  the  issue  so 
joined  in  the  presence  of  the  parties  (if 
they  please  to  be  present),  particularly  the 
person  who  is  plaintiff  in  the  cause :  what 
the  jurors  shall  so  certify,  in  the  laws  of 
England,  is  called  the  verdict  "  (c.  26). 

But  personal  knowledge  of  a  case  con- 
tinued to  be  allowed  in  a  juror,  who  was 
even  required  to  act  upon  it;  and  it  was 
not  till  a  comparatively  recent  period  that 
the  complete  separation  of  the  functions 
of  juryman  and  witness  was  established. 


408  ANGLO-NOKMAN  CONSTITUTION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  II 


PART    II. 

THE   ANGLO-NORMAN   CONSTITUTION. 

§  1.  The  Anglo-Norman  Constitution.  Causes  of  the  Conquest.  §  2,  Policy  and 
Character  of  William,  §  3.  His  Tyranny.  §  4.  Introduction  of  Feudal  Services. 
§  5.  Difference  between  the  Feudal  Governments  of  France  and  England.  Causes 
of  the  great  Power  of  the  first  Norman  Kings.  §  6.  Arbitrary  Character  of  their 
Government.  §  7.  General  Taxes.  §  8.  Right  of  Legislation.  Great  Council. 
§  9.  Laws  and  Charters  of  the  Norman  Kings.  §  10.  Resistance  of  the  Barons  to 
John.  Magna  Charta.  Its  principal  Articles.  §  11.  Constitution  under  Henry 
III.  }  12.  Limitations  of  the  Prerogative.  §  13.  Judicial  S3'stem  of  the  Anglo- 
Normans.  Curia  Regis,  Exchequer,  Justices  of  Assize,  Common  Pleas.  5  14.  Es- 
tablishment of  the  Common  Law.  §  15.  Hereditary  Right  of  the  Crown  estab- 
lished.   §  16.  Remarks  on  the  Limitation  of  Aristocratical  Privileges  in  England. 

§  1.  It  is  deemed  by  William  of  Malmsbury  an  extraordina- 
ry work  of  Providence  that  the  English  should  have  given  up 
all  for  lost  after  the  battle  of  Hastings,  where  only  a  small 
though  brave  army  had  perished.  It  was,  indeed,  the  con- 
quest of  a  great  kingdom  by  the  prince  of  a  single  province 
— an  event  not  easily  paralleled,  v\  here  the  vanquished  were 
little,  if  at  all,  less  courageous  than  their  enemies,  and  where 
no  domestic  factions  exposed  the  country  to  an  invader.  Yet 
William  was  so  advantageously  situated  that  his  success 
seems  neither  unaccountable  nor  any  matter  of  discredit  to 
the  English  nation.  The  heir  of  the  house  of  Cerdic  had  been 
already  set  aside  at  the  election  of  Harold ;  and  his  youth, 
joined  to  a  mediocrity  of  understanding,  which  excited  nei- 
ther esteem  nor  fear,  gave  no  encouragement  to  the  scheme 
of  placing  him  upon  the  throne  in  those  moments  of  immi- 
nent peril  which  followed  the  battle  of  Hastings.  England 
was  peculiarly  destitute  of  great  men.  The  weak  reigns  of 
Ethelred  and  Edward  had  rendered  the  Government  a  mere 
oligarchy,  and  reduced  the  nobility  into  the  state  of  retainers 
to  a  few  leading  houses,  the  representatives  of  which  were 
every  way  unequal  to  meet  such  an  enemy  as  the  Duke  of 
Normandy.  If,  indeed,  the  concurrent  testimony  of  histori- 
ans does  not  exaggerate  his  forces,  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
England  possessed  military  resources  sufficient  to  have  re- 
sisted so  numerous  and  w^ell-appointed  an  army. 

This  forlorn  state  of  the  country  induced,  if  it  did  not  jus- 
tify, the  measure  of  tendering  the  crown  to  William,  which 
he  had  a  pretext  or  title  to  claim,  arising  from  the  intentions, 
perhaps  the  promise,  perhaps  even  the  testament  of  Edward, 


English  Const.  WILLIAM  L  409 

which  had  more  weight  in  those  times  than  it  deserved,  and 
was  at  least  better  than  the  naked  title  of  conquest.  And 
this,  supported  by  an  oath  exactly  similar  to  that  taken  by 
the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  and  by  the  assent  of  the  multitude, 
English  as  well  as  Normans,  on  the  day  of  his  coronation, 
gave  as  much  appearance  of  a  regular  succession  as  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  times  would  permit.  Those  who  yielded 
to  such  circumstances  could  not  foresee,  and  were  unwilling 
to  anticipate,  the  bitterness  of  that  servitude  which  William 
and  his  Norman  followers  were  to  bring  upon  their  country. 

§  2.  The  commencement  of  his  administration  was  toler- 
ably equitable.  Though  many  confiscations  took  place,  in 
order  to  gratify  the  Norman  army,  yet  the  mass  of  proper- 
ty was  left  in  the  hands  of  its  former  possessors.  Offices  of 
high  trust  were  bestowed  upon  Englishmen,  even  upon  those 
whose  family  renown  might  have  raised  the  most  aspiring 
thoughts.  But,  partly  through  the  insolence  and  injustice 
of  William's  Norman  vassals,  partly  through  the  suspicious- 
ness natural  to  a  man  conscious  of  having  overturned  the 
national  government,  his  yoke  soon  became  more  heavy.  The 
English  were  oppressed ;  they  rebelled,  were  subdued,  and 
oppressed  again.  All  their  risings  were  without  concert,  and 
desperate ;  they  wanted  men  fit  to  head  them,  and  fortresses 
to  sustain  their  revolt.  After  a  very  few  years  they  sank  in 
despair,  and  yielded  for  a  century  to  the  indignities  of  a  com- 
paratively small  body  of  strangers  without  a  single  tumult. 
So  possible  is  it  for  a  nation  to  be  kept  in  permanent  servi- 
tude, even  without  losing  its  reputation  for  individual  cour- 
age, or  its  desire  of  freedom ! 

The  tyranny  of  William  displayed  less  of  passion  or  inso- 
lence than  of  that  indifference  about  human  suffering  which 
distinguishes  a  cold  and  far-sighted  statesman.  Impressed 
by  the  frequent  risings  of  the  English  at  the  commencement 
of  his  reign,  and  by  the  recollection,  as  one  historian  observes, 
that  the  mild  government  of  Canute  had  only  ended  in  the 
expulsion  of  the  Danish  line,  he  formed  the  scheme  of  rivet- 
ing such  fetters  upon  the  conquered  nation,  that  all  resist- 
ance should  become  impracticable.  Those  who  had  obtained 
honorable  ofiices  were  successively  deprived  of  them  ;  even 
the  bishops  and  abbots  of  English  birth  were  deposed  ;^  a 

1  This  was  clone  with  the  concurrence  and  sanction  of  the  pope,  Alexander  II.,  so 
that  the  stretch  of  power  was  by  Rome  rather  than  by  William.  It  must  pass  for  a 
gross  violation  of  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  national  rights,  and  Lanfranc  can  not  be 
reckoned,  notwithstanding  his  distinguished  name,  as  any  better  than  an  intrusive 
bishop.  He  showed  his  arrogant  scorn  of  the  English  nation  in  another  and  rather 
a  singular  manner.    They  were  excessively  proud  of  their  national  saints,  some  of 

18 


410  WILLIAM  I.  Chap.  VIIL  Part  XL 

stretch  of  power  very  singular  in  that  age.  Morcar,  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  English,  suffered  perpetual  imprison- 
ment. Waltheoflf,  a  man  of  equally  conspicuous  birth,  lost 
his  head  upon  the  scalfold  by  a  very  harsh,  if  not  iniquitous, 
sentence.  It  was  so  rare  in  those  times  to  inflict  judicially 
any  capital  punishment  upon  persons  of  such  rank,  that  his 
death  seems  to  have  produced  more  indignation  and  despair 
in  England  than  any  single  circumstance.  The  name  of  En 
glishman  was  turned  into  a  reproach.  None  of  that  race  for 
a  hundred  years  were  raised  to  any  dignity  in  the  State  or 
Church.''  Several  English  nobles,  desperate  of  the  fortunes 
of  their  country,  sought  refuge  in  the  Court  of  Constantino- 
ple, and  approved  their  valor  in  the  wars  of  Alexius  against 
another  Norman  conqueror,  scarcely  less  celebrated  than  their 
own,  Robert  Guiscard.  Under  the  name  of  Varangians,  those 
true  and  faithful  supporters  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  pre- 
served to  its  dissolution  their  ancient  Saxon  idiom.^ 

An  extensive  spoliation  of  property  accompanied  these  rev- 
olutions. It  appears  by  the  great  national  survey  of  Dooms- 
day-book, completed  near  the  close  of  the  Conqueror's  reign, 
that  the  tenants  in  capite  of  the  crown  were  generally  for- 
eigners. Undoubtedly  there  were  a  few  left  in  almost  every 
county  who  still  enjoyed  the  estates  which  they  held  under 
Edward  the  Confessor,  free  from  any  superiority  but  that  of 
the  crown,  and  were  denominated,  as  in  former  times,  the 
king's  thanes.  Cospatric,  son,  perhaps,  of  one  of*  that  name 
who  had  possessed  the  earldom  of  Northumberland,  held  for- 
ty-one manors  in  Yorkshire,  though  many  of  them  are  stated 
in  Doomsday  to  be  waste.  But  inferior  freeholders  were 
much  less  disturbed  in  their  estates  than  the  higher  class.  It 
is  manifest,  by  running  the  eye  over  some  pages  of  the  list  of 
mesne  tenants  at  the  time  of  the  survey,  how  mistaken  is 
the  supposition  that  few  of  English  birth  held  entire  manors. 
They  form  a  large  proportion  of  nearly  8000  mesne  tenants. 

whom  were  little  known,  and  whose  barbarous  names  disgusted  Italian  ears.  The 
Norman  bishops,  and  the  primate  especially,  set  themselves  to  disparage,  and  in 
fact  to  dispossess,  St  Aldhelm,  St.  Elflg,  and,  for  aught  we  know,  St.  Swithin,  St. 
Werburg,  St.  Ebb,  and  St.  Alphage  ;  names,  it  must  be  owned, 

•'That  would  have  made  Quintilian  stare  and  gasp." 

We  may  judge  what  the  eminent  native  of  Pavia  thought  of  such  a  hagiology.  The 
English  Church  found  herself,  as  it  were,  with  an  attainted  peerage.  But  the  calen- 
dar withstood  these  innovations. 

2  Becket  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  Englishman  who  reached  any  considerable 
dignity. 

^  No  writer,  except  perhaps  the  Saxon  Chronicler,  is  so  full  of  William's  tyranny 
as  Ordericus  Vitalis.  Ordericus  was  an  Englishman,  but  passed  at  ten  years  old,  a.» 
1084,  into  Normandy,  where  he  became  professed  in  the  monastery  of  Eu. 


Kngush  Const.  HIS  CHARACTER.  411 

And  we  may  presume  that  they  were  in  a  very  much  greater 
proportion  among  the  "  liberi  homines,"  who  held  lands,  sub- 
ject only  to  free  services,  seldom  or  never  very  burdensome. 
it  may  be  added  that  many  Normans,  as  we  learn  from  his- 
tory, married  English  heiresses,  rendered  so  frequently,  nc 
doubt,  by  the  violent  deaths  of  their  fathers  and  brothers,  but 
still  transmitting  ancient  rights,  as  well  as  native  blood,  to 
their  posterity. 

This  might  induce  us  to  suspect  that,  great  as  the  spolia- 
tion must  appear  in  modern  times,  and  almost  completely  as 
the  nation  was  excluded  from  civil  power  in  the  Common- 
wealth, there  is  fcome  exaggeration  in  the  language  of  those 
writers  who  represent  them  as  universally  reduced  to  a  state 
of  penury  and  servitude.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
legal  condition  of  the  English  mesne  tenant,  by  knight-serv- 
ice or  socage — for  the  case  of  villeins  is  of  course  not  here  con- 
sidered during  the  first  two  Norman  reigns — it  seems  evident 
that  he  was  protected  by  the  charter  of  Henry  I.  in  the  heredi- 
tary possession  of  his  lands,  subject  only  to  a  "lawful  and  just 
relief  towards  his  lord;"  for  this  charter  is  addressed  to  all 
the  liege  men  of  the  crown,  "French  and  English,"  and  pur- 
ports to  abolish  all  the  evil  customs  by  which  the  kingdom 
had  been  oppressed,  extending  to  the  tenants  of  the  barons 
as  well  as  those  of  the  crown. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  Norman  estates  in  capite  is  apt  to 
deceive  us.  In  reading  of  a  baron  who  held  forty  or  fifty  or 
one  hundred  manors,  we  are  prone  to  fancy  his  wealth  some- 
thing like  what  a  similar  estate  would  produce  at  this  day. 
But  if  we  look  at  the  next  words,  we  shall  continually  find 
tliat  some  one  else  held  of  him ;  and  this  was  a  holding  by 
knight's  service,  subject  to  feudal  incidents,  no  doubt,  but 
not  leaving  the  seigniory  very  lucrative,  or  giving  any  right 
of  possessory  ownership  over  the  land.  The  real  possessions 
of  the  tenant  of  a  manor,  whether  holding  in  chief  or  not, 
consisted  in  the  demesne  lands,  the  produce  of  which  he  ob- 
tained without  cost  by  the  labor  of  the  villeins,  and  in  what- 
ever other  payments  they  might  be  bound  to  make  in  money 
or  kind.  It  will  be  remembered,  what  has  been  more  than 
once  inculcated,  that  at  this  time  the  villani  and  bordarii, 
that  is,  ceorls,  were  not,  like  the  villeins  of  a  later  time,  des- 
titute of  rights  in  their  property;  tlieir  condition  was  tend- 
ing to  the  lower  stage,  and,  with  a  Norman  lord,  they  were 
in  much  danger  of  oppression  ;  but  they  were  "law-worthy" 
— they  had  a  civil  status  (to  pass  from  one  technical  style  to 
another)  for  a  century  after  the  Conquest. 


412  WILLIAM  I.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

Yet  I  would  not  extenuate  the  calamities  of  this  great  rev- 
olution, true  though  it  be  that  much  good  was  brought  out 
of  them,  and  that  we  owe  no  trifling  part  of  what  inspires 
self-esteem  to  the  Norman  element  of  our  population  and  our 
polity.  England  passed  under  the  yoke  —  she  endured  the 
arrogance  of  foreign  conquerors — her  children,  even  though 
their  loss  in  revenue  may  have  been  exaggerated,  and  still  it 
was  enormous,  became  a  low  race,  not  called  to  the  councils 
of  their  sovereign,  not  sharing  his  trust  or  his  bounty.  They 
were  in  a  far  difl*erent  condition  from  the  provincial  Romans 
after  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  even  if,  which  is  hardly  possible 
to  determine,  their  actual  deprivation  of  lands  should  have 
been  less  extensive.  For  not  only  they  did  not  for  several 
reigns  occupy  the  honorable  stations  which  sometimes  fell  to 
the  lot  of  the  Roman  subject  of  Clovis  or  Alaric,  but  they 
had  a  great  deal  more  freedom  and  importance  to  lose.  Nor 
had  they  a  protecting  Church  to  mitigate  barbarous  superi- 
ority ;  their  bishops  were  degraded  and  in  exile ;  the  foot- 
step of  the  invader  was  at  their  altars;  their  monasteries 
were  plundered,  and  the  native  monks  insulted.  Rome  her- 
self looked  with  little  favor  on  a  Church  which  had  preserved 
some  measure  of  independence :  strange  contrast  to  the  tri- 
umphant episcopate  of  the  Merovingian  kings!* 

§  3.  Besides  the  severities  exercised  upon  the  English  after 
every  insurrection,  two  instances  of  William's  unsparing  cru- 
elty are  well  known — the  devastation  of  Yorkshire  and  of  the 
New  Forest.  In  the  former,  w^hich  had  the  tyrant's  plea, 
necessity,  for  its  pretext,  an  invasion  being  threatened  from 
Denmark,  the  whole  country  between  the  Tyne  and  the  Hum- 
ber  was  laid  so  desolate  that  for  nine  years  afterwards  tliere 
was  not  an  inhabited  village,  and  hardly  an  inhabitant  left — 
the  wasting  of  this  district  having  been  followed  by  a  famine 
which  swept  away  the  whole  population.  That  of  the  New 
Forest,  though  undoubtedly  less  calamitous  in  its  effects, 
seems  more  monstrous  from  the  frivolousness  of  the  cause. 
He  afforested  several  other  tracts.  And  these  favorite  de- 
mesnes of  the  Norman  kings  were  protected  by  a  system  of  in- 
iquitous and  cruel  regulations,  called  the  Forest  Laws,  which 
it  became  afterwards  a  great  object  with  the  assertors  of  lib- 
erty to  correct.  The  penalty  for  killing  a  stag  or  a  boar  was 
loss  of  eyes ;  for  William  loved  the  great  game,  says  the 
Saxon  Chronicle,  as  if  he  had  been  their  father. 

*  The  oppression  of  the  English  during  the  first  reigns  after  the  Conquest  is  fully 
described  by  the  Norman  historians  themselves,  as  well  as  by  the  Saxon  Chronicle. 
Their  testimonies  are  well  collected  by  M.Thierry  in  the  second  volume  of  his  val- 
uable history 


English  Const.  HIS  TYRANNY.  413 

A  more  general  proof  of  the  ruinous  oppression  of  William 
the  Conqueror  may  be  deduced  from  the  comparative  condi- 
tion of  the  English  towns  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor and  at  the  compilation  of  Doomsday.  At  the  former 
epoch,  there  were  in  York  1607  inhabited  houses ;  at  the  latter, 
967:  at  the  former,  there  were  in  Oxford  721 ;  at  the  latter, 
243:  of  172  houses -in  Dorchester,  100  were  destroyed;  of 
243  in  Derby,  103  ;  of  487  in  Chester,  205.  Some  other  towns 
had  suffered  less,  but  scarcely  any  one  fails  to  exhibit  marks 
of  a  decayed  population.'^ 

The  demesne  lands  of  the  crown,  extensive  and  scattered 
over  every  county,  were  abundantly  sufficient  to  support  its 
dignity  and  magnificence  f  and  William,  far  from  wasting 
this  revenue  by  prodigal  grants,  took  care  to  let  them  at  the 
highest  rate  to  farm,  little  caring  how  much  the  cultivators 
were  racked  by  his  tenants.  Yet  his  exactions,  both  feudal 
and  in  the  way  of  tallage,  from  his  burgesses  and  the  tenants 
of  his  vassals,  were  almost  as  violent  as  his  confiscations.  No 
source  of  income  was  neglected  by  him,  or,  indeed,  by  his  suc- 
cessors, however  trifling,  unjust,  or  unreasonable.  His  reve- 
nues, if  we  could  trust  Ordericus  Vitalis,  amounted  to  £1060 
a  day.  This,  in  mere  weight  of  silver,  would  be  equal  to 
nearly  £1,200,000  a  year  at  present.  But  the  arithmetical 
statements  of  these  writers  are  not  implicitly  to  be  relied 
upon.  He  left  at  his  death  a  treasure  of  £60,000,  which,  in 
conformity  to  his  dying  request,  his  successor  distributed 
among  the  Church  and  poor  of  the  kingdom,  as  a  feeble  ex- 
piation of  the  crimes  by  which  it  had  been  accumulated ;  an 
act  of  disinterestedness  which  seems  to  prove  that  Rufus, 
amidst  all  his  vices,  was  not  destitute  of  better  feelings  than 
historians  have  ascribed  to  him.  It  might  appear  that  Wil- 
liam had  little  use  for  his  extorted  wealth.  By  the  feudal 
constitution,  as  established  during  his  reign,  he  commanded 
the  service  of  a  vast  army  at  its  own  expense,  either  for  do- 
mestic or  Continental  w^arfare.  But  this  was  not  sufficient 
for  his  purpose ;  like  other  tyrants,  he  put  greater  trust  in 
mercenary  obedience.  Some  "of  his  predecessors  had  kep\ 
bodies  of  Danish  troops  in  pay;  partly  to  be  secure  against 
their  hostility,  partly  from  the  convenience  of  a  regular  army, 
and  the  love  which  princes  bear  to  it.  But  William  carried 
this  to  a  much  greater  length.  He  had  always  stipendiary 
soldiers  at  his  command.     Indeed,  his  army  at  the  Conquest 

*  The  population  recorded  in  Doomsday  is  about  283,000 ;  which,  in  round  nun* 
bers,  allowing  for  women  and  children,  may  be  called  about  a  railliou. 

•  They  consisted  of  1422  manors. 


414  FEUDAL  SERVICES.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

could  not  have  been  swollen  to  such  numbers  by  any  other 
means.  They  were  drawn,  by  the  allurement  of  high  pay, 
not  from  France  and  Brittany  alone,  but  Flanders,  Germany, 
and  even  Spain.  When  Canute  of  Denmark  threatened  an  in- 
vasion in  1085,  William,  too  conscious  of  his  own  tyranny  to 
use  the  arms  of  his  English  subjects,  collected  a  mercenary 
force  so  vast,  that  men  wondered,  says  the  Saxon  Chronicle, 
how  the  country  could  maintain  it.  This  he  quartered  upon 
the  people,  according  to  the  proportion  of  their  estates. 

§  4.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  ten- 
ures, it  is  certain  that  those  of  the  feudal  system  were  thor- 
oughly established  in  England  under  the  Conqueror.  It  has 
been  observed,  in  another  part  of  this  work,  that  the  rights, 
or  feudal  incidents,  of  wardship  and  marriage  were  more  com- 
mon in  England  and  Normandy  than  in  the  rest  of  France. 
They  certainly  did  not  exist  in  the  former  before  the  Con- 
quest ;  but  whether  they  were  ancient  customs  of  the  latter 
can  not  be  ascertained,  unless  we  liad  more  incontestable 
records  of  its  early  jurisprudence.  There  appears,  however, 
reason  to  think  that  the  seizure  of  the  lands  in  wardship,  the 
selling  of  the  heiress  in  marriage,  were  originally  deemed 
rather  acts  of  violence  than  conformable  to  law.  For  Hen- 
ry I.'s  charter  exj^ressly  promises  that  the  mother,  or  next 
of  kin,  shall  have  the  custody  of  the  lands  as  well  as  person 
of  the  heir.  And  as  the  charter  of  Henry  II.  refers  to  and  con- 
firms that  of  his  grandfather,  it  seems  to  follow  that  what  is 
called  guardianship  in  chivalry  had  not  yet  been  established. 
At  least  it  is  not  till  the  assize  of  Clarendon,  confirmed  at 
Northampton  in  11 76,  that  the  custody  of  the  heir  is  clearly 
reserved  to  the  lord.  With  respect  to  the  right  of  consent- 
ing to  the  marriage  of  a  female  vassal,  it  seems  to  have  been, 
as  I  have  elsewhere  observed,  pretty  general  in  feudal  ten- 
ures. But  the  sale  of  her  person  in  marriage,  or  the  exaction 
of  a  sum  of  money  in  lieu  of  this  scandalous  tyranny,  was 
only  the  law  of  England,  and  was  not,  perhaps,  fully  author- 
ized as  such  till  the  statute  of  Merton,in  1236. 

One  innovation  made  by  William  upon  the  feudal  law  is 
very  deserving  of  attention.  By  the  leading  principle  of 
feuds,  an  oath  of  fealty  was  due  from  the  vassal  to  the  lord 
of  whom  he  immediately  held  his  land,  and  to  no  other.  The 
King  of  France,  long  after  this  period,  had  no  feudal,  and 
scarcely  any  royal  authority  over  the  tenants  of  his  own  vas- 
sals. But  William  received  at  Salisbury,  in  1085,  the  fealty 
of  all  land-holders  in  England,  both  those  who  held  in  chief 
and  their  tenants ;  thus  breaking  in  upon  the  feudal  compact 


English  Const.  FEUDAL  SERVICES.  415 

in  its  most  essential  attribute,  the  exclusive  dependence  of  a 
vassal  upon  his  lord.  And  this  may  be  reckoned  among  the 
several  causes  which  prevented  the  Continental  notions  of. 
independence  upon  the  crown  from  ever  taking  root  among 
the  English  aristocracy. 

§  5.  The  system  of  feudal  policy,  though  derived  to  En- 
gland from  a  French  source,  bore  a  very  different  appearance 
in  the  two  countries.  France,  for  about  two  centuries  after 
the  house  of  Capet  had  usurped  the  throne  of  Charlemagne's 
posterity,  could  hardly  be  deemed  a  regular  confederacy, 
much  less  an  entire  monarchy.  But  in  England  a  govern- 
ment feudal,  indeed,  in  its  form,  but  arbitrary  in  its  exercise, 
not  only  maintained  subordination,  but  almost  extinguished 
liberty.  Several  causes  seem  to  have  conspired  towards 
this  radical  difference.  In  the  first  place,  a  kingdom  com- 
paratively small  is  much  more  easily  kept  under  control  than 
one  of  vast  extent.  And  the  fiefs  of  Anglo-Norman  barons 
after  the  Conquest  were  far  less  considerable,  even  relatively 
to  the  size  of  the  two  countries,  than  those  of  Fi-ance.  The 
Earl  of  Chester  held,  indeed,  almost  all  that  county  '^  the 
Earl  of  Shrewsbury  nearly  the  whole  of  Salop.  But  these 
domains  bore  no  comparison  with  the  dukedom  of  Guienne, 
or  the  county  of  Toulouse.  In  general,  the  lordships  of  Wil- 
liam's barons,  whether  this  were  owing  to  policy  or  accident, 
were  exceedingly  dispersed.  Robert,  earl  of  Moreton,  for 
example,  the  most  richly  endowed  of  his  followers,  enjoyed 
248  manors  in  Cornwall,  54  in  Sussex,  196  in  Yorkshire,  99 
in  Northamptonshire,  besides  many  in  other  counties.  Es- 
tates so  disjoined,  however  immense  in  their  aggregate,  were 
ill  calculated  for  supporting  a  rebellion.  It  is  observed  by 
Madox  that  the  knight's  fees  of  almost  every  barony  were 
scattered  over  various  counties. 

In  the  next  place,  these  baronial  fiefs  were  held  under  an 
actual  derivation  from  the  crown.  The  great  vassals  of 
France  had  usurped  their  dominions  before  the  accession  of 
Hugh  Capet,  and  barely  submitted  to  his  nominal  sovereign- 
ty.  They  never  intended  to  yield  the  feudal  tributes  of  re- 
lief and  aid,  nor  did  some  of  them  even  acknowledge  the  su- 
premacy of  his  royal  jurisdiction.     But  the  Conqueror  and 

^  This  %vap,  upon  the  whole,  more  like  a  great  French  fief  than  any  English  earl- 
dom. Hugh  de  Abrincis,  nephew  of  William  L,  had  barons  of  his  own,  one  of  whom 
held  forty-six  and  another  thirty  manors.  Chester  was  first  called  a  connty-palatine 
under  Henry  II. ;  but  it  previously  possessed  all  regaliau  rights  of  jurisdiction.  Af- 
ter the  forfeitures  of  the  house  of  Montgomery,  it  acquired  all  the  country  between 
the  Mersey  and  Ribble.  Several  eminent  men  inherited  the  earldom ;  but  upon  the 
death  of  the  most  distinguished,  Rauulf,  in  1232,  it  fell  into  a  female  line,  and  soon 
escheated  to  the  crown. 


416  THE  NORMAN  KINGS.     Chap.  VIII.  Paiit  II. 

his  successors  imposed  what  conditions  they  would  upon  a 
set  of  barons  who  owed  all  to  their  grants ;  and  as  mankind's 
notions  of  right  are  generally  founded  upon  prescriptions, 
these  peers  grew  accustomed  to  endure  many  burdens,  re- 
luctantly indeed,  but  without  that  feeling  of  injury  which 
would  have  resisted  an  attempt  to  impose  them  upon  the  vas- 
sals of  the  French  crown.  For  the  same  reasons  the  barons 
of  England  were  regularly  summoned  to  the  great  council ; 
and  by  their  attendance  in  it,  and  concurrence  in  the  meas- 
ures which  were  there  resolved  upon,  a  compactness  and  uni- 
ty of  interests  was  given  to  the  monarchy  which  was  entire- 
ly wanting  in  that  of  France. 

We  may  add  to  the  circumstances  that  rendered  the 
crow^n  powerful  during  the  first  century  after  the  Conquest, 
an  extreme  antipathy  of  the  native  English  towards  their  in- 
vaders. Both  William  Rufus  and  Henry  I.  made  use  of  the 
former  to  strengthen  themselves  against  the  attempts  of  their 
brother  Robert,  though  they  forgot  their  promisee  to  the  En- 
glish after  attaining  their  object.  A  fact  mentioned  by  Or- 
dericus  Vitalis  illustrates  the  advantage  which  the  govern- 
ment found  in  this  national  animosity.  During  the  siege  of 
Bridgenorth,  a  town  belonging  to  Robert  de  Belesme,  one  of 
the  most  turbulent  and  powerful  of  the  Norman  barons,  by 
Henry  Lin  1102,  the  rest  of  the  nobility  deliberated  togeth- 
er, and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  the  king  could  expel 
so  distinguished  a  subject  he  would  be  able  to  treat  them 
all  as  his  servants.  They  endeavored,  therefore,  to  bring 
about  a  treaty ;  but  the  English  part  of  Henry's  army,  hat- 
ing Robert  de  Belesme  as  a  Norman,  urged  the  king  to  pro^ 
ceed  with  the  siege,  which  he  did,  and  took  the  castle. 

§  6.  Unrestrained,  therefore,  comparatively  speaking,  by 
the  aristocratic  principles  which  influenced  other  feudal 
countries,  the  administration  acquired  a  tone  of  rigor  and 
arbitrariness  under  William  the  Conqueror  which,  though 
sometimes  perhaps  a  little  mitigated,  did  not  cease  during  a 
century  and  a  half.  For  the  first  three  reigns  we  must  have 
recourse  to  historians  whose  language,  though  vague,  and 
perhaps  exaggerated,  is  too  uniform  and  impressive  to  leave 
a  doubt  of  the  tyrannical  character  of  the  government.  The 
intolerable  exactions  of  tribute,  the  rapine  of  purveyance, 
the  iniquity  of  royal  courts,  are  continually  in  their  mouths. 
"  God  sees  the  wretched  people,"  says  the  Saxon  chronicler, 
"  most  unjustly  oppressed  ;  first  they  are  despoiled  of  their 
possessions,  then  butchered.  This  was  a  grievous  year  (11 24). 
Whoever  had  any  property  lost  it  by  heavy  taxes  and  un- 


English  Const.     GOVERNMENT  OF  NORMAN  KINGS.  4lT 

just  decrees."  The  same  ancient  chronicle,  which  appears 
to  have  been  continued  from  time  to  time  in  the  Abbey  of 
Peterborough,  frequently  utters  similar  notes  of  lamentation. 
From  the  reign  of  Stephen,  the  miseries  of  which  are  not 
to  my  immediate  purpose,  so  far  as  they  j^roceeded  from  an- 
archy and  intestine  war,^  we  are  able  to  trace  the  character 
of  government  by  existing  records.**  These,  digested  by  the 
industrious  Madox  into  his  History  of  the  Exchequer,  give  us 
far  more  insight  into  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  if  we  may 
use  such  a  word,  than  all  our  monkish  chronicles.  It  was 
not  a  sanguinary  despotism.  Henry  II.  was  a  prince  of  re- 
markable clemency  ;  and  none  of  the  Conqueror's  successors 
were  as  grossly  tyrannical  as  himself  But  the  system  of 
rapacious  extortion  from  their  subjects  prevailed  to  a  degree 
which  we  should  rather  expect  to  iind  among  Eastern  slaves 
than  that  high-spirited  race  of  Normandy  whoso  renown  then 
filled  Europe  and  Asia.  The  right  of  wardship  was  abused 
by  selling  the  heir  and  his  land  to  the  highest  bidder.  That 
of  marriage  was  carried  to  a  still  grosser  excess.  The  kings 
of  France,  indeed,  claimed  the  prerogative  of  forbidding  the 
marriage  of  their  vassals'  daughters  to  such  persons  as  they 
thought  unfriendly  or  dangerous  to  themselves ;  but  I  am  not 
aware  that  they  ever  compelled  them  to  marry,  much  less 
that  they  turned  this  attribute  of  sovereignty  into  a  means 
of  revenue.  But  in  England  women,  and  even  men,  simply 
as  tenants-in-chief,  and  not  as  wards,  fined  to  the  crown  for 
leave  to  marry  whom  they  would,  or  not  to  be  compelled  to 
marry  any  other.  Towns  not  only  fined  for  original  grants 
of  franchises,  but  for  repeated  confirmations.  The  Jews 
paid  exorbitant  sums  for  every  common  right  of  mankind,  for 
protection,  for  justice.  In  return  they  were  sustained  agamst 
their  Christian  debtors  in  demands  of  usury,  which  super- 
stition and  tyranny  rendered  enormous.  Men  fined  for  the 
king's  good-will ;  or  that  he  w^ould  remit  his  anger ;  or  to 
have    his    mediation    with   their    adversaries.     Many   fines 

8  The  following  simple  picture  of  that  reign  from  the  Saxon  Chronicle  may  he 
worth  inserting:  "The  nobles  and  bishops  built  castles,  and  filled  them  with  devil- 
ish and  wicked  men,  and  oppressed  the  people,  cruelly  torturing  men  for  their  mon- 
ey. They  imposed  taxes  upon  towns,  and,  when  they  had  exhausted  them  of  every 
thing,  set  them  on  fire.  You  might  travel  a  day  and  not  find  one  man  living  in  a 
town,  nor  any  land  in  cultivation.  Never  did  the  country  suffer  greater  evils.  If 
two  or  three  men  were  seen  riding  up  to  a  town,  all  its  inhabitants  left  it,  taking 
them  for  plunderers.  And  this  lasted,  growing  worse  and  worse,  throughout  Ste- 
phen's reign.    Men  said  openly  that  Christ  and  his  saints  were  asleep  "  (p.  239). 

*  The  earliest  record  in  the  Pipe-office  is  that  which  Madox,  in  conformity  to  the 
nsage  of  others,  cites  by  the  name  of  Magnum  Rotulum  quinto  Stephani.  But  in  a 
particular  dissertation  subjoined  to  his  History  of  the  Exchequer  he  inclines,  though 
not  decisively,  to  refer  this  record  to  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 

18* 


418  GENERAL  TAXES.         Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

seem,  as  it  were,  imposed  in  sport,  if  we  look  to  the  cause ; 
though  their  extent,  and  the  solemnity  with  which  they  were 
recorded,  prove  the  humor  to  have  been  differently  relished 
by  the  two  parties.  Thus  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  paid  a 
tun  of  good  wine  for  not  reminding  the  king  (John)  to  give 
a  girdle  to  the  Countess  of  Albemarle ;  and  Robert  de  Vaux 
live  best  palfreys,  that  the  same  king  might  hold  his  peace 
about  Henry  Pinel's  wife.  Another  paid  four  marks  for 
leave  to  eat  (pro  licentia  comedendi).  But  of  all  the  abuses 
which  deformed  the  Anglo-Norman  government,  none  was 
so  flagitious  as  the  sale  of  judicial  redress.  The  king,  we 
are  often  told,  is  the  fountain  of  justice ;  but  in  those  ages 
it  was  one  which  gold  alone  could  unseal.  Men  fined  to 
have  right  done  them ;  to  sue  in  a  certain  court ;  to  im- 
plead a  certain  person ;  to  have  restitution  of  land  which 
they  had  recovered  at  law.  From  the  sale  of  that  justice 
which  every  citizen  has  a  right  to  Remand,  it  was  an  easy 
transition  to  withhold  or  deny  it.  Fines  were  received  for 
the  king's  help  against  the  adverse  suitor ;  that  is,  for  per- 
version of  justice,  or  for  delay.  Sometimes  they  were  paid 
by  opposite  parties,  and,  of  course,  for  opposite  ends.  These 
were  called  counter-fines.^" 

§  7.  Among  a  people  imperfectly  civilized  the  most  out- 
rageous injustice  towards  individuals  may  pass  without  the 
slightest  notice,  while  in  matters  affecting  the  commimity 
the  powers  of  government  are  exceedingly  controlled.  It 
becomes,  therefore,  an  important  question  what  prerogative 
these  Norman  kings  were  used  to  exercise  in  raising  money 
and  in  general  legislation.  By  the  prevailing  feudal  customs 
the  lord  was  entitled  to  demand  a  pecuniary  aid  of  his  vas- 
sals in  certain  cases.  These  were,  in  England,  to  make  his 
eldest  son  a  knight,  to  marry  his  eldest  daughter,  and  to  ran- 
som himself  from  captivity.  Accordingly,  when  such  cir- 
cumstances occurred,  aids  were  levied  by  the  crown  upon  its 
tenants,  at  the  rate  of  a  mark  or  a  pound  for  every  knight's 
fee."  These  aids,  being  strictly  due  in  the  prescribed  cases, 
were  taken  without  requiring  the  consent  of  Parliament.  Es- 
cuage,  which  was  a  commutation  for  the  personal  service  of 
military  tenants  in  war,  having  rather  the  appearance  of  an 
indulgence  than  an  imposition,  might  reasonably  be  levied  by 

"  The  most  opposite  instances  of  these  exactions  are  well  selected  from  Madoxby 
Hume,  Appendix  II. 

"  The  reasonable  aid  was  fixed  by  the  statute  of  Westminster  1,  3  Edw.  I.,  c.  36,  at 
twenty  shillings  for  every  knight's  fee,  and  as  much  for  every  i;20  value  of  land  held 
by  socage.  The  aid  pour  faire  fitz  chevalier  might  be  raised  when  he  entered  into 
his  fifteenth  year;  pour  fille  marier  when  she  reached  the  age  of  seven. 


English  Const.  LEGISLATION.  419 

the  king.  It  was  not  till  the  charter  of  John  that  escuage 
became  a  parliamentary  assessment ;  the  custom  of  commut- 
ing service  having  then  grown  general,  and  the  rate  of  com- 
mutation being  variable. 

None  but  military  tenants  could  be  liable  for  escuage ;  but 
the  inferior  subjects  of  the  crown  wei-e  oppressed  by  tallages. 
The  demesne  lands  of  the  king,  and  all  royal  towns,  were  lia- 
ble to  tallage ;  an  imposition  far  more  rigorous  and  irregular 
than  those  which  fell  upon  the  gentry.  Tallages  were  con- 
tinually raised  upon  difterent  towns  during  all  the  Norman 
reigns  without  the  consent  of  Parliament,  which  neither  rep- 
resented them  nor  cared  for  their  interests.  The  itinerant 
justices  in  their  circuit  usually  set  this  tax.  Sometimes  the 
tallage  was  assessed  in  gross  upon  a  town,  and  collected  by 
the  burgesses  ;  sometimes  individually  at  the  judgment  of 
the  justices.  There  was  an  appeal  from  an  excessive  assess- 
ment to  the  barons  of  the  Exchequer.  Inferior  lords  might 
tallage  their  own  tenants  and  demesne  towns,  though  not,  it 
seems,  without  the  king's  permission.  Customs  upon  the  im- 
port and  export  of  merchandise,  of  which  the  prisage  of  wine 
—  that  is,  a  right  of  taking  two  casks  out  of  each  vessel  — 
seems  the  most  material,  were  immemorially  exacted  by  the 
crown.  There  is  no  appearance  that  these  originated  with 
Parliament.  Another  tax,  extending  to  all  the  lands  of  the 
kingdom,  was  Danegeld,  the  ship-money  of  those  times.  This 
name  had  been  originally  given  to  the  tax  imposed  under 
Ethelred  II.,  in  order  to  raise  a  tribute  exacted  by  the  Danes. 
•It  was  afterwards  applied  to  a  permanent  contribution  for 
the  public  defense  against  the  same  enemies.  But  after  the 
Conquest  this  tax  is  said  to  have  been  only  occasionally  re- 
quired ;  and  the  latest  instance  on  record  of  its  payment  is  in 
the  20th  of  Henry  II.  Its  imposition  appears  to  have  been  at 
the  king's  discretion. 

§  8.  The  right  of  general  legislation  was  undoubtedly 
placed  in  the  king,  conjointly  with  his  Great  Council,  or,  if 
the  expression  be  thought  more  proper,  with  their  advice.  So 
little  opposition  was  found  in  these  assemblies  by  the  early 
Norman  kings,  that  they  gratified  their  own  love  of  pomp, 
as  well  as  the  pride  of  their  barons,  by  consulting  them  in 
every  important  business.  But  the  limits  of  legislative  pow- 
er were  extremely  indefinite.^"  New  laws,  like  new  taxes, 
afifecting  the  community,  required  the  sanction  of  that  as- 
sembly which  was  supposed  to  represent  it ;  but  there  was 
no  security  for  individuals  against  acts  of  prerogative  which 

»2  See  Note  L,  "The  Legislatiou  of  the  Great  CounciL" 


420  CHARTERS.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

we  should  justly  consider  as  most  tyrannical.  Henry  II.,  the 
best  of  these  monarchs,  banished  from  England  the  relations 
and  friends  of  Becket,  to  the  number  of  four  hundred.  At 
another  time  he  sent  over  from  Normandy  an  injunction 
that  all  the  kindred  of  those  who  obeyed  a  papal  interdict 
should  be  banished  and  their  estates  confiscated. 

§  9.  The  statutes  of  those  reigns  do  not  exhibit  to  us  many 
provisions  calculated  to  maintain  public  liberty  on  a  broad 
and  general  foundation.  And  although  the  laws  then  enact- 
ed have  not  all  been  preserved,  yet  it  is  unlikely  that  any  of 
an  extensively  remedial  nature  should  have  left  no  trace  of 
their  existence.  We  find,  however,  what  has  sometimes  been 
called  the  Magna  Charta  of  William  the  Conqueror.  "We 
will,  enjoin,  and  grant,"  says  the  king, "  that  all  freemen  of 
our  kingdom  shall  enjoy  their  lands  in  peace,  free  from  all 
tallage,  and  from  every  unjust  exaction,  so  that  nothing  but 
their  service  lawfully  due  to  us  shall  be  demanded  at  their 
hands.'"^  It  is  remarkable  that  no  reference  is  made  to  this 
concession  of  William  the  Conqueror  in  any  subsequent  char- 
ter. A  charter  of  Henry  I.,  the  authenticity  of  which  is  un- 
disputed, though  it  contains  nothing  specially  expressed  but 
a  remission  of  unreasonable  reliefs,  wardships,  and  other  feud- 
al burdens,'*  proceeds  to  declare  that  he  gives  his  subjects  the 
laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  with  the  emendations  made  by 
his  father  with  consent  of  his  barons.  The  charter  of  Stephen 
not  only  confirms  that  of  his  predecessor,  but  adds,  in  fuller 
terms  than  Henry  had  used,  an  express  concession  of  the  laws 
and  customs  of  Edward.  Henry  II.  is  silent  about  these,  al- 
though he  repeats  the  confirmation  of  his  grandfather's  char- 
ter. The  people,  however,  had  begun  to  look  back  to  a  more 
ancient  standard  of  law.  The  Norman  Conquest,  and  all 
that  ensued  upon  it,  had  endeared  the  memory  of  their  Sax- 
on government.  Its  disorders  were  forgotten,  or,  rather, 
were  less  odious  to  a  rude  nation  than  the  coercive  justice 

*3  This  charter  contains  a  clause— "Hoc  quoque  pr^cipio  et  volo  ut  cranes  habeant 
et  teneaut  legem  Edwardi  Regis  in  omnibus  rebus,  adauctis  his  quae  coustitui  ad 
utilitatem  populi  Auglorum."  This  charter  seems  to  be  fully  established;  it  de- 
serves to  be  accounted  the  first  remedial  concession  by  the  crown ;  for  it  indicates, 
especially  taken  in  connection  with  public  history,  an  arbitrary  exercise  of  royal 
power  which  neither  the  new  nor  the  old  subjects  of  the^nglish  monarchy  reckon- 
ed lawful.  It  is  also  the  earliest  recognition  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  such  as  they 
subsisted  under  the  Confessor,  and  a  proof  both  that  the  English  were  now  endeav- 
oring to  raise  their  heads  from  servitude,  and  that  the  Normans  had  discovered  some 
immunities  from  taxation,  or  some  securities  from  absolute  power,  among  the  con- 
quered people,  in  which  they  desired  to  participate. 

"  The  accession  of  Henry  inspired  hopes  into  the  English  nation  which  were  not 
well  realized.  His  marriage  with  Matilda,  "of  the  rightful  English  kin,"  is  men- 
tioned with  apparent  pleasure  by  the  Saxon  chronicler  under  the  year  1100. 


English  Const.  CHARTERS.  421 

by  which  they  were  afterwards  restrained.  Hence  it  be- 
came the  favorite  cry  to  demand  the  laws  of  Edward  the 
Confessor;  and  the  Normans  themselves,  as  they  grew  dis- 
satisfied with  the  royal  administration,  fell  into  these  English 
sentiments.'^  But  what  these  laws  were,  or  more  properly, 
perhaps,  these  customs  subsisting  in  the  Confessor's  age,  was 
not  very  distinctly  understood.  So  far,  however,  was  clear, 
that  the  rigorous  feudal  servitude,  the  weighty  tributes 
upon  poorer  freemen,  had  never  prevailed  before  the  Con- 
quest. In  claiming  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  our 
ancestors  meant  but  the  redress  of  grievances  which  tradi- 
tion told  them  had  not  always  existed. 

It  is  highly  probable,  independently  of  the  evidence  sup- 
plied by  the  charters  of  Henry  I.  and  his  two  successors, 
that  a  sense  of  oppression  had  long  been  stimulating  the 
subjects  of  so  arbitrary  a  government  before  they  gave  any 
demonstrations  of  it  sufficiently  palpable  to  find  a  place  in 
history.  But  there  are  certainly  no  instances  of  rebellion, 
or  even,  as  far  as  we  know,  of  a  constitutional  resistance  in 
Parliament,  down  to  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  The  revolt  of 
the  earls  of  Leicester  and  Norfolk  against  Henry  IL,  which 
endangered  his  throne  and  comprehended  his  children  with 
a  large  part  of  his  barons,  appears  not  to  have  been  founded 
even  upon  the  pretext  of  public  grievances.  Under  Richard 
I.  something  more  of  a  national  spirit  began  to  show  itself 
For  the  king  having  left  his  chancellor,  William  Longchamp, 
joint  regent  and  justiciary  with  the  Bishop  of  Dui-ham  during 
his  crusade,  the  foolish  insolence  of  the  former,  who  excluded 
his  coadjutor  from  any  share  in  the  administration,  provoked 
every  one  of  the  nobility.  A  convention  of  these,  the  king's 
brother  placing  himself  at  their  head,  passed  a  sentence  of 
removal  and  banishment  upon  the  chancellor.  Though  there 
might  be  reason  to  conceive  that  this  would  not  be  un pleas- 
ing to  the  king,  who  Avas  already  apprised  how  much  Long- 
champ  had  abused  his  trust,  it  was  a  remarkable  assumption 
of  power  by  that  assembly,  and  the  earliest  authority  for  a 
leading  principle  of  our  constitution,  the  responsibility  of 
ministers  to  Parliament. 

**  The  distinction  between  the  two  nations  was  pretty  well  obliterated  at  the  end 
of  Henry  II.'s  reign,  as  we  learn  from  the  Dialogue  on  the  Exchequer,  then  written  : 
Jam  cohabitantibus  Auglicis  et  Normannis,  et  alterutriim  uxores  ducentibus  vel  nu- 
bentibtis,  sic  permixtae  sunt  nationes,  ut  vix  discern!  possit  hodie,  de  liberis  loquor, 
quis  Anglicns,  quis  Norraannus  sit  genere ;  exceptis  duntaxat  ascriptitiis  qui  villani 
dicuntur,  quibus  non  est  libernm  obstantibus  dominis  snis  a  sni  status  conditione 
discedere.  Eapropter  peue  quicuuque  sic  hodie  occisus  reperitur,  ut  murdrum  puni- 
tur,  exceptis  his  quibus  certa  sunt  ut  diximus  servills  conditionis  indicia  (p.  2(Q.  See 
Note  II.,  "On  the  Duration  of  Distinction  between  Norman  and  Saxon." 


422  KING  JOHN.  Chav.  VIII.  Part  IL 

§  10.  In  the  succeeding  reign  of  John  all  the  rapacious  ex- 
actions usual  to  these  Norman  kings  were  not  only  redoub- 
led, but  mingled  with  other  outrages  of  tyranny  still  more 
intolerable.  These,  too,  were  to  be  endured  at  the  hands  of 
a  prince  utterly  contemptible  for  his  folly  and  cowardice. 
One  is  surprised  at  the  forbearance  displayed  by  the  barons, 
till  they  took  up  arms  at  length  in  that  confederacy  which 
ended  in  establishing  the  Great  Charter  of  Liberties.  As 
this  was  the  first  effort  towards  a  legal  government,  so  is  it 
beyond  comparison  the  most  important  event  in  our  history, 
except  that  Revolution  without  which  its  benefits  would  have 
been  rapidly  annihilated.  The  constitution  of  England  has 
indeed  no  single  date  from  which  its  duration  is  to  be  reck- 
oned. The  institutions  of  positive  law,  the  far  more  impor- 
tant changes  which  time  has  wrought  in  the  order  of  society, 
during  six  hundred  years  subsequent  to  the  Great  Charter, 
have  undoubtedly  lessened  its  direct  application  to  our  pres- 
ent circumstances.  But  it  is  still  the  key-stone  of  English 
liberty.  All  that  has  since  been  obtained  is  little  more  than 
as  confirmation  or  commentary;  and  if  every  subsequent  law 
were  to  be  swept  away,  there  would  still  remain  the  bold 
features  that  distinguish  a  free  from  a  despotic  monarchy. 
It  has  been  lately  the  fashion  to  depreciate  the  value  of 
Magna  Charta,  as  if  it  had  sprung  from  the  private  ambition 
of  a  few  selfish  barons,  and  redressed  only  some  feudal  abuses. 
It  is  indeed  of  little  importance  by  Avhat  motives  those  Avho 
obtained  it  were  guided.  The  real  characters  of  men  most 
distinguished  in  the  transactions  of  that  time  are  not  easily 
determined  at  present.  Yet  if  we  bring  these  ungrateful 
suspicions  to  the  test,  they  prove  destitute  of  all  reasonable 
foundation.  An  equal  distribution  of  civil  rights  to  all  classes 
of  freemen  forms  the  peculiar  beauty  of  the  charter.  In  this 
just  solicitude  for  the  people,  and  in  the  moderation  which 
infringed  upon  no  essential  prerogative  of  the  monarchy,  we 
may  perceive  a  liberality  and  patriotism  very  unlike  the 
selfishness  which  is  sometimes  rashly  imputed  to  those  an- 
cient barons.  And,  as  far  as  we  are  guided  by  historical 
testimony,  two  great  men,  the  pillars  of  our  Church  and 
State,  may  be  considered  as  entitled  beyond  the  rest  to  the 
gloiy  of  this  monument — Stephen  Langton,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  William,  earl  of  Pembroke.  To  their  tem- 
perate zeal  for  a  legal  government,  England  was  indebted 
during  that  critical  period  for  the  two  greatest  blessings 
that  patriotic  statesmen  could  confer — the  establishment  of 
civil  liberty  upon  an  immovable  basis,  and  the  preservation 


English  Const.  MAGNA  CHARTA.  423 

of  national  independence  under  the  ancient  line  of  sover- 
eigns, which  rasher  men  were  about  to  exchange  for  the  do- 
minion of  France. 

By  the  Magna  Charta  of  John  reliefs  were  limited  to  a 
certain  sum  according  to  the  rank  of  the  tenant,  the  waste 
committed  by  guardians  in  chivalry  restrained,  the  dispar- 
agement in  matrimony  of  female  wards  forbidden,  and  wid- 
ows secured  from  compulsory  marriage.  These  regulations, 
extending  to  the  sub-vassals  of  the  crown,  redressed  the  worst 
grievances  of  every  military  tenant  in  England.  The  fran- 
chises of  the  city  of  London  and  of  all  towns  and  boroughs 
were  declared  inviolable.  The  freedom  of  commerce  was 
guaranteed  to  alien  merchants.  The  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  instead  of  following  the  king's  person,  was  fixed  at 
Westminster,  The  tyranny  exercised  in  the  neighborhood 
of  royal  forests  met  with  some  check,  which  was  further  en- 
forced by  the  Charter  of  Forests  under  Henry  III. 

But  the  essential  clauses  of  Magna  Charta  are  those  which 
protect  the  personal  liberty  and  property  of  all  freemen, 
by  giving  security  from  arbitrary  imprisonment  and  arbi- 
trary spoliation.  "No  freeman  (says  the  29th  chapter  of 
Henry  HL's  charter,  w^hich,  as  the  existing  law,  I  quote  in 
preference  to  that  of  John,  the  variations  not  being  very 
material)  shall  be  taken  or  imprisoned,  or  be  disseized  of  his 
freehold,  or  liberties,  or  free  customs,  or  be  outlawed,  or 
exiled,  or  any  otherwise  destroyed ;  nor  will  we  pass  upon 
him,  nor  send  upon  him,  but  by  lawful  judgment  of  his 
peers,  or  by  the  law  of  the  land.'^  We  will  sell  to  no  man, 
we  will  not  deny  or  delay  to  any  man,  justice  or  right."  It 
is  obvious  that  these  words,  interpreted  by  any  honest  court 
of  law,  convey  an  ample  security  for  the  two  main  rights  of 
civil  society.  From  the  era,  therefore,  of  King  John's  charter, 
it  must  have  been  a  clear  principle  of  our  constitution  that 

18  Nisi  per  legale  judicium  parium  suorum,  vel  per  legem  terrse.  Several  explana- 
tions have  been  offered  of  the  alternative  clause,  which  some  have  referred  to  judg- 
ment l^default  or  demurrer— others  to  the  process  of  attachment  for  contempt.  Cer- 
tainly there  are  many  legal  procedures  besides  trial  by  jury,  through  which  a  party's 
goods  or  person  may  be  taken.  But  one  may  doubt  whether  these  were  in  contem- 
plation of  the  framers  of  Magna  Charta.  In  an  entry  of  the  charter  of  1217  by  a  con- 
temporary hand,  preserved  in  a  book  in  the  town-clerk's  office  in  London,  called  Li- 
ber Custumarum  et  Rcgum  antiquorum,  a  various  reading,  et  per  legem  terne,  occurs. 
— Blackstone's  Charters,  p.  42.  And  the  word  vel  is  so  frequently  used  for  et,  that  I  am 
not  wholly  free  from  a  suspicion  that  it  was  so  intended  in  this  place.  The  meaning 
will  be  that  no  person  shall  be  disseized,  etc.,  except  upon  a  lawful  cause  of  action 
or  indictment  found  by  the  verdict  of  a  jury.  This  really  seems  as  good  as  any  of  the 
disjunctive  interpretations,  but  I  do  not  offer  it  with  much  confidence. 

But  perhaps  the  best  sense  of  the  disjunctive  will  be  perceived  by  remembering 
j,hat  judicium  parium  was  generally  opposed  to  the  combat  or  the  ordeal,  which  were 
'equally  lex  terrce.    The  Magna  Charta  is  printed  at  length  on  p.  552  seq. 


424  MAGNA  CHARTA.        Chap.  VIII.  Paut  II. 

no  man  can  be  detained  in  prison  without  trial.  Whether 
courts  of  justice  framed  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  in  con- 
formity to  the  spirit  of  this  clause,  or  found  it  already  in 
their  register,  it  became  from  that  era  the  right  of  every 
subject  to  demand  it.  That  wn-it,  rendered  more  actively 
remedial  by  the  statute  of  Charles  II.,  but  founded  upon 
the  broad  basis  of  Magna  Charta,  is  the  principal  bulwark 
of  English  liberty ;  and  if  ever  temporary  circumstances,  or 
the  doubtful  plea  of  political  necessity,  shall  lead  men  to 
look  on  its  denial  with  apathy,  the  most  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  our  constitution  will  be  effaced. 

As  the  clause  recited  above  protects  the  subject  from  any 
absolute  spoliation  of  his  freehold  rights,  so  others  restrain 
the  excessive  amercements  which  had  an  almost  equally 
ruinous  operation.  The  magnitude  of  his  offense,  by  the  14th 
clause  of  Henry  III.'s  charter,  must  be  the  measure  of  his 
fine  ;  and  in  every  case  the  contenement  (a  word  expressive  of 
chattels  necessary  to  each  man's  station,  as  the  arms  of  a 
gentleman,  the  merchandise  of  a  trader,  the  plough  and  w^ag- 
ons  of  a  peasant)  was  exempted  from  seizure.  A  provision 
was  made  in  the  charter  of  John  that  no  aid  or  escuage 
should  be  imposed,  except  in  the  three  feudal  cases  of  aid, 
wdthout  consent  of  Parliament.  And  this  was  extended  to 
aids  paid  by  the  city  of  London.  But  the  clause  was  omit- 
ted in  the  three  charters  granted  by  Henry  III.,  though 
Parliament  seem  to  have  acted  upon  it  in  most  part  of  his 
reign.  It  had,  however,  no  reference  to  tallages  imposed 
upon  towns  without  their  consent.  Fourscore  years  were 
yet  to  elapse  before  the  great  principle  of  parliamentary  tax- 
ation was  explicitly  and  absolutely  recognized. 

§  11.  From  this  era  a  new  soul  was  infused  into  the  peo- 
ple of  England.  Her  liberties,  at  the  best  long  in  abeyance, 
became  a  tangible  possession,  and  those  indefinite  aspirations 
for  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor  were  changed  into 
a  steady  regard  for  the  Great  Charter.  Pass  but  from  the 
history  of  Roger  de  Hoveden  to  that  of  Matthew  Paris,  from 
the  second  Henry  to  the  third,  and  judge  whether  the  victo- 
rious struggle  had  not  excited  an  energy  of  public  spirit  to 
which  the  nation  was  before  a  stranger.  The  strong  man,  in 
the  sublime  language  of  Milton,  was  aroused  from  sleep,  and 
shook  his  invincible  locks.  Tyranny,  indeed,  and  injustice 
will,  by  all  historians  not  absolutely  servile,  be  noted  with 
moral  reprobation  ;  but  never  shall  we  find  in  the  English 
writers  of  the  twelfth  century  that  assertion  of  positive  and 
national  riiiijhts  which  distinguishes  those  of  the  next  age, 


English  Const.  MAGNA  CHARTA.  425 

and  particularly  the  monk  of  St.  Alban's.  From  his  prolix 
history  we  may  collect  three  material  propositions  as  to  the 
state  of  the  English  constitution  during  the  long  reign  of 
Henry  III. ;  a  prince  to  whom  the  epithet  of  worthless 
seems  best  applicable  ;  and  who,  without  committing  any 
flagrant  crimes,  was  at  once  insincere,  ill-judging,  and  pusil- 
lanimous. The  intervention  of  such  a  reign  was  a  very  for- 
tunate circumstance  for  public  liberty,  which  might  possibly 
have  been  crushed  in  its  infancy  if  an  Edward  had  imme- 
diately succeeded  to  the  throne  of  John. 

1.  The  Great  Charter  was  always  considered  as  a  funda- 
mental law.  But  yet  it  was  supposed  to  acquire  additional 
security  by  frequent  confirmation.  This  it  received,  with 
some  not  inconsiderable  variation,  in  the  first,  second,  and 
ninth  years  of  Henry's  reign.  The  last  of  these  is  in  our 
present  statute-book,  and  has  never  received  any  alterations ; 
but  Sir  E.  Coke  reckons  thirty-two  instances  wherein  it  has 
been  solemnly  ratified.  Several  of  these  were  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  HI.,  and  were  invariably  purchased  by  the 
grant  of  a  subsidy.  This  prudent  accommodation  of  Parlia- 
ment to  the  circumstances  of  their  age  not  only  made  the 
law  itself  appear  more  inviolable,  but  established  that  cor- 
respondence between  supply  and  redress  which  for  some  cen- 
turies was  the  balance-spring  of  our  constitution.  The  char- 
ter, indeed,  was  often  grossly  violated  by  their  administra- 
tion. Even  Hubert  de  Burgh,  of  whom  history  speaks  more 
favorably  than  of  Henry's  later  favorites,  though  a  faithful 
servant  of  the  crown,  seems,  as  is  too  often  the  case  with 
such  men,  to  have  thought  the  king's  honor  and  interest  con- 
cerned in  maintaining  an  unlimited  prerogative.  The  gov- 
ernment was,  however,  much  worse  administered  after  his 
fall.  From  the  great  difl^iculty  of  compelling  the  king  to  ob- 
serve the  boundaries  of  law,  the  English  clergy,  to  whom  we 
are  much  indebted  for  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  liberty  during 
this  reign,  devised  means  of  binding  his  conscience  and  ter- 
rifying his  imagination  by  religious  sanctions.  The  solemn 
excommunication,  accompanied  with  the  most  awful  threats, 
pronounced  against  the  violators  of  Magna  Charta,  is  well 
known  from  our  common  histories.  The  king  was  a  party 
to  this  ceremony,  and  swore  to  observe  the  charter.  But 
Henry  HI.,  though  a  very  devout  person,  had  his  own  no- 
tions as  to  the  validity  of  an  oath  that  affected  his  power, 
and  indeed  passed  his  life  in  a  series  of  perjuries.  Accord- 
ing to  the  creed  of  that  age,  a  papal  dispensation  might 
annul  any  prior  engagement ;  and  he  was  generally  on  suf 


426  MAGNA  CHARTA.       Chap.  VIII.  Part  IL 

ficiently  good  terms  with  Rome  to  obtain   such  an  indul- 
gence. 

2.  Though  the  prohibition  of  levying  aids  or  escuages 
without  consent  of  Parliament  had  been  omitted  in  all 
Henry's  charters,  yet  neither  one  nor  the  other  seems,  in  fact, 
to  have  been  exacted  at  discretion  throughout  his  reign.  On 
the  contrary,  the  barons  frequently  refused  the  aids,  or  rather 
subsidies,  which  his  prodigality  was  always  demanding.  In- 
deed it  would  probably  have  been  impossible  for  the  king, 
however  frugal,  stripped  as  he  was  of  so  many  lucrative 
though  oppressive  prerogatives  by  the  Great  Charter,  to 
support  the  expenditure  of  government  from  his  own  re- 
sources. Tallages  on  his  demesnes,  and  especially  on  the 
rich  and  ill-aifected  city  of  London,  he  imposed  without 
scruple ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  pretended  to  a 
right  of  general  taxation.  We  may,  therefore,  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  clauee  in  John's  charter,  though  not  ex- 
pressly renewed,  was  still  considered  as  of  binding  force. 
The  king  was  often  put  to  great  inconvenience  by  the  refusal 
of  supply;  and  at  one  time  was  reduced  to  sell  his  plate  and 
jewels,  which  the  citizens  of  London  buying,  he  was  pro- 
voked to  exclaim  with  envious  spite  against  their  riches, 
which  he  had  not  been  able  to  exhaust. 

3.  The  power  of  granting  money  must  of  course  imply  the 
power  of  withholding  it ;  yet  this  has  sometimes  been  lit- 
tle more  than  a  nominal  privilege.  But  in  this  reign  the 
English  Parliament  exercised  their  right  of  refusal,  or,  what 
was  much  better,  of  conditional  assent.  Great  discontent 
was  expressed  at  the  demand  of  a  subsidy  in  1237  ;  and  the 
king  alleging  that  he  had  expended  a  great  deal  of  money 
on  his  sister's  marriage  with  the  emperor,  and  also  upon  his 
own,  the  barons  answered  that  he  had  not  taken  their  ad- 
vice in  those  affairs,  nor  ought  they  to  share  the  punishment 
of  acts  of  imprudence  they  had  not  committed.  In  1241,  a 
subsidy  having  been  demanded  for  the  war  in  Poitou,  the 
barons  drew  up  a  remonstrance,  enumerating  all  the  grants 
they  had  made  on  former  occasions,  but  always  on  condition 
that  the  imposition  should  not  be  turned  into  precedent. 
Their  last  subsidy,  it  appears,  had  been  paid  into  the  hands 
of  four  barons,  who  were  to  expend  it  at  their  discretion  for 
the  benefit  of  the  king  and  kingdom — an  early  instance  of 
parliamentary  control  over  public  expenditure.  Finally,  the 
barons  positively  refused  any  money,  and  he  extorted  1500 
marks  from  the  city  of  London.  Some  years  afterwards  they 
declared  their  readiness  to  burden  themselves  more  than  eve/ 


English  Const.  UNDER  HENRY  III.  427 

if  they  could  secure  the  observance  of  the  charter ;  and  re- 
quested  that  the  justiciary,  chancellor,  and  treasurer  might 
be  appointed  with  consent  of  Parliament,  according,  as  they 
asserted,  to  ancient  custom,  and  might  hold  their  oiRces  dur- 
ing good  behavior. 

Forty  years  of  mutual  dissatisfaction  had  elapsed,  when  a 
signal  act  of  Henry's  improvidence  brought  on  a  crisis  which 
endangered  his  throne.  Innocent  IV.,  out  of  mere  animosity 
against  the  family  of  Frederick  II.,  left  no  means  untried  to 
raise  up  a  competitor  for  the  crown  of  Naples,  which  Man- 
fred had  occupied.  Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  having  been 
prudent  enough  to  decline  this  speculation,  the  pope  offered 
to  support  Henry's  second  son.  Prince  Edmund.  Tempted 
by  such  a  prospect,  the  silly  king  involved  himself  in  irre- 
trievable embarrassments  by  prosecuting  an  enterprise  which 
could  not  possibly  be  advantageous  to  England,  and  upon 
which  he  entered  without  the  advice  of  his  Parliament.  Des- 
titute himself  of  money,  he  was  compelled  to  throw  the  ex- 
pense of  this  new  crusade  upon  the  pope  ;  but  the  assistance 
of  Rome-w^as  never  gratuitous,  and  Henry  actually  pledged 
his  kingdom  for  the  money  which  she  might  expend  in  a  war 
for  her  advantage  and  his  own.  He  did  not  even  want  the 
effrontery  to  tell  Parliament  in  1257,  introducing  his  son  Ed- 
mund as  king  of  Sicily,  that  they  were  bound  for  the  repay- 
ment of  14,000  marks  with  interest.  The  pope  had  also,  in 
furtherance  of  the  Neapolitan  project,  conferred  upon  Henry 
the  tithes  of  all  benefices  in  England,  as  well  as  the  first-fruits 
of  such  as  should  be  vacant.  Such  a  concession  drew  upon 
the  king  the  implacable  resentment  of  his  clergy,  already 
complaining  of  the  cowardice  or  connivance  that  had  during 
all  his  reign  exposed  them  to  the  shameless  exactions  of 
Rome.  Henry  had  now,  indeed,  cause  to  regret  his  precip- 
itancy. Alexander  IV.,  the  reigning  pontiff,  threatened  him 
not  only  with  a  revocation  of  the  grant  to  his  son,  but  with 
an  excommunication  and  general  interdict,  if  the  money  ad- 
vanced on  his  account  should  not  be  immediately  repaid,  and 
a  Roman  agent  explained  the  demand  to  a  Parliament  as- 
sembled in  London.  The  sum  required  was  so  enormous,  we 
are  told,  that  it  struck  all  the  hearers  with  astonishment  and 
horror.  The  nobility  of  the  realm  were  indignant  to  think 
that  one  man's  supine  folly  should  thus  bring  them  to  ruin. 
Who  can  deny  that  measures  beyond  the  ordinary  course  of 
the  constitution  were  necessary  to  control  so  prodigal  and 
injudicious  a  sovereign  ?  Accordingly,  the  barons  insisted 
that  twenty-four  persons  should  be  nominated,  half  by  the 


428  STATE  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION     Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

king  and  half  by  themselves,  to  reform  the  state  of  the  king- 
dom. These  were  appointed  on  the  meeting  of  the  Parlia- 
ment at  Oxford,  after  a  prorogation. 

The  seven  years  that  followed  are  a  revolutionary  period, 
the  events  of  which  we  do  not  find  satisfactorily  explained 
by  the  historians  of  the  time.  A  king  divested  of  preroga- 
tives by  his  people  soon  appears  even  to  themselves  an  in- 
jured party.  And,  as  the  baronial  oligarchy  acted  with  that 
arbitrary  temper  which  is  never  pardoned  in  a  government 
that  has  an  air  of  usurpation  about  it,  the  Royalists  began 
to  gain  ground,  chiefly  through  the  defection  of  some  who 
had  joined  in  the  original  limitations  imposed  on  the  crown, 
usually  called  the  provisions  of  Oxford.  An  ambitious  man, 
confident  in  his  talents  and  popularity,  ventured  to  display 
too  marked  a  superiority  above  his  fellows  in  the  same  cause. 
But  neither  his  character  nor  the  battles  of  Lewes  and  Eves- 
ham, fall  strictly  within  the  limits  of  a  constitutional  histo- 
ry. It  is,  however,  important  to  observe  that,  even  in  the 
moment  of  success,  Henry  III.  did  not  presume  to  revoke 
any  part  of  the  Great  Charter.  His  victory  had  been  achieved 
by  the  arms  of  the  English  nobility,  who  had,  generally  speak- 
ing, concurred  in  the  former  measures  against  his  govern- 
ment, and  whose  opposition  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  usurpa- 
tion was  compatible  with  a  steady  attachment  to  constitu- 
tional liberty. 

§  12.  The  opinions  of  eminent  lawyers  are,  undoubtedly, 
where  legislative  or  judicial  authorities  fail,  the  best  evidence 
that  can  be  adduced  in  constitutional  history.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  satisfactory  to  select  a  few  passages  from  Bracton, 
himself  a  judge  at  the  end  of  Henry  III.'s  reign,  by  which 
the  limitations  of  prerogative  by  law  will  clearly  appear  to 
have  been  fully  established.  "  The  king,"  says  he, "  must  not 
be  subject  to  any  man,  but  to  God  and  the  law ;  for  the  law 
makes  him  king.  Let  the  king,  therefore,  give  to  the  law 
what  the  law  gives  to  him — dominion  and  power ;  for  there 
is  no  king  where  will,  and  not  law,  bears  rule."  "  The  king 
(in  another  place)  can  do  nothing  on  earth,  being  the  minis- 
ter of  God, but  what  he  can  do  by  law;  nor  is  what  is  said 
(in  the  Pandects)  any  objection,  that  whatever  the  prince 
pleases  shall  be  law;  because  by  the  words  that  follow  in 
that  text  it  appears  to  design  not  any  mere  will  of  the  prince, 
but  that  which  is  established  by  the  advice  of  his  councillors, 
the  king  giving  his  authority,  and  deliberation  being  had 
upon  it."  This  passage  is,  undoubtedly,  a  misrepresentation 
of  the  famous  Lex  Regia,  which  has  ever  been  interpreted 


English  Const.  UNDER  HENRY  III.  429 

to  convey  the  unlimited  power  of  the  people  to  their  emper- 
ors. But  the  very  circumstance  of  so  perverted  a  gloss  put 
upon  this  text  is  a  proof  that  no  other  doctrine  could  be  ad- 
mitted in  the  law  of  England.  In  another  passage  Bracton 
reckons  as  superior  to  the  king, "  not  only  God  and  the  law, 
by  which  he  is  made  king,  but  his  court  of  earls  and  barons; 
for  the  former  (comites)  are  so  styled  as  associates  of  the 
king,  and  whoever  has  an  associate  has  a  master ;  so  that,  if 
the  king  were  without  a  bridle,  that  is,  the  law,  they  ought 
to  put  a  bridle  upon  him."  Several  other  passages  in  Brac- 
ton might  be  produced  to  the  same  import;  but  these  are 
sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  important  fac.t  that,  however 
extensive  or  even  indefinite  might  be  the  royal  prerogative 
in  the  days  of  Henry  III.,  the  law  was  already  its  superior, 
itself  but  made  part  of  the  law,  and  was  incompetent  to 
overthrow  it.  It  is  true  that  in  this  very  reign  the  practice 
of  dispensing  with  statutes  by  a  non-obstante  was  intro- 
duced, in  imitation  of  the  papal  dispensations.  But  this 
prerogative  could  only  be  exerted  w^ithin  certain  limits,  and, 
however  pernicious  it  may  be  justly  thought,  was,  when  thus 
understood  and  defined,  not,  strictly  speaking,  incompatible 
with  the  legislative  sovereignty  of  Parliament. 

§  13.  In  conformity  with  the  system  of  France  and  other 
feudal  countries,  there  was  one  standing  council,  which  as- 
sisted the  kings  of  England  in  the  collection  and  manage- 
ment of  their  revenue,  the  administration  of  justice  to  suit- 
ors, and  the  dispatch  of  all  public  business.  This  was  styled 
Curia  Regis  (the  King's  Court),  and  held  in  his  palace,  or 
wherever  he  was  personally  present.  It  was  composed  of 
the  great  oflUcers;  the  chief  justiciary, ^Hhe  chancellor,  the 
constable,  marshal,  chamberlain,  steward,  and  treasurer,  with 
any  others  whom  the  king  might  appoint.  Of  this  great 
court  there  was,  as  it  seems,  from  the  beginning,  a  particular 
branch,  in  which  all  matters  relating  to  the  revenue  w^ere 
exclusively  transacted.     This,  though  composed  of  the  same 

I''  The  chief  justiciary  (capitalis  jmticiarius)  was  the  greatest  subject  in  England. 
Besides  presiding  in  the  King's  Court  and  in  the  Exchequer,  he  was  originally,  by  vir- 
tue of  his  office,  the  regent  of  the  kingdom  during  the  absence  of  the  sovereign,  which, 
till  the  loss  of  Normandy,  occurred  very  frequently.  The  first  time  when  the  dignity 
of  this  office  was  impaired  was  at  the  death  of  John,  when  the  justiciary,  Hubert  de 
Burgh,  being  besieged  in  Dover  Castle,  those  who  proclaimed  Henry  III.  at  Glouces- 
ter constituted  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  governor  of  the  king  and  kingdom,  Hubert  still 
retaining  his  office.  In  1241  the  Archbishop  of  York  Avas  appointed  to  the  regency 
during  Henry's  absence  in  Poitou,  without  the  title  of  justiciary.  Still  the  office  was 
80  considerable  that  the  barons  who  met  in  the  Oxford  Parliament  of  1258  insisted 
that  the  justiciary  should  be  annually  chosen  with  their  approbation.  But  the  sub- 
sequent successes  of  Henry  prevented  this  being  established,  and  Edward  I.  discon- 
tinued the  office  altogether. 


430  LAW  COUETS.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  IL 

persons,  yet,  being  held  in  a  different  part  of  the  palace,  and 
for  different  business,  was  distinguished  from  the  King's 
Court  by  the  name  of  the  Exchequer — a  separation  which 
became  complete  when  civil  pleas  were  decided  and  judg- 
ments recorded  in  this  second  court.  In  the  Exchequer  the 
justices  were  called  barones,  or  barones  scaccarii. 

Henry  II.,  in  1176,  reduced  the  justices  in  the  Curia  Regis 
from  eighteen  to  five,  and  ordered  that  they  should  hear 
and  determine  all  writs  of  the  kingdom.  From  this  time, 
and  probably  from  none  earlier,  we  may  date  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  which  very  soon  acquired, 
at  first  indifferently  with  the  council,  and  then  exclusively, 
the  appellation  of  Curia  Regis. ^^ 

It  is  probable  that  in  the  age  next  after  the  Conquest  few 
causes  in  which  the  Crown  had  no  interest  were  carried  be- 
fore the  royal  tribunals,  every  man  finding  a  readier  course 
of  justice  in  the  manor  or  county  to  which  he  belonged. 
But  by  degrees  this  supreme  jurisdiction  became  more  fa- 
miliar ;  and,  as  it  seemed  less  liable  to  partiality  or  intimida- 
tion than  the  provincial  courts,  suitors  grew  willing  to  sub- 
mit to  its  expensiveness  and  inconvenience.  It  was  obvious- 
ly the  interest  of  the  King's  Court  to  give  such  equity  and 
steadiness  to  its  decisions  as  might  encourage  this  disposi- 
tion. But  because  few,  comparatively  speaking,  could  have 
recourse  to  so  distant  a  tribunal  as  that  of  the  King's  Court, 
and  perhaps  also  on  account  of  the  attachment  which  the 
English  felt  to  their  ancient  right  of  trial  by  the  neighbor- 
ing freeholders,  Henry  IL  established  itinerant  justices  to 
decide  civil  and  criminal  pleas  within  each  county."  To 
this  excellent  institution  we  have  owed  the  uniformity  of 
our  common  law,  which  would  have  otherwise  been  split, 
like  that  of  France,  into  a  multitude  of  local  customs ;  and 
we  still  owe  to  it  the  assurance,  which  is  felt  by  the  poorest 
and  most  remote  inhabitant  of  England,  that  his  right  is 
weighed  by  the  same  incorrupt  and  acute  understanding 
upon  which  the  decision  of  the  highest  questions  is  reposed. 

'8  For  much  information  about  the  Curia  Regis,  and  especially  this  branch  of  it, 
the  student  of  our  constitutional  history  should  have  recourse  to  Madox's  History  of 
the  Exchequer,  aud  to  the  Dialogus  de  Scaccario,  written  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.  by 
"Richard,  bishop  of  London,  Treasurer  of  the  Exchequer,  son  of  Nigel,  bishop  of 
Ely,  his  predecessor  in  the  office."— [Stubbs.]  The  reader  must  still  keep  in  mind  the 
threefold  meaning  of  Curia  Regis  :  the  common  council  of  the  realm  ;  the  select  coun- 
cil for  judicial  as  well  as  administrative  purposes ;  and  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
separated  from  the  last  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  aud  soon  afterwards  acquiring,  ex- 
clusively, the  denomination  Curia  Regis. 

>*  Justices  in  eyre,  or,  as  we  now  call  them,  of  assize,  do  not  appear  to  have  gono 
their  circuits  regularly  before  22  Henry  II.  (1170). 


English  Const.  JUSTICES  OF  ASSIZE.  431 

The  justices  of  assize  seem  originally  to  have  gone  their  cir- 
cuits annually ;  and  as  part  of  their  duty  was  to  set  tallages 
upon  royal  towns,  and  superintend  the  collection  of  the  rev- 
enue, we  may  be  certain  that  there  could  be  no  long  interval. 
This  annual  visitation  was  expressly  confirmed  by  the  twelfth 
section  of  Magna  Charta,  which  provides  also  that  no  assize 
of  novel  disseizin,  or  mort  d'ancestor,  should  be  taken  except 
in  the  shire  where  the  lands  in  controversy  lay.  Hence  this 
clause  stood  opposed,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  encroachments 
of  the  King's  Court,  which  might  otherwise,  by  drawing  pleas 
of  land  to  itself,  have  defeated  the  suitor's  right  to  a  jury 
from  the  vicinage ;  and,  on  the  other,  to  those  of  the  feudal 
aristocracy,  who  hated  any  interference  of  the  crown  to  chas- 
tise their  violations  of  law,  or  control  their  own  jurisdiction. 
Accordingly,  while  the  confederacy  of  barons  against  Henry 
HI.  was  in  its  full  power,  an  attempt  was  made  to  prevent 
the  regular  circuits  of  the  judges. 

Long  after  the  separation  of  the  Exchequer  from  the  King'b 
Court,  another  branch  was  detached  for  the  decision  of  pri- 
vate suits.  This  had  its  beginning,  in  Madox's  opinion,  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  But  it  was  completely  es- 
tablished by  Magna  Charta.  "  Common  Pleas,"  it  is  said 
in  the  fourteenth  clause,  "  shall  not  follow  our  court,  but  be 
held  in  some  certain  place."  Thus  was  formed  the  Court 
of  Common  Bench  at  Westminster,^"  with  full  and,  strictly 
speaking,  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  all  civil  disputes,  where 
neither  the  king's  interest,  nor  any  matter  savoring  of  a  crim- 
inal nature,  was  concerned.  For  of  such  disputes  neither 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench  nor  that  of  Exchequer  can  take 
cognizance,  except  by  means  of  a  legal  fiction,  which,  in  the 
one  case,  supposes  an  act  of  force,  and  in  the  other  a  debt  to 
the  crown. 

§  14.  The  principal  oflScers  of  state,  who  had  originally 
been  efiective  members  of  the  King's  Court,  began  to  with- 
draw from  it,  after  this  separation  into  three  courts  of  jus- 
tice, and  left  their  places  to  regular  lawyers,  though  the 
treasurer  and  chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  have  still  seats  on 
the  equity  side  of  that  court,  a  vestige  of  its  ancient  consti- 
tution. It  would,  indeed,  have  been  difficult  for  men  bred  in 
camps  or  palaces  to  fulfill  the  ordinary  functions  of  judica- 
ture under  such  a  system  of  law  as  had  grown  up  in  En- 

*"  After  the  erection  of  the  Common  Bench  the  style  of  the  Superior  Court  began  to 
alter.  It  ceased  by  degrees  to  be  called  the  King's  Court.  Pleas  were  said  to  be 
held  coram  rege,  or  coram  rege  ubicunqne  fuerit.  And  thus  the  Court  of  King's 
Banch  was  formed  out  »)f  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Curia  Regis  (see  above,  p.  430). 


432  ORIGIN  OF  COMMON  LxVW.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

gland.  The  rules  of  legal  decision  among  a  rude  people  are 
always  very  simple ;  not  serving  much  to  guide,  far  less  to 
control,  the  feelings  of  natural  equity.  Such  were  those 
which  prevailed  among  the  Anglo-Saxons ;  requiring  no  sub- 
tler intellect  or  deeper  learning  than  the  earl  or  sheriff  at 
the  head  of  his  County  Court  might  be  expected  to  possess. 
But  a  great  change  was  wrought  in  about  a  century  after 
the  Conquest.  Our  English  lawyers,  prone  to  magnify  the 
antiquity  like  the  other  merits  of  their  system,  are  ajn  to 
carry  up  the  date  of  the  common  law,  till,  like  the  pedigree 
of  an  illustrious  family,  it  loses  itself  in  the  obscurity  of  an- 
cient time.  Even  Sir  Matthew  Hale  does  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  its  origin  is  as  undiscoverable  as  that  of  the  Nile. 
But  though  some  features  of  the  common  law  may  be  distin- 
guishable in  Saxon  times,  while  our  limited  knowledge  pre- 
vents us  from  assigning  many  of  its  peculiarities  to  any  de- 
terminable period,  yet  the  general  character  and  most  essen- 
tial parts  of  the  system  were  of  much  later  growth.  The 
laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  are  as  different  from  those 
collected  by  Glanvil  as  the  laws  of  tw^o  different  nations. 
The  pecuniary  compositions  for  crimes,  especially  for  homi- 
cide, which  run  through  the  Anglo-Saxon  code  down  to  the 
laws  ascribed  to  Henry  I.,  are  not  mentioned  by  Glanvil. 
Death  seems  to  have  been  the  regular  punishment  of  murder, 
as  well  as  robbery.  Though  the  investigation  by  means  of 
ordeal  w^as  not  disused  in  his  time,  yet  trial  by  combat,  of 
which  we  find  no  instance  before  the  Conquest,  was  evident- 
ly preferred.  Under  the  Saxon  government,  suits  appear  to 
have  commenced,  even  before  the  king,  by  verbal  or  written 
complaint ;  at  least,  no  trace  remains  of  the  original  writ, 
the  foundation  of  our  civil  procedure.  The  descent  of  lands 
before  the  Conquest  was  according  to  the  custom  of  gavel- 
kind, or  equal  partition  among  the  children  ;  in  the  age  of 
Henry  I,  the  eldest  son  took  the  principal  fief  to  his  own 
share ;  in  that  of  Glanvil,  he  inherited  all  the  lands  held  by 
knight-service  ;  but  the  descent  of  socage  lands  depended  on 
the  particular  custom  of  the  estate.  By  the  Saxon  laws, 
upon  the  death  of  the  son  without  issue,  the  father  inherited; 
by  our  common  law,  he  is  absolutely,  and  in  every  case,  ex- 
cluded. Lands  were,  in  general,  devisable  by  testament  be- 
fore the  Conquest,  but  not  in  the  time  of  Henry  H.,  except 
by  particular  custom.  These  are  sufficient  samples  of  the 
differences  between  our  Saxon  and  Norman  jurisprudence ; 
but  the  distinct  character  of  the  two  will  strike  more  forci- 
bly every  one  who  peruses  successively  the  laws  publi-sjied 


English  Const.     CHARACTER  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  433 

by  Wilkins,  and  the  treatise  ascribed  to  Glanvil.  The  for- 
mer resemble  the  barbaric  codes  of  the  Continent,  and  the 
capitularies  of  Charlemagne  and  his  family,  minute  to  an  ex- 
cess in  apportioning  punishments,  but  sparing  and  indefinite 
in  treating  of  civil  rights ;  while  the  other,  copious,  discrim- 
inating, and  technical,  displays  the  characteristics,  as  well  as 
unfolds  the  principles,  of  English  law.  It  is  difficult  to  as- 
sert any  thing  decisively  as  to  the  period  between  the  Con- 
quest and  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  which  presents  fewer  mate- 
rials for  legal  history  than  the  preceding  age  ;  but  the  trea- 
tise denominated  the  Laws  of  Henry  I.,  compiled  at  the 
soonest  about  the  end  of  Stephen's  reign,  b(?ars  so  much  of 
a  Saxon  character,  that  I  should  be  inclined  to  ascribe  our 
present  common  law  to  a  date,  so  far  as  it  is  capable  of  any 
date,  not  much  antecedent  to  the  publication  of  Glanvil.  At 
the  same  time,  since  no  kind  of  evidence  attests  any  sudden 
and  radical  change  in  the  jurisprudence  of  England,  the  ques- 
tion must  be  considered  as  left  in  great  obscurity.  Perhaps 
it  might  be  reasonable  to  conjecture  that  the  treatise  called 
Leges  Henrici  Primi  contains  the  ancient  usages  still  prevail- 
ing in  the  inferior  jurisdictions,  and  that  of  Glanvil  the  rules 
established  by  the  Norman  lawyers  of  the  King's  Court,  which 
would  of  course  acquire  a  general  recognition  and  efficacy, 
in  consequence  of  the  institution  of  justices  holding  their 
assizes  periodically  throughout  the  country. 

The  capacity  of  deciding  legal  controversies  was  now  only 
to  be  found  in  men  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  that  pe- 
culiar study ;  and  a  race  of  such  men  arose,  whose  eagerness, 
and  even  enthusiasm,  in  the  profession  of  the  law  were  stim- 
ulated by  the  self-complacency  of  intellectual  dexterity  in 
threading  its  intricate  and  thorny  mazes.  The  Normans  are 
noted  in  their  own  country  for  a  shrewd  and  litigious  tem- 
per, which  may  have  given  a  character  to  our  courts  of  jus- 
tice in  early  times.  Something,  too,  of  that  excessive  sub- 
tlety, and  that  preference  of  technical  to  rational  principles 
which  runs  through  our  system,  may  be  imputed  to  the  scho- 
lastic philosophy  which  was  in  vogue  during  the  same  period, 
and  is  marked  by  the  same  features.  But  we  have  just  rea- 
son to  boast  of  the  leading  causes  of  these  defects  —  an  ad- 
herence to  fixed  rules,  and  a  jealousy  of  judicial  discretion, 
which  have  in  no  country,  I  believe,  been  carried  to  such 
a  length.  Hence,  precedents  of  adjudged  cases,  becoming 
authorities  for  the  future,  have  been  constantly  noted,  and 
form,  indeed,  almost  the  sole  ground  of  argument  in  questions 
of  mere  law.     But,  these  authorities  being  frequently  unrea- 

19 


434  CHARACTER  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.     Chap.  VIU.  Pari  IL 

sonable  and  inconsistent — partly  from  the  infirmity  of  all 
human  reason,  partly  from  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  a 
number  of  unwarranted  and  incorrect  reporters  have  handed 
them  down — later  judges  grew  anxious  to  elude  by  impalpa- 
ble distinctions  what  they  did  not  venture  to  overturn.  In 
some  instances  this  evasive  skill  has  been  applied  to  acts  of 
the  legislature.  Those  who  are  moderately  conversant  with 
the  history  of  our  law  will  easily  trace  other  circumstances 
that  have  co-operated  in  producing  that  technical  and  subtle 
system  which  regulates  the  course  of  real  property — for,  as 
that  formed  almost  the  whole  of  our  ancient  jurisprudence,  it 
is  there  that  we  must  seek  its  original  character.  But  much 
of  the  same  spirit  pervades  every  part  of  the  law,  No  tri- 
bunals of  a  civilized  people  ever  borrowed  so  little,  even  of 
illustration,  from  the  writings  of  philosophers,  or  from  the 
institutions  of  other  countries.  Hence  law  has  been  studied, 
in  general,  rather  as  an  art  than  a  science — with  more  solici- 
tude to  know  its  rules  and  distinctions  than  to  perceive  their 
application  to  that  for  which  all  rules  of  law  ought  to  have 
been  established  —  the  maintenance  of  public  and  private 
rights. 

§  15.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  effect  which  the 
study  of  the  law  had  upon  the  rights  of  the  subject,  it  con- 
duced materially  to  the  security  of  good  order  by  ascertain- 
ing the  hereditary  succession  of  the  crown.  Five  kings  out 
of  seven  that  followed  William  the  Conqueror  were  usurpers, 
according,  at  least,  to  modern  notions.  Of  these,  Stephen 
alone  encountered  any  serious  opposition  upon  that  ground ; 
and,  with  respect  to  him,  it  must  be  remembered  that  all  the 
barons,  himself  included,  had  solemnly  sworn  to  maintain  the 
succession  of  Matilda.  Henry  II.  procured  a  parliamentary 
settlement  of  the  crown  upon  his  eldest  and  second  sons — a 
strong  presumption  that  their  hereditary  right  was  not  abso- 
lutely secure.  A  mixed  notion  of  right  and  choice,  in  fact, 
prevailed  as  to  the  succession  of  every  European  monarchy. 
The  coronation  oath,"  and  the  form  of  popular  consent  then 
required,  were  considered  as  more  material,  at  least  to  perfect 
a  title,  than  we  deem  them  at  present.  They  gave  seizin,  as  it 
were,  of  the  crown,  and,  in  cases  of  disputed  pretensions,  had 
a  sort  of  judicial  efficacy.  The  Chronicle  of  Dunstable  says, 
concerning  Richard  I.,  that  he  w^as  "elevated  to  the  throne 
by  hereditary  right,  after  a  solemn  election  by  the  clergy  and 
people:"  words  that  indicate  the  current  principles  of  that 

21  The  early  kings  always  date  their  reign  from  their  coronation,  and  not  from  the 
decease  of  .neir  predecessors. 


English  Const.     HEREDITARY  RIGHT  TO  CROWN.  435 

age.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  Richard  took  upon 
him  the  exercise  of  royal  prerogatives  without  waiting  for  his 
coronation.  The  succession  of  John  has  certainly  passed,  in 
modern  times,  for  an  usurpation :  I  do  not  find  that  it  was 
considered  as  such  by  his  own  contemporaries  on  this  side  of 
the  Channel.  The  question  of  inheritance  betw^een  an  uncle 
and  the  son  of  his  deceased  elder  brother  was  yet  unsettled,  as 
we  learn  from  Glanvil,  even  in  private  succession.  In  the  case 
of  sovereignties,  which  were  sometimes  contended  to  require 
different  rules  from  ordinary  patrimonies,  it  was,  and  continu- 
ed long  to  be,  the  most  uncertain  point  in  public  law.  John's 
pretensions  to  the  crown  might,  therefore,  be  such  as  the  En- 
glish were  justified  in  admitting,  especially  as  his  reversion- 
ary title  seems  to  have  been  acknowledged  in  the  reign  of  his 
brother  Richard.  In  a  charter  of  the  first  year  of  his  reign 
John  calls  himself  king  "  by  hereditary  right,  and  through 
the  consent  and  favor  of  the  Church  and  people." 

It  is  deserving  of  remark  that,  during  the  rebellions 
against  this  prince  and  his  son  Henry  III.,  not  a  syllable  was 
breathed  in  favor  of  Eleanor,  Arthur's  sister,  who,  if  the 
present  rules  of  succession  had  been  established,  was  the  un- 
doubted heiress  of  his  right.  The  barons  chose  rather  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  Louis,  with  scarcely  a  shade  of  title,  though 
with  much  better  means  of  maintaining  himself.  One  should 
think  that  men  whose  fathers  had  been  in  the  field  for  Matil- 
da could  make  no  difficulty  about  female  succession.  But  I 
doubt  whether,  notwithstanding  that  precedent,  the  crown 
of  England  ^as  universally  acknowledged  to  be  capable  of 
descending  to  a  female  heir.  Great  averseness  had  been 
shown  by  the  nobility  of  Henry  I.  to  his  proposal  of  settling 
the  kingdom  on  his  daughter.  And  from  a  remarkable  pas- 
sage which  I  shall  produce  in  a  note,  it  appears  that  even  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  III.  the  succession  was  supposed  to  be 
confined  to  the  male  line." 

At  length,  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
lawyers  applied  to  the  crown  the  same  strict  principles  of 

22  This  is  intimated  by  the  treaty  made  in  1339  for  a  marriage  between  the  eldest 
son  of  Edward  III.  and  the  Duke  of  Brabant's  daughter.  Edward  therein  promises 
that,  if  his  son  should  die  before  him,  leaving  male  issue,  he  will  procure  the  consent 
of  his  barons,  nobles,  and  cities  (that  is,  of  Parliament ;  nobles  here  meaning  knights, 
if  the  word  has  any  distinct  sense)  for  such  issue  to  inherit  the  kingdom;  and  if  he 
die  leaving  a  daughter  only,  Edward  or  his  heir  shall  make  such  provision  for  her  as 
belongs  to  the  daughter  of  a  king.— Rymer,  t.  v.,  p.  114.  It  may  be  inferred  from  this 
instrument  that,  in  Edward's  intention,  if  not  by  the  constitution,  the  Salic  law  was 
to  regulate  the  succession  of  the  English  crown.  This  law,  it  must  be  remembered, 
he  was  compelled  to  admit  in  his  claim  on  the  kingdom  of  France,  though  with  a  car 
tain  modification  which  gave  a  pretext  of  title  to  himself. 


436  EXCLUSIVE  PRIVILEGES.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  II. 

descent  which  regulate  a  private  inheritance.  Edward  I. 
was  proclaimed  immediately  upon  his  father's  death,  though 
absent  in  Sicily.  Something,  however,  of  the  old  principle 
may  be  traced  in  this  proclamation,  issued  in  his  name  by 
the  guardians  of  the  realm,  where  he  asserts  the  crown  of 
England  "  to  have  devolved  upon  him  by  hereditary  succes- 
sion and  the  will  of  his  nobles."  These  last  words  were  omit- 
ted in  the  proclamation  of  Edward  11. ;  since  whose  time  the 
crown  has  been  absolutely  hereditary.  The  coronation  oath, 
and  the  recognition  of  the  people  at  that  solemnity,  are  for- 
malities which  convey  no  right  either  to  the  sovereign  or  the 
people,  though  they  may  testify  the  duties  of  each. 

§  16.  I  can  not  conclude  the  present  chapter  without  ob- 
serving one  most  prominent  and  characteristic  distinction 
between  the  constitution  of  England  and  that  of  every  other 
country  in  Europe — I  mean  its  refusal  of  civil  privileges  to 
the  lower  nobility,  or  those  whom  we  denominate  the  gen- 
try. In  France,  in  Spain,  in  Germany,  wherever,  in  short,  we 
look,  the  appellations  of  nobleman  and  gentleman  have  been 
strictly  synonymous.  Those  entitled  to  bear  them  by  de- 
scent, by  tenure  of  land,  by  office  or  royal  creation,  have 
formed  a  class  distinguished  by  privileges  inherent  in  their 
blood  from  ordinary  freemen.  Marriage  with  noble  families, 
or  the  purchase  of  military  fiefs,  or  the  participation  of  many 
civil  offices,  were,  more  or  less,  interdicted  to  the  commons 
of  France  and  the  empire.  Of  these  restrictions  nothing,  or 
next  to  nothing,  was  ever  known  in  England.  The  law  has 
never  taken  notice  of  gentlemen.  From  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.  at  least,  the  legal  equality  of  all  ranks  below  the  peerage 
was,  to  every  essential  purpose,  as  complete  as  at  prpsent. 
Compare  two  writers  nearly  contemporary,  Bracton  with 
Beaumanoir,  and  mark  how  the  customs  of  England  are  dis- 
tinguishable in  this  respect.  The  Frenchman  ranges  the 
people  under  three  divisions — the  noble,  the  free,  and  the 
servile ;  our  countryman  has  no  generic  class,  but  freedom 
and  villenage.  No  restraint  seems  ever  to  have  lain  upon 
marriage ;  nor  have  the  children  even  of  a  peer  been  ever 
deemed  to  lose  any  privilege  by  his  union  with  a  common- 
er. The  purchase  of  lands  held  by  knight-service  was  al- 
ways open  to  all  freemen.  A  few  privileges,  indeed,  were  con- 
fined to  those  who  had  received  knighthood ;  but,  upon  the 
whole,  there  was  a  virtual  equality  of  rights  among  all  the 
commoners  of  England.  What  is  most  particular  is,  that 
the  peerage  itself  imparts  no  privilege  except  to  its  actual 
possessor.     In  every  other  country  the  descendants  of  no- 


English  Const.     EQUALITY  AMONG  FREEMEN.  437 

bles  can  not  but  themselves  be  noble,  because  their  nobility 
is  the  immediate  consequence  of  their  birth.  But  though 
we  commonly  say  that  the  blood  of  a  peer  is  ennobled,  yet 
this  expression  seems  hardly  accurate,  and  fitter  for  heralds 
and  lawyers ;  since,  in  truth,  nothing  confers  nobility  but  the 
actual  descent  of  a  peerage.  The  sons  of  peers,  as  we  well 
know,  are  commoners,  and  totally  destitute  of  any  legal  right 
beyond  a  barren  precedence. 

There  is  no  part,  perhaps,  of  our  constitution  so  admirable 
as  this  equality  of  civil  rights — this  isonomia^  which  the  phi- 
losophers of  ancient  Greece  only  hoped  to  find  in  democratic- 
al  government."  From  the  beginning  our  law  has  been  no 
respecter  of  persons.  It  screens  not  the  gentleman  of  ancient 
lineage  from  the  judgment  of  an  ordinary  jury,  nor  from  ig- 
nominious punishment.  It  confers  not,  it  never  did  confer, 
those  unjust  immunities  from  public  burdens  which  the  su- 
perior orders  arrogated  to  themselves  upon  the  Continent. 
Thus,  while  the  privileges  of  our  peers,  as  hereditary  legis- 
lators of  a  free  people,  are  incomparably  more  valuable  and 
dignified  in  their  nature,  they  are  far  less  invidious  in  their 
exercise  than  those  of  any  other  nobility  in  Europe.  It  is,  I 
am  firmly  persuaded,  to  this  peculiar  democratical  character 
of  the  English  monarchy  that  we  are  indebted  for  its  long 
permanence,  its  regular  improvement,  and  its  present  vigor. 
It  is  a  singular,  a  providential  circumstance,  that,  in  an  age 
when  the  gradual  march  of  civilization  and  commerce  was 
so  little  foreseen,  our  ancestors,  deviating  from  the  usages  of 
neighboring  countries,  should,  as  if  deliberately,  have  guard- 
ed against  that  expansive  force  which,  in  bursting  through 
obstacles  improvidently  opposed,  has  scattered  havoc  over 
Europe. 

This  tendency  to  civil  equality  in  the  English  law  may,  I 
think,  be  ascribed  to  several  concurrent  causes.  In  the  first 
place,  the  feudal  institutions  were  far  less  military  in  England 
than  upon  the  Continent.  From  the  time  of  Henry  II.  the 
escuage  or  pecuniary  commutation  for  personal  service  be- 
came almost  universal.  The  armies  of  our  kings  were  com- 
posed of  hired  troops,  great  part  of  whom  certainly  were 
knights  and  gentlemen,  but  who,  serving  for  pay,  and  not  by 
virtue  of  their  birth  or  tenure,  preserved  nothing  of  the  feud- 
al character.     It  was  not,  however,  so  much  for  the  ends  of 

^^  n\;;#09  apxov,  wpioTOv  /ufv   ovvofia  KaWtarov  f-'xf'i  to^ovoniav,  SayS  the  advOCate  of 

democracy,  in  the  discussion  of  forms  of  government  which  Herodotus  (iii.,  80)  has 
put  into  the  mouths  of  three  Persian  satraps,  after  the  murder  of  Smerdis ;  a  scene 
conceived  in  the  spirit  of  Corneille. 


438  EQUALITY  AMONG  FREEMEN.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  1L 

national  as  of  private  warfare,  that  the  relation  of  lord  and 
vassal  was  contrived.  The  right  which  every  baron  in  France 
possessed,  of  redressing  his  own  wrongs  and  those  of  his  ten- 
ants by  arms,  rendered  their  connection  strictly  military.  But 
we  read  very  little  of  private  wars  in  England.  Notwith- 
standing some  passages  in  Glanvil,  which  certainly  appear 
to  admit  their  legality,  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  this  witli 
the  general  tenor  of  our  laws.  They  must  always  have  been 
a  breach  of  the  king's  peace,  which  our  Saxon  lawgivers  were 
perpetually  striving  to  preserve,  and  which  the  Conqueror 
and  his  sons  more  effectually  maintained.  Nor  can  we  trace 
many  instances  of  actual  hostilities  among  the  nobility  of  Ep- 
gland  after  the  Conquest,  except  during  such  an  anarchy  as 
the  reign  of  Stephen,  or  the  minority  of  Henry  III.  The  most 
prominent  instance,  perhaps,  of  what  may  be  deemed  a  private 
war  arose  out  of  a  contention  between  the  earls  of  Glouces- 
ter and  Hereford,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  during  which 
acts  of  extraordinary  violence  were  perpetrated ;  but,  far 
from  its  having  passed  for  lawful,  these  powerful  nobles  were 
both  committed  to  prison  and  paid  heavy  fines.  Thus  the 
tenure  of  knight-service  was  not,  in  effect,  much  more  pecul- 
iarly connected  with  the  profession  of  arms  than  that  of  soc- 
age. There  was  nothing  in  the  former  condition  to  generate 
that  high  self-estimation  which  military  habits  inspire.  On 
the  contrary,  the  burdens?)me  incidents  of  tenure  in  chivalry 
rendered  socage  the  more  advantageous,  though  less  honora- 
ble, of  the  two. 

In  the  next  place,  we  must  ascribe  a  good  deal  of  effica- 
cy to  the  old  Saxon  principles  that  survived  the  conquest 
of  William  and  infused  themselves  into  our  common  law. 
A  respectable  class  of  free  socagers,  having,  in  general,  full 
rights  of  alienating  their  lands,  and  holding  them  probably 
at  a  small  certain  rent  from  the  lord  of  the  manor,  frequent- 
ly occur  in  Doomsday-book.  Though,  as  I  have  already  ob- 
served, these  were  derived  from  the  superior  and  more  for- 
tunate Anglo-Saxon  ceorls,  they  were  perfectly  exempt  from 
all  marks  of  villenage  both  as  to  their  persons  and  estates. 
Most  have  derived  their  name  from  the  Saxon  soc,  which 
signifies  a  franchise,  especially  one  of  jurisdiction,  and  they 
undoubtedly  were  suitors  to  the  court-baron  of  the  lord,  to 
whose  soc,  or  right  of  justice,  they  belonged.  They  were  con- 
sequently judges  in  civil  causes,  determined  before  the  ma- 
nerial  tribunal'.  Such  privileges  set  them  greatly  above  the 
roturiers  or  censiers  of  France.  They  were  all  Englishmen, 
and  their  tenure  strictly  English ;  whicli  seems  to  have  giveu 


Snglish  Const.        NOTES  TO  CHAPTEli  VIII. 


43d 


it  credit  in  the  eyes  of  our  lawyers,  when  the  name  of  English- 
man was  affected  even  by  those  of  Norman  descent,  and  the 
laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor  became  the  universal  demand. 
Certainly  Glanvil,  and  still  more  Bracton,  treat  the  tenure  in 
free  soca^-e  with  great  respect.  And  we  have  reason  to  think 
that  this^lass  of  freeholders  was  very  numerous  even  before 
the  reign  of  Edward  I. 

But,  lastly,  the  change  which  took  place  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  Parliament  consummated  tlie  degradation,  if  we  must 
use  the  word,  of  the  lower  nobility :  I  mean,  not  so  much 
their  attendance  by  representation  instead  of  personal  sum- 
mons, as  their  election  by  the  whole  body  of  freeholders,  and 
their  separation,  along  with  citizens  and  burgesses,  from  the 
House  of  Peers.  These  changes  will  fall  under  consideration 
in  the  following  chapter. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII.— Part  II. 


r.    THE  LEGISLATION   OF  THE  GREAT 
COUNCIL. 

On  this  Council,  the  Commune  Concilium 
Regni,  see  the  remarks  in  the  Report  of 
Lords'  Committee  on  the  Dignity  of  a 
Peer  (1819,  2d  edition,  1829),  with  the  criti- 
cisms upon  it  by  Mr.  Allen  in  the  "Edin- 
burgh Review  "  (vol.  xxxv.). 

The  custom  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings 
had  been  to  hold  meetings  of  their  witan 
very  frequently,  at  least  in  the  regular 
course  of  their  government.  And  this  was 
also  the  rule  in  the  grand  fiefs  of  France. 
The  pomp  of  their  court,  the  maintenance 
of  loyal  respect,  the  power  of  keeping  a 
vigilant  eye  over  the  behavior  of  the  chief 
men,  were  sufficient  motives  for  the  Nor- 
man kings  to  preserve  this  custom ;  and 
the  nobility  of  course  saw  in  it  the  security 
of  their  privileges  as  well  as  the  exhibition 
of  their  importance.  Hence  we  find  that 
William  and  his  sons  held  their  courts  de 
•more,  as  a  regular  usage,  three  times  a  year, 
and  generally  at  the  great  festivals,  and  in 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom.  Here  the 
public  business  was  transacted.  Aids  were 
not  regularly  granted,  and  laws  much  more 
rarely  enacted  in  them,  yet  they  were  still 
a  national  council. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  charters  granted  by  William, 
Henry,  and  Stephen,  which  are  in  general 
rather  like  confirmations  of  existing  privi- 
leges than  novel  enactments,  though  some 
clauses  appear  to  be  of  the  latter  kind,  lit- 


tle authentic  evidence  can  be  found  of  any 
legislative  proceedings  from  the  Conquest 
to  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  But  the  Consti- 
tutions of  Clarendon,  in  1164,  are  certainly 
a  regular  statute ;  whoever  might  be  the 
consenting  parties,  these  famous  pro- 
visions were  enacted  in  the  great  council 
of  the  nation.  This  is  equally  true  of  the 
Assizes  of  Northampton,  in  1178.  But  the 
earliest  Anglo-Norman  law  which  is  ex- 
tant in  a  regular  form  is  the  assize  made 
at  Clarendon  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace,  issued  by  the  king  early  in  11G6. 
(This  important  document  is  given  at 
length  on  p.  550.)  In  other  instances  the 
royal  prerogative  may  perhaps  have  been 
held  sufficient  for  innovations  which,  after 
the  constitution  became  settled,  would 
have  required  the  sanction  of  the  whole 
legislature.  No  act  of  Parliament  is  known 
to  have  been  made  under  Richard  I. ;  but 
an  ordinance,  setting  the  assize  of  bread,  in 
the  fifth  of  John,  is  recited  to  be  established 
"  communi  concilio  baronum  nostrorum." 
Whether  these  words  afford  sufficient 
ground  for  believing  that  the  assize  was 
set  in  a  full  council  of  the  realm,  may  pos- 
sibly be  doubtful. 

ir.     DURATION  OF  DISTINCTION  BETWEEN 
NORMAN  AND  SAXON. 

The  passage  in  a  contemporary  writer, 
quoted  on  p.  421,  being  so  unequivocal  as 
it  is,  ought  to  have  much  weight  in  the 
question  as  to  the  duration  of  the  distinc 


440 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


tion  between  the  Norman  and  English 
races.  It  is  the  favorite  theory  of  M. 
Thierry,  pushed  to  an  extreme  length  both 
as  to  his  own  country  and  ours,  that  the 
conquering  nation,  Franks  in  one  case, 
Normans  in  the  other,  remained  down  to 
a  late  period— a  period  indeed  to  which 
he  assigns  no  conclusion — unmingled,  or 
at  least  undistinguishable,  constituting  a 
double  people  of  sovereigns  and  subjects, 
becoming  a  noble  order  in  the  state, 
haughty,  oppressive,  powerful,  or,  what  is, 
in  one  word,  most  odious  to  a  French  ear 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  aristocratic. 

It  may  be  worthy  of  consideration, 
whether  the  Norman  blood  were  really 
blended  with  the  native  quite  so  soon  as 
the  reign  of  Henry  II. ;  that  is,  whether 
intermarriages  in  the  superior  classes  of 
society  had  become  so  frequent  as  to  efface 
the  distinction.  M.  ThieiTy  produces  a 
few  passages  which  seem  to  intimate  its 
continuance.  But  these  are  too  loosely 
worded  to  warrant  much  regnrd  ;  and  he 
admits  that  aftf  ^  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 
we  have  no  proof  of  any  hostile  spirit  on 
the  part  of  the  English  towards  the  new 
dynasty ;  and  that  some  efforts  were  made 
to  conciliate  them  by  representing  Henry 
II.  as  the  descendant  of  the  Saxon  line. 
(Vol.  ii.,  p.  374.)  This,  in  fact,  was  true ; 
and  it  was  still  more  important  that  the 
name  of  English  was  studiously  assumed 
by  our  kings  (ignorant  though  they  might 
be,  in  M.  Thierry's  phrase,  what  was  the 
vernacular  word  for  that  dignity),  and 
that  the  Anglo-Normans  are  seldom,  if 
ever,  mentioned  by  that  separate  designa- 
tion. England  was  their  dwelling-place, 
English  their  name,  the  English  law  their 
inheritance ;  if  this  was  not  wholly  the 
case  before  the  separation  of  the  mother 
country  under  John,  and  yet  we  do  not 
perceive  much  limitation  necessary,  it  can 
admit  of  no  question  afterwards. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  manifest  that  the  de- 
scendants of  William's  tenants  in  capite, 
and  of  others  who  seized  on  so  large  a 
portion  of  our  fair  country  from  the  Chan- 
nel to  the  Tweed,  formed  the  chief  part  of 
that  aristocracy  which  secured  the  liber- 
ties of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  as  well  as 
their  own,  at  Runnymede ;  and  which, 
sometimes  as  peers  of  the  realm,  some- 
times as  well-born  commoners,  placed 
successive  barriers  against  the  exorbi- 
tances of  power,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
that  expanded  scheme  of  government 
which  we  call  the  English  constitution. 
The  names  in  Dugdale's  Baronage  and 
in  his  Summonitiones  ad  Parliamentura 
speak  for  themselves;  in  all  the  earlier 
periods,  and  perhaps  almost  through  the  , 


Plantagenet  dynasty,  we  find  a  great  pre- 
pouderauce  of  such  as  indicate  a  French 
source.  New  families  sprang  up  by  de- 
grees, and  are  now  sometimes  among  our 
chief  nobility ;  but  in  general,  if  we  find 
any  at  this  day  who  have  tolerable  preten- 
sions to  deduce  their  lineage  from  the 
Conquest,  they  are  of  Norman  descent ; 
the  very  few  Saxon  families  that  may  re- 
main with  an  authentic  pedigree  in  the 
male  line  are  seldom  found  in  the  wealth- 
ier class  of  gentry.  And  on  this  account 
I  must  confess  that  M.  Thierry's  opinion 
of  a  long-continued  distinction  of  races 
has  more  semblance  of  truth  as  to  this 
kingdom  than  can  be  pretended  as  to 
France,  without  a  blind  sacrifice  of  un- 
deniable facts  at  the  altar  of  plebeian  ma- 
lignity. 

III.     STATUTES  OF  WILLIAM  THE  CON- 
QUEROR. 

Professor  Stubbs  remarks  ("Select 
Charters,"  etc.,  p.  80) :  "The  following 
short  record,  which  is  found  in  this,  its 
earl'est  form,  in  the  '  Textus  Roffeusis,' 
a  manuscript  written  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  I.,  contains  what  is  probably  the 
sum  and  substance  of  all  the  legal  enact- 
ments actually  made  by  the  Conqueror, 
independent  of  his  confirmations  of  the 
earlier  laws  ;  they  are  probably  the  alter- 
ations or  emendations  referred  to  by  Hen- 
ry I.  in  his  charter,  as  made  by  his  father 
in  the  laws  of  King  Edward :" 
Hie  intimatur  quid  Willelmua  Rex  Anglo- 
rum  cum  principibus  suis  con^tituit  post 
Conquisitionem  Angliae. 

1.  In  primis  quod  super  omnia  unum 
vellet  Deum  per  totum  regnum  suum  ve- 
nerari,  unam  fidem  Christi  semper  iuvio- 
latam  castodiri,  pacem  et  securitatem  in- 
ter Anglos  et  Normannos  servari. 

2.  Statuinius  etiam  ut  omnis  liber  homo 
foedere  et  sacramento  aflirmet,  quod  infra 
et  extra  Angliam  Willelmo  regi  fideles  esse 
volunt,  terras  et  honorem  illius  omni  fide- 
litate  cum  eo  servare,  et  ante  eum  contra 
inimicos  defendere. 

3.  Volo  autem  ut  oranes  homines  quos 
mecum  adduxi  aut  post  me  venerunt  siut 
in  pace  mea  et  quiete.  Et  si  quis  de  illis 
occisus  fuerit,  dominus  ejus  habeat  infra 
quinque  dies  homicidam  ejus  si  potuerit; 
sin  autem,  incipiat  persolvere  mihi  xlvi. 
marcas  argenti  quamdiu  substantia  illius 
domini  perdnraverit.  Ubi  vero  substantia 
defecerit,  totus  hundredus  in  quo  occisio 
facta  est  communiter  persolvat  quod  re- 
manet. 

4.  Et  omnis  Francigena  qui  tempore  re- 
gis Edwardi  propinqui  mei  fuit  in  Anglia 
particeps  consuetudinum  Anglorura,  quod 


y,j^(ii.wn  Const.      THE  ENGLISH  CONSTITUTION. 


441 


ipsi  diciint  ouhlote  et  auscote,  persolva- 
tur  secuudum  legem  Auglorum.  Hoc  de- 
cretum  sancitum  est  in  civitate  Claudia. 

5.  Iiiterdiciraus  etiam  ut  nulla  viva  pe- 
cuuia  vendatur  aut  ematur  nisi  infra  civi- 
tates,  et  hoc  ante  tres  fldeles  testes ;  uec 
aliquam  rem  velustam  sine  fidejussore  et 
waranto.  Quod  si  aliter  fecerit,  solvat  et 
persolvat,  et  postea  forisfacturam. 

6.  Decretum  est  etiam  ibi,  ut,  si  Franci- 
gena  appellaverit  Anglum  de  perjurio  aut 
murdro,  furto,  homicidio,  ran,  quod  Angli 
dicunt  apertam  rapiuam  quae  uegari  uon 
potest,  Anglus  se  defendat  per  quod  me- 
lius voluerit,  aut  judicio  ferri  aut  duello. 
Si  amem  Anglus  infirmus  fuerit,  inveniat 
alinra  qui  pro  eo  faciat.  Si  quis  eorum 
victus  fuerit,  emendet  xl.  solidos  regi.  Si 
Anglus  Francigeuam  appellaverit  et  pro- 
bare  noluerit  judicio  aut  duello,  volo  ta- 
men  Francigeuam  purgare  se  sacramento 
uon  fractu. 

7.  Hoc  quoque  praecipio  et  volo,  ut  om- 
nes  habeaut  et  teneant  legem  Edwardi  re- 
gis in  terris  et  in  omnibus  rel)us,  adanctis 
iis  quae  constitui  ad  utilitatem  populi  An- 
glorum. 


8.  Omnis  homo  qui  voluerit  se  tenei'/ 
pro  libero  sit  in  plegio,  ut  plegius  teneai 
et  habeat  ilium  ad  justitiam  si  quid  offen- 
derit.  Et  si  quisquam  talium  evaserit,  vi- 
deant  plegii  nt  simpliciter  solvaut  quod 
calumniatum  est,  et  purgent  se  quia  in 
evaso  nullam  fraudem  uoverint.  Reqni- 
ratur  hundredus  et  comitatus,  sicut  ante- 
cessores  nostri  statuerunt.  Et  qui  juste 
venire  deberent  et  venire  noluerint,  semel 
suramoneantur  ;  et  si  secundo  venire  nolu- 
erint, accipiatur  unus  bos,  et  suramonean- 
tur tertio.  Et  si  non  tertio  venerint,  ac- 
cipiatur alius  bos:  quarta  autem  vice  si 
non  venerint,  reddatur  de  rebus  hominis 
illius  qui  venire  noluerit  quod  calumnia- 
tum est,  quod  dicitur  ceapgeld ;  et  insuper 
forisfactura  regis. 

9.  Ego  prohibeo  ut  nullns  vendat  homi- 
nem  extra  patriam  super  plenam  forisfac- 
turam meam. 

10.  Interdico  etiam  ne  quis  occidatur 
aut  snspendatur  pro  aliqua  culpa,  sed  eru- 
antur  oculi,  et  testiculi  abscidantur.  Et 
hoc  praeceptum  uon  sit  violatum  super 
forisfacturam  meam  plenam.  —  ("MS. 
Bodl.  Rawlinson,"  C.  641.) 


PART   III. 

THE   ENGLISH  CONSTITUTION. 

I  \  Reign  of  Edward  1.  §  2.  Confirmatio  Chartarum.  §  3.  Constitution  of  Parlia- 
ment. 5  4.  The  Spiritual  Peers.  §  5.  The  Temporal  Peers.  Tenure  by  Barony. 
Difficulty  of  the  Subject.  §  6.  Origin  of  Representation  of  the  Commons.  Knights 
of  Shires.  Their  Existence  doubtfully  traced  through  the  Reign  of  Henry  IIL 
3  7.  State  of  English  Towns  at  the  Conquest  and  afterwards.  §  8.  Their  Progress. 
5  9.  Representatives  from  them  summoned  to  Parliament  by  Earl  of  Leicester. 
Improbability  of  an  earlier  Origin.  §  10.  Parliaments  under  Edward  L  §  11. 
Separation  of  Knights  and  Burgesses  from  the  Peers.  §  12.  Edward  II.  §  13. 
Gradual  Progress  of  the  Authority  of  Parliament  traced  through  the  Reigns  of 
Edward  III.  §  14.  Of  Richard  II.  §  15.  Of  Henry  IV.  §  16.  Authority  of  the 
House  of  Commons  under  the  House  of  Lancaster.  (1.)  Right  of  Taxation.  (2.) 
Appropriation  of  Supplies.  (3.)  Redrcs?  of  Grievances.  (4.)  Legislative  Rights. 
(5.)  Controlling  the  Royal  Expenditure.  (6.)  Impeachment  of  Ministers.  (7.) 
Privilege  of  Parliament.  §  17.  Election  of  Knights  and  Burgesses.  §  18.  House 
of  Lords.  Baronies  of  Tenure.  By  Writ.  Nature  of  the  latter  discussed.  §  19. 
Creation  of  Peers  by  Act  of  Parliament.  §  20.  And  by  Patent.  §  21.  Summons 
of  Clergy  to  Parliament.  §  22.  King's  Ordinary  Council.  Its  judicial  and  other 
Power.  §  23.  Character  of  the  Plantagenet  Govern^nent.  Prerogative.  Its  Ex> 
cesses.  §  24.  Erroneous  Views  corrected.  Testimony  of  Sir  John  Fortescue  to 
the  Freedom  of  the  Constitution.  §  25.  Causes  of  the  superior  Liberty  of  England 
considered.  §  26.  State  of  Society  in  England.  §  27.  Habits  of  Rapine.  §  28. 
Villenage.  Its  gradual  Extinction.  §  29.  Popular  Outbreaks.  5  30.  Manumis- 
sion of  Villeins.  §  31.  Latter  Years  of  Henry  VI.  §  32.  Regencies.  Instances  of 
them  enumerated.  5  33.  Pretensions  of  the  House  of  York,  and  War  of  the  Roses. 
§  34.  Edward  IV.    §  35.  Conclusion. 

§  1.  Though  the  undisputed  accession  of  a  prince  like 
Edward  I.  to  the  throne  of  his  father  does  not  seem  so  con- 

19* 


442  CONFIRMATION  OF  CHARTERS.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  HI. 

venient  a  resting-place  in  history  as  one  of  those  revolutions 
which  interrupt  the  natural  chain  of  events,  yet  the  changes 
wrought  during  his  reign  make  it  properly  an  epoch  in  the 
progress  of  these  inquiries.  And,  indeed,  as  ours  is  emphat- 
ically styled  a  government  by  king,  lords,  and  commons,  we 
can  not,  perhaps,  in  strictness,  carry  it  farther  back  than  the 
admission  of  the  latter  into  Parliament ;  so  that  if  the  con- 
stant representation  of  the  Commons  is  to  be  referred  to  the 
age  of  Edward  I.,  it  will  be  nearer  the  truth  to  date  the  En- 
glish constitution  from  that  than  from  any  earlier  era. 

§  2.  The  various  statutes  affecting  the  law  of  property  and 
administration  of  justice,  which  have  caused  Edward  I.  to  be 
named,  rather  hyperbolically,  the  English  Justinian,  bear  no 
immediate  relation  to  our  present  inquiries.  In  a  constitu- 
tional point  of  view,  the  principal  object  is  that  statute  enti- 
tled the  Confirmation  of  the  Charters,  which  was  very  reluc- 
tantly conceded  by  the  king,  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his 
reign.  I  do  not  know  that  England  has  ever  produced  any 
patriots  to  whose  memory  she  ow^es  more  gratitude  than 
Humphrey  Bohun,  earl  of  Hereford  and  Essex,  and  Roger 
Bigod,  earl  of  Norfolk.  In  the  Great  Charter  the  base  spirit 
and  deserted  condition  of  John  take  off  something  from  the 
glory  of  the  triumph,  though  they  enhance  the  moderation 
of  those  who  pressed  no  farther  upon  an  abject  tyrant.  But 
to  withstand  the  measures  of  Edward,  a  prince  unequalled 
by  any  who  had  reigned  in  England  since  the  Conqueror  for 
prudence,  valor,  and  success,  required  a  far  more  intrepid 
patriotism.  Their  provocations,  if  less  outrageous  than  those 
received  from  John,  were  such  as  evidently  manifested  a  dis- 
position in  Edward  to  reign  without  any  control — a  constant 
refusal  to  confirm  the  charters,  which  in  that  age  were  hardly 
deemed  to  bind  the  king  without  his  actual  consent ;  heavy 
impositions,  especially  one  on  the  export  of  w^ool,  and  other 
unwarrantable  demands.  He  had  acted  with  such  unmeas- 
ured violence  towards  the  clergy,  on  account  of  their  refusal 
of  further  subsidies,  that,  although  the  ill-judged  policy  of 
that  class  kept  their  interests  too  distinct  from  those  of  the 
people,  it  was  natural  for  all  to  be  alarmed  at  the  precedent 
of  despotism.^  These  encroachments  made  resistance  justi- 
fiable, and  the  circumstances  of  Edward  made  it  prudent. 
His  ambition,  luckily  for  the  people,  had  involved  him  in  for- 

^  The  fullest  account  we  possess  of  these  domestic  transactions  from  1294  to  1298  is 
in  Walter  Hemingford,  one  of  the  historians  edited  by  Hearne,  pp.  52-108.  They  have 
been  vilely  perverted  by  Carte,  but  extremely  well  told  by  Hume,  the  first  writer  who 
had  the  merit  of  exposing  the  character  of  Edward  I. 


I 


English  Const.     CONSTITUTION  OF  PARLIAMENT.  443 

eign  warfare,  from  which  he  could  not  recede  without  disap- 
pointment and  dishonor.  Thus  was  wrested  from  him  that 
famous  statute,  inadequately  denominated  the  Confirma* 
tion  of  the  Charters,  because  it  added  another  pillar  to 
our  constitution,  not  less  important  than  the  Great  Charter 
itself. 

It  was  enacted  by  the  25  Edward  I.  that  the  Charter  of 
Liberties,  and  that  of  the  Forest,  besides  being  explicitly 
confirmed,  should  be  sent  to  all  sheriffs,  justices  in  eyre,  and 
other  magistrates  throughout  the  realm,  in  order  to  their 
publication  before  the  people ;  that  copies  of  them  should  be 
kept  in  cathedral  churches,  and  publicly  read  twice  in  the 
year,  accompanied  by  a  solemn  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  all  who  should  infringe  them ;  that  any  judgment 
given  contrary  to  these  charters  should  be  invalid,  and  holden 
for  nought.  This  authentic  promulgation,  those  awful  sanc- 
tions of  the  Great  Charter,  would  alone  render  the  statute  of 
which  we  are  speaking  illustrious.  But  it  went  a  great  deal 
farther.  Hitherto  the  king's  prerogative  of  levying  money, 
by  name  of  tallage,  or  prize,  from  his  towns  and  tenants  in 
demesne,  had  passed  unquestioned.  Some  impositions,  that 
especially  on  the  export  of  wool,  affected  all  his  subjects.  It 
was  now  the  moment  to  enfranchise  the  people,  and  give  that 
security  to  private  property  which  Magna  Charta  had  given 
to  personal  liberty.  By  the  5th  and  6th  sections  of  this  stat- 
ute, "  the  aids,  tasks,  and  prizes  "  before  taken  are  renounced 
as  precedents ;  and  the  king  "  grants  for  him  and  his  heirs,  as 
well  as  to  archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  priors,  and  other  folk 
of  Holy  Church,  as  also  to  earls,  barons,  and  to  all  common- 
alty of  the  land,  that  for  no  business  from  henceforth  we  shall 
take  such  manner  of  aids,  tasks,  nor  prizes,  but  by  the  common 
assent  of  the  realm,  and  for  the  common  profit  thereof,  saving 
the  ancient  aids  and  prizes  due  and  accustomed."  The  toll 
upon  wool,  so  far  as  levied  by  the  king's  mere  prerogative,  is 
expressly  released  by  the  Yth  section.' 

§  3.  We  come  now  to  a  part  of  our  subject  exceedingly 
important,  but  more  intricate  and  controverted  than  any  oth- 
er, the  Constitution  of  Parliament,  I  have  taken  no  notice 
of  this  in  the  last  section,  in  order  to  present  uninterruptedly 

3  The  Conflrmatio  Chartarnm  is  properly  denominated  a  statute,  and  always  printed 
as  such  ;  but  in  form,  like  Magna  Charta,  it  is  a  charter,  or  letters  patent,  proceeding 
from  the  crown,  without  even  reciting  the  consent  of  the  realm.  And  its  "teste  "  is 
at  Ghent,  2  Nov.,  1297— Edward  having  engaged,  conjointly  with  the  Count  of  Flan- 
ders, in  a  war  with  Philip  the  Fair.  But  a  Parliament  had  been  held  at  London, 
when  the  barons  insisted  on  these  concessions.  The  circumstances  are  not  whollji 
unlike  those  of  Magna  Charta.    The  Conflrmatio  Chartarum  is  printed  on  p.  557. 


444  TEMPORAL  PEERS.       Chap.  VIll.  Part  III 

to  the  reader  the  gradual  progress  of  our  legislature  down 
to  its  complete  establishment  under  the  Edwards. 

§  4.  The  Spiritual  Peers. — One  constituent  branch  of  the 
great  councils  held  by  William  the  Conqueror  and  all  his 
successors  was  composed  of  the  bishops  and  the  heads  of  re- 
ligious houses  holding  their  temporalities  immediately  of  the 
crown.  It  has  been  frequently  maintained  that  these  spirit- 
ual lords  sat  in  Parliament  only  by  virtue  of  their  baronial 
tenure.  And  certainly  they  did  all  hold  baronies,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  analogy  of  lay  peerages,  were  sufficient  to  give 
them  such  a  share  in  the  legislature.  Nevertheless,  I  think 
that  this  is  rather  too  contracted  a  view  of  the  rights  of  the 
English  hierarchy,  and,  indeed,  by  implication,  of  the  peerage ; 
for  a  great  council  of  advice  and  assent  in  matters  of  legis- 
lation, or  national  importance,  was  essential  to  all  the  North- 
ern governments.  And  all  of  them,  except,  perhaps,  the  Lom- 
bards, invited  the  superior  ecclesiastics  to  their  councils ;  not 
upon  any  feudal  notions,  which  at  that  time  had  hardly  be- 
gun to  prevail,  but  chiefly  as  representatives  of  the  Church 
and  of  religion  itself;  next,  as  more  learned  and  enlightened 
councillors  than  the  lay  nobility ;  and  in  some  degree,  no 
doubt,  as  rich  proprietors  of  land.  It  will  be  remembered, 
also,  that  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  affairs  w^ere  originally 
decided  in  the  same  assemblies,  both  upon  the  Continent  and 
in  England.  The  Norman  Conquest,  which  destroyed  the 
Anglo-Saxon  nobility,  and  substituted  a  new  race  in  their 
stead,  could  not  affect  the  immortality  of  Church  possessions. 
The  bishops  of  William's  age  were  entitled  to  sit  in  his  coun- 
cils by  the  general  custom  of  Europe,  and  by  the  common 
law  of  England,  which  the  Conquest  did  not  overturn. 

§  5.  The  Temporal  Peers.  — Next  to  these  spiritual  lords 
are  the  earls  and  barons,  or  lay  peerage  of  England.  The 
former  dignity  was,  perhaps,  not  so  merely  official  as  in  the 
Saxon  times,  although  the  earl  was  entitled  to  the  third  pen- 
ny of  all  emoluments  arising  from  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice in  the  County  Courts,  and  might,  perhaps,  command  the 
militia  of  his  county,  when  it  was  called  forth.  Every  earl 
was  also  a  baron,  and  held  an  honor  or  barony  of  the  crown, 
for  which  he  paid  a  higher  relief  than  an  ordinary  baron, 
probably  on  account  of  the  profits  of  his  earldom. 

It  is  universally  agreed  that  the  only  baronies  known  for 
two  centuries  after  the  Conquest  were  incident  to  the  tenure 
of  land  held  immediately  from  the  crown.  There  are,  how- 
ever, material  difficulties  in  the  way  of  rightly  understanding 
their  nature  which  require  careful  examination.    All  tenants- 


b 


English  Const.     PARLIAMENTARY  REPRESENTATION.  445 

in-chief  of  the  crown,  by  knight-service,  were  summoned  to 
the  king's  council,  and  were  peers  of  his  court.  To  all  of 
these  the  term  Baron  was  originally  applied,  a  word  of  very 
wide  significance.'  But  in  course  of  time  a  distinction  arose 
between  the  Greater  Barons  and  Lesser  Barons^  the  former 
holding  their  lands  by  barony  {per  baroniam)^  and  the  latter 
simply  by  knight-service ;  and  gradually  the  name  of  baron 
was  confined  to  the  former  class.  It  is  difficult  to  determine 
the  characteristic  differences  of  the  two,  or  the  way  in  which 
the  distinction  arose;  but  it  would  seem  that  the  Greater 
Barons  held,  under  one  title,  a  number  of  knight's  fees — that 
is,  of  estates,  from  each  of  which  the  feudal  service  of  a 
knight  was  due.  There  is,  however,  complete  proof  of  the 
separation  between  the  two  classes  of  barons  before  the  reign 
of  John,  and  the  term  baron  came  to  be  applied  exclusively 
to  the  greater  barons.  Tenants-in-chief  are  enumerated  dis- 
tinctly from  earls  and  barons  in  the  charter  of  Henry  I.  (See 
p.  548.)  Knights,  as  well  as  barons,  are  named  as  present  in 
the  Parliament  of  Northampton  in  1165,  in  that  held  at  the 
same  town  in  1176,  and  upon  other  occasions. 

We  learn  from  the  Great  Charter  that  the  greater  barons 
were  summoned  to  the  king's  council  by  particular  writs;  the 
other  tenants-in-chief  by  one  general  summons  through  the 
sheriffs  of  their  several  counties,  w^henever  an  aid  or  scutage 
was  required.*  The  consent  of  all  the  tenants-in-chief  was 
required  for  taxation ;  and  there  appears  sufficient  evidence 
that  they  were  occasionally  present  for  other  important  pur- 
poses. It  is,  however,  very  probable  that  writs  of  summons 
were  actually  addressed  only  to  those  of  distinguished  name, 
to  those  resident  near  the  place  of  meeting,  or  to  the  serv- 
ants and  favorites  of  the  crown.  This  seems  to  be  deduci- 
ble  from  the  words  in  the  Great  Charter,  which  limit  the 
king's  engagement  to  summon  all  tenants-in-chief,  through 
the  sheriff,  to  the  case  of  his  requiring  an  aid  or  scutage,  and 
still  more  from  the  withdrawing  of  this  promise  in  the  first 
year  of  Henry  III.  The  privilege  of  attending  on  such  occa- 
sions, though  legally  general,  may  never  have  been  generally 
exercised. 

The  result  of  the  whole  inquiry  into  the  constitution  of 

3  Tlie  word  haro  originally  meant  only  a  man,  and  is  not  unfreqnently  applied  to 
common  freeholders,  as  in  the  phrase  of  conrt-barou.  It  was  used  too  for  the  magis- 
trates or  chief  men  of  cities,  as  it  is  still  for  the  judges  ct  tibe  Exchequer,  and  the 
representatives  of  the  Cinque  Ports. 

*"Faciemus  summoneri  archiepiscopos,  episcopos,  ahbates,  comites  et  raajorea 
barones  regni  sigillatim  per  literas  nostras.  Et  praeterea  faciemus  summoneri  in 
gGnerali  per  vicecomites  et  ballivos  nostros  oranes  alios  qui  in  capite  tenent  d*  notls." 


446  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III 

Parliament,  down  to  the  reign  of  John,  seems  to  be — 1.  That 
the  Norman  kings  explicitly  renounced  all  prerogative  of 
levying  pioney  on  the  immediate  military  tenants  of  the 
crown,  without  their  consent  given  in  a  great  council  of  the 
realm ;  this  immunity  extending,  also,  to  their  sub-tenants 
and  dependents.  2.  That  all  these  tenants-in-chief  had  a  con- 
stitutional right  to  attend,  and  ought  to  be  summoned;  but 
whether  they  could  attend  without  a  summons  is  not  mani- 
fest. 3.  That  the  summons  was  usually  directed  to  the  high- 
er barons,  and  to  such  of  a  second  class  as  the  king  pleased, 
many  being  omitted  for  difterent  reasons,  though  all  had  a 
right  to  it.  4.  That  on  occasions  when  money  was  not  to 
be  demanded,  but  alterations  made  in  the  law,  some  of  these 
second  barons,  or  tenants-in-chief,  were  at  least  occasionally 
summoned,  but  whether  by  strict  right  or  usage  does  not  ful- 
ly appear.  5.  That  the  irregularity  of  passing  many  of  them 
over  when  councils  were  held  for  the  purpose  of  levying 
money,  led  to  the  provision  in  the  Great  Charter  of  John  by 
which  the  king  promises  that  they  shall  all  be  summoned 
through  the  sheriff  on  such  occasions ;  but  the  promise  does 
not  extend  to  any  other  subject  of  parliamentary  deliber- 
ation. 6.  That  even  this  concession,  though  but  the  recog- 
nition of  a  known  right,  appeared  so  dangerous  to  some  in 
the  government  that  it  was  withdrawn  in  the  first  charter  of 
Henry  III. 

But  this  attendance  in  Parliament  of  inferior  tenants-in- 
chief,  some  of  them  too  poor  to  have  received  knighthood, 
grew  insupportably  vexatious  to  themselves,  and  was  not 
well  liked  by  the  king.  He  knew  them  to  be  dependent  upon 
the  barons,  and  dreaded  the  confluence  of  a  multitude  who 
assumed  the  privilege  of  coming  in  arms  to  the  appointed 
place.  So  inconvenient  and  mischievous  a  scheme  could  not 
long  subsist  among  an  advancing  people,  and  fortunately  the 
true  remedy  was  discovered  with  little  difficiilty. 

§  6.  The  principle  of  representation,  in  its  widest  sense, 
can  hardly  be  unknown  to  any  government  not  purely  dem- 
ocratical.  The  system  of  ecclesiastical  councils,  considered 
as  organs  of  the  Church,  rested  upon  the  principle  of  a  virtu- 
al or  an  express  representation,  and  had  a  tendency  to  ren- 
der its  application  to  national  assemblies  more  familiar. 

We  find  nothing  that  can  arrest  our  attention,  in  search- 
ing out  the  origin  of  county  representation,  till  we  come  to 
a  writ  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  John,  directed  to  all  the  sher- 
iffs in  the  following  terms:  "Rex  Vicecomiti  N.,  salutem. 
Prsecipimus  tibi  quod  omnes  milites  ballivae  tuae  qui  sum- 


English  Const.     PARLIAMENTARY  REPRESENTATION.  447 

moniti  fuerunt  esse  apud  Oxoniam  ad  Nos  a  die  Omnium 
Sanctorum  in  quindecim  dies  venire  facias  cum  armis  suis: 
corpora  vero  baronum  sine  armis  singulariter,  et  qiiat/iior  dis- 
cretos  milites  de  comitatu  tuo,  illuc  venire  facias,  ad  eundem 
terminum,  ad  loquendum  nobiscum  de  negotiis  regni  nostri." 
Still  it  remains  problematical  whether  these  four  knights  (the 
only  clause  which  concerns  our  purpose)  were  to  be  elect- 
ed by  the  county  or  returned  in  the  nature  of  a  jury,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  sheriff.  Since  there  is  no  sufficient  proof 
whereon  to  decide,  we  can  only  say  with  hesitation  that  there 
ma]/  have  been  an  instance  of  county  representation  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  John. 

We  may  next  advert  to  a  practice,  of  which  there  is  very 
clear  proof  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  Subsidies  granted  in 
Parliament  were  assessed,  not  as  in  former  times  by  the  jus- 
tices upon  their  circuits,  but  by  knights  freely  chosen  in  the 
County  Court.  This  appears  by  two  writs,  one  of  the  fourth 
and  one  of  the  ninth  year  of  Henry  IH.  At  a  subsequent 
period,  by  a  provision  of  the  Oxford  Parliament  in  1258, 
every  county  elected  four  knights  to  inquire  into  grievances, 
and  deliver  their  inquisition  into  Parliament. 

The  next  writ  now  extant,  that  wears  the  appearance  of 
parliamentary  representation,  is  in  the  thirty-eighth  of  Hen- 
ry HI.  This,  after  reciting  that  the  earls,  barons,  and  other 
great  men  (caeteri  magnates)  were  to  meet  at  London,  three 
weeks  after  Easter,  with  horses  and  arms,  for  the  purpose  of 
sailing  into  Gascony,  requires  the  sheriff  to  compel  all  within 
his  jurisdiction,  who  hold  twenty  pounds  a  year  of  the  king 
in  chief,  or  of  those  in  ward  of  the  king,  to  appear  at  the  same 
time  and  place.  And  that,  besides  those  mentioned,  he  shall 
cause  to  come  before  the  king's  council  at  Westminster,  on 
the  fifteenth  day  after  Easter,  two  good  and  discreet  knights 
of  his  county,  whom  the  men  of  the  county  shall  have  chosen 
for  this  purpose,  in  the  stead  of  all  and  each  of  them,  to  con- 
sider, along  with  the  knights  of  other  counties,  what  aid  they 
will  grant  the  king  in  such  an  emergency.  In  the  principle 
of  election,  and  in  the  object  of  the  assembly,  which  was  to 
grant  money,  this  certainly  resembles  a  summons  to  Parlia- 
ment. There  are,  indeed,  anomalies  sufficiently  remarkable 
upon  the  face  of  the  writ  which  distinguish  this  meeting  from 
a  regular  Parliament.  But  when  the  scheme  of  obtaining 
money  from  the  commons  of  shires  through  the  consent  of 
their  representatives  had  once  been  entertained,  it  was  easily 
applicable  to  more  formal  councils  of  the  nation. 

A  few  years  later  there  appears  another  writ  analogous  to 


448  PROGRESS  OF  TOWNS.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

a  summons.  During  the  contest  between  Henry  III.  and  the 
confederate  barons  in  1261,  they  presumed  to  call  a  sort  of 
Parliament,  summoning  three  knights  out  of  every  county, 
"  secum  tractaturos  super  communibus  negotiis  regni."  This 
we  learn  only  by  an  opposite  writ  issued  by  the  king,  direct- 
ing the  sheriff  to  enjoin  these  knights  who  had  been  con- 
vened by  the  earls  of  Leicester  and  Gloucester  to  their  meet- 
ing at  St.  Alban's,  that  they  should  repair  instead  to  the  king 
at  Windsor,  and  to  no  other  place,  "  nobiscum  super  prae- 
raissis  colloquium  habituros."  It  is  not  absolutely  certain 
that  these  knights  were  elected  by  their  respective  counties. 
But  even  if  they  were  so,  this  assembly  has  much  less  the 
appearance  of  a  Parliament  than  that  in  the  thirty-eighth  of 
Henry  III. 

At  length,  in  the  year  1265,  the  forty-ninth  of  Henry  HI., 
while  he  was  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  Simon  de  Montfort, 
writs  were  issued  in  his  name  to  all  the  sheriffs,  directing 
them  to  return  two  knights  for  the  body  of  their  county, 
with  two  citizens  or  burgesses  for  every  city  and  borough 
contained  within  it.  This,  therefore,  is  the  epoch  at  which 
the  representation  of  the  commons  becomes  indisputably 
manifest ;  even  should  we  reject  altogether  the  more  equiv- 
ocal instances  of  it  which  have  just  been  enumerated. 

Whether  the  knights  were  still  elected  by  only  the  king's 
military  tenants,  to  spare  them  the  inconvenience  of  personal 
attendance,  or  by  the  freeholders  in  general,  is  a  difficult 
question.  The  legal  antiquaries  are  divided.  Prynne  does 
not  seem  to  have  doubted  but  that  the  knights  were  "  elect- 
ed in  the  full  county,  by  and  for  the  whole  county,"  without 
respect  to  the  tenure  of  the  freeholders.  But  Brady  and 
Carte  are  of  a  different  opinion.  Yet  their  disposition  to 
narrow  the  basis  of  the  constitution  is  so  strong,  that  it 
creates  a  sort  of  prejudice  against  their  authority.  And  if 
I  might  offer  an  opinion  on  so  obscure  a  subject,  I  should  be 
much  inclined  to  believe  that,  even  from  the  reign  of  Henry 
HI.,  the  election  of  knights  by  all  freeholders  in  the  County 
Court,  without  regard  to  tenure,  was  little,  if  at  all,  different 
from  what  it  is  at  present.^ 

§  7.  The  progress  of  towns  in  several  Continental  countries, 
from  a  condition  bordering  upon  servitude  to  wealth  and  lib- 
erty, has  more  than  once  attracted  our  attention  in  other 
parts  of  the  present  work.  Their  growth  in  England,  both 
from  general  causes  and  imitative  policy,  was  very  shnilar 

»  This  qnestion  has  been  discnssed  with  much  ability  iu  tho  "  Edinburgh  Keview," 
vol.  xxvi.,  p.  341. 


English  Const.  PROGRESS  OF  TOWNS.  449 

and  nearly  coincident.  Some  of  the  greater  towns,  and  Lon- 
don in  particular,  enjoyed  the  right  of  electing  magistrates 
with  a  certain  jurisdiction  before  the  Conquest/  But  at  the 
time  of  the  Conquest  we  find  the  burgesses  or  inhabitants  of 
towns  living  under  the  superiority  or  protection  of  the  king, 
or  of  some  other  lord,  to  whom  they  paid  annual  rents,  and 
determinate  dues  or  customs.  Besides  these  regular  pay- 
ments, which  were  in  general  not  heavy,  they  were  liable  to 
tallages  at  the  discretion  of  their  lords. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  changes  in  the 
condition  of  the  burgesses  was  the  conversion  of  their  indi- 
vidual tributes  into  a  perpetual  rent  from  the  whole  bor- 
ough. The  town  was  then  said  to  be  affirmed,  or  let  in  fee- 
farm,  to  the  burgesses  and  their  successors  forever.  Previ- 
ously to  such  a  grant  the  lord  held  the  town  in  his  demesne, 
and  was  the  legal  proprietor  of  the  soil  and  tenements ; 
though  I  by  no  means  apprehend  that  the  burgesses  were 
destitute  of  a  certain  estate  in  their  possessions.  But  of  a 
town  in  fee-farm  he  only  kept  the  superiority  and  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  annual  rent,  which  he  might  recover  by  distress. 
The  burgesses  held  their  lands  by  burgage-tenure,  nearly 
analogous  to,  or  rather  a  species  of,  free  socage.  Perhaps 
before  the  grant  they  might  correspond  to  modern  copy- 
holders. It  is  of  some  importance  to  observe  that  the  lord, 
by  such  a  grant  of  the  town  in  fee-farm,  whatever  we  may 
think  of  its  previous  condition,  divested  himself  of  his  prop- 
erty, or  lucrative  dominion  over  the  soil,  in  return  for  the 
perpetual  rent ;  so  that  tallages  subsequently  set  at  his  own 
discretion  upon  the  inhabitants,  however  common,  can  hard- 
ly be  considered  as  a  just  exercise  of  the  rights  of  proprie- 
torship. 

Under  such  a  system  of  arbitrary  taxation,  however,  it 
was  evident  to  the  most  selfish  tyrant  that  the  wealth  of  his 
burgesses  was  his  wealth,  and  their  prosperity  his  interest ; 
much  more  were  liberal  and  sagacious  monarchs,  like  Henry 
II.,  inclined  to  encourage  them  by  privileges.  From  the 
time  of  William  Rufus  there  was  no  reign  in  which  charters 
were  not  granted  to  diiferent  towns  of  exemption  from  tolls 
on  rivers  and  at  markets — those  lighter  manacles  of  feudal 
tyranny ;  or  of  commercial  franchises ;  or  of  immunity  from 
the  ordinary  jurisdictions ;  or,  lastly,  of  internal  self-regula- 
tion. Thus  the  original  charter  of  Henry  I.  to  the  city  of 
London  concedes  to  the  citizens,  in  addition  to  valuable 
commercial  and  fiscal  immunities,  the  rio;ht  of  choosinsf  theii: 

*  On  the  Municipal  Rights  of  London,  see  Note  I. 


450  CHARTERS  OF  INCORPORATION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

own  sheriff  and  justice,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  foreign 
jurisdiction.  These  grants,  however,  were  not  in  general  so 
extensive  till  the  reign  of  John.  Before  that  time  the  in- 
terior arrangement  of  towns  had  received  a  new  organiza- 
tion. In  the  Saxon  period  we  find  voluntary  associations, 
sometimes  religious,  sometimes  secular;  in  some  cases  for 
mutual  defense  against  injury,  in  others  for  mutual  relief  in 
poverty.  These  were  called  guilds,  from  the  Saxon  verb 
gUdan^  to  pay  or  contribute,  and  exhibited  the  natural,  if 
not  the  legal,  character  of  corporations.  At  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  such  voluntary  incorporations  of  the  burgesses 
possessed  in  some  towns  either  landed  property  of  their 
own,  or  rights  of  superiority  over  that  of  others.  An  in- 
ternal elective  government  seems  to  have  been  required  for 
the  administration  of  a  common  revenue,  and  of  other  busi- 
ness incident  to  their  association.  They  became  more  nu- 
merous and  more  peculiarly  commercial  after  that  era,  as 
well  from  the  increase  of  trade  as  through  imitation  of  simi- 
lar fraternities  existing  in  many  towns  of  France.  The  spirit 
of  monopoly  gave  strength  to  those  institutions,  each  class 
of  traders  forming  itself  into  a  body,  in  order  to  exclude 
competition.  Thus  were  established  the  companies  in  cor- 
porate towns,  that  of  the  Weavers  in  London  being  perhaps 
the  earliest;  and  these  were  successively  consolidated  and 
sanctioned  by  charters  from  the  crown.  In  towns  not  large 
enough  to  admit  of  distinct  companies,  one  merchant  guild 
comprehended  the  traders  in  general,  or  the  chief  of  them ; 
and  this,  from  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  downward,  became 
the  subject  of  incorporating  charters.  The  management  of 
their  internal  concerns,  previously  to  any  incorporation,  fell 
naturally  enough  into  a  sort  of  oligarchy,  which  the  tenor 
of  the  charter  generally  preserved.  Though  the  immunities 
might  be  very  extensive,  the  powers  were  more  or  less  re- 
strained to  a  small  number.  Except  in  a  few  places,  the 
right  of  choosing  magistrates  was  first  given  by  King 
John ;  and  certainly  must  rather  be  ascribed  to  his  poverty 
than  to  any  enlarged  policy,  of  which  he  was  utterly  in- 
capable. 

§  8.  From  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  to  that  of  the 
thirteenth,  the  traders  of  England  became  more  and  more 
prosperous.  The  towns  on  the  southern  coast  exported  tin 
and  other  metals  in  exchange  for  the  wines  of  France ;  those 
on  the  eastern  sent  corn  to  Norway ;  the  Cinque  Ports  bar- 
tered wool  against  the  stuffs  of  Flanders.  Though  bearing 
no  comparison  with  the  cities  of  Italy  or  the  Empire,  they 


English  Const.     FKOSPERITY  OF  ENGLISH  TOWNS.  451 

increased  sufficiently  to  acquire  importance  at  home.  Ti^at 
vigorous  prerogative  of  the  Norman  monarchs  which  kept 
down  the  feudal  aristocracy  compensated  for  whatever  in- 
feriority there  might  be  in  the  population  and  defensible 
strength  of  the  English  towns,  compared  with  those  on  the 
Continent.  They  had  to  fear  no  petty  oppressors — no  local 
hostility;  and,  if  they  could  satisfy  the  rapacity  of  the  crown, 
were  secure  from  all  other  grievances.  London,  far  above  the 
rest — our  ancient  and  noble  capital  —  might,  even  in  those 
early  times,  be  justly  termed  a  member  of  the  political  sys- 
tem. This  great  city,  so  admirably  situated,  was  rich  and 
populous  long  before  the  Conquest.  Bede,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eighth  century,  speaks  of  London  as  a  great  market, 
which  traders  frequented  by  land  and  sea.  It  paid  £15,000 
out  of  £82,000  raised  by  Canute  upon  the  kingdom.  If  we 
believe  Roger  Hoveden,  the  citizens  of  London,  on  the  death 
of  Ethelred  II.,  joined  with  part  of  the  nobility  in  raising  Ed- 
mund Ironside  to  the  throne ;  Harold  I.,  according  to  better 
authority — the  Saxon  Chronicle  and  William  of  Malmsbury — 
was  elected  by  their  concurrence.  Descending  to  later  his- 
tory, we  find  them  active  in  the  civil  war  of  Stephen  and  Ma- 
tilda. The  famous  Bishop  of  Winchester  tells  the  Londoners 
that  they  are  almost  accounted  as  noblemen  on  account  of' 
the  greatness  of  their  city — into  the  community  of  which  it 
appears  that  some  barons  had  been  received.  Indeed,  the 
citizens  themselves,  or  at  least  the  principal  of  them,  were 
called  barons.  It  was  certainly  by  far  the  greatest  city  in 
England.  There  have  been  different  estimates  of  its  popu- 
lation, some  of  which  are  extravagant;  but  I  think  it  could 
hardly  have  contained  less  than  thirty  or  forty  thousand  souls 
within  its  walls,  and  the  suburbs  were  very  populous.  These 
numbers,  the  enjoyment  of  privileges,  and  the  consciousness 
of  strength,  infused  a  free  and  even  a  mutinous  spirit  into 
their  conduct.  The  Londoners  were  always  on  the  barons' 
side  in  their  contests  with  the  crown.  They  bore  a  part  in 
deposing  William  Longchamp,  the  chancellor  and  justiciary 
of  Richard  I.  They  were  distinguished  in  the  great  struggle 
for  Magna  Charta — the  privileges  of  their  city  are  express- 
ly confirmed  in  it,  and  the  Mayor  of  London  was  one  of  the 
twenty-five  barons  to  whom  the  maintenance  of  its  provisions 
was  delegated.  In  the  subsequent  reign  the  citizens  of  Lon- 
don were  regarded  with  much  dislike  and  jealousy  by  the 
court,  and  sometimes  suffered  pretty  severely  at  its  hands, 
especially  after  the  battle  of  Evesham. 

Notwithstanding  the  influence  of  London  in  these  seasons 


452  DEPUTIES  FROM  BOROUGHS.     Chai-.  VIII.  Part  lit 

of  disturbance,  we  do  not  perceive  that  it  was  distinguished 
from  the  most  insignificant  town  by  greater  participation  in 
national  councils.  Rich,  powerful,  honorable,  and  high-spirit- 
ed as  its  citizens  had  become,  it  was  very  long  before  they 
found  a  regular  place  in  Parliament.  The  prerogative  of  im- 
posing tallages  at  pleasure,  unsparingly  exercised  by  Henry 
III.,  even  over  Londonj  left  the  crown  no  inducement  to  sum- 
mon the  inhabitants  of  cities  and  boroughs.  As  these,  in- 
deed, were  daily  growing  more  considerable,  they  were  cer- 
tain, in  a  monarchy  so  limited  as  that  of  England  became  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  of  attaining,  sooner  or  later,  this  emi- 
nent privilege.  Although,  therefore,  the  object  of  Simon  de 
Montfort  in  calling  them  to  his  Parliament,  after  the  battle 
of  Lewes,  was  merely  to  strengthen  his  own  faction,  which 
prevailed  among  the  commonalty,  yet  their  permanent  admis- 
sion into  the  Legislature  may  be  ascribed  to  a  more  general 
cause  ;  for  otherwise  it  is  not  easy  to  see  why  the  innovation 
of  an  usurper  should  have  been  drawn  into  precedent,  though 
it  might,  perhaps,  accelerate  what  the  course  of  affairs  was 
gradually  preparing. 

§  9.  It  is  w^ell  known  that  the  earliest  writs  of  summons 
to  cities  and  boroughs,  of  which  we  can  prove  the  existence, 
are  those  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  earl  of  Leicester,  bearing 
date  12th  of  December,  1264,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  Hen- 
ry III.  (See  page  558.)  After  a  long  controversy,  almost  all 
judicious  inquirers  seem  to  have  acquiesced  in  admitting  this 
origin  of  popular  representation.  The  argument  may  be  very 
concisely  stated :  we  find,  from  innumerable  records,  that 
the  king  imposed  tallages  upon  his  demesne  towns  at  discre- 
tion. No  public  instrument,  previous  to.  the  forty-ninth  of 
Henry  III.,  names  the  citizens  and  burgesses  as  constituent 
parts  of  Parliament,  though  prelates,  barons,  knights,  and 
sometimes  freeholders,  are  enumerated ;  while,  since  the  un- 
doubted admission  of  the  Commons,  they  are  almost  invari- 
ably mentioned.  No  historian  speaks  of  representatives  ap- 
pearing for  the  people,  or  uses  the  word  citizen  or  burgess 
in  describing  those  present  in  Parliament.  Such  convincing, 
though  negative,  evidence  is  not  to  be  invalidated  by  some 
general  and  ambiguous  phrases,  whether  in  writs  and  records 
or  in  historians.  Those  monkish  annalists  are  poor  authori- 
ties upon  any  point  where  their  language  is  to  be  delicately 
measured.  But  it  is  hardly  possible  that,  writing  circum- 
stantially, as  Roger  de  Hoveden  and  Matthew  Paris  some- 
times did,  concerning  proceedings  in  Parliament,  they  could 
have  failed  to  mention  the  Commons  in  unequivocal  expres* 


English  Const.      DEPUTIES  FROM  BOROUGHS.  453 

sions,  if  any  representatives   from  that  order  had  actually 
formed  a  part  of  the  assembly. 

§  10.  There  is  no  great  difficulty  in  answering  the  question 
why  the  deputies  of  boroughs  were  finally  and  permanently 
ingrafted  upon  Parliament  by  Edward  I.  The  Government 
was  becoming  constantly  more  attentive  to  the  wealth  that 
commerce  brought  into  the  kingdom,  and  the  towns  were 
becoming  more  flourishing  and  more  independent.  But 
chiefly  there  was  a  much  stronger  spirit  of  general  liberty, 
and  a  greater  discontent  at  violent  acts  of  prerogative  from 
the  era  of  Magna  Charta ;  after  which  authentic  recognition 
of  free  principles,  many  acts  which  had  seemed  before  but  the 
regular  exercise  of  authority  were  looked  upon  as  infringe- 
ments of  the  subject's  right.  Among  these,  the  custom  of 
setting  tallages  at  discretion  would  naturally  appear  the 
most  intolerable ;  and  men  were  unwilling  to  remember  that 
the  burgesses  who  paid  them  were  indebted  for  the  rest  of 
their  possessions  to  the  bounty  of  the  crown.  In  Edward 
I.'s  reign,  even  before  the  great  act  of  Confirmation  of  the 
Charters  had  rendered  arbitrary  impositions  absolutely  un- 
constitutional, they  might,  perhaps,  excite  louder  murmurs 
than  a  discreet  administration  would  risk.  Though  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  king,  therefore,  and  his  imperious  temper  often 
led  him  to  this  course,  it  was  a  more  prudent  counsel  to  try 
the  willingness  of  his  people  before  he  forced  their  reluctance. 
And  the  success  of  his  innovation  rendered  it  worth  repeti- 
tion. Whether  it  were  from  the  complacency  of  the  Com- 
mons at  being  thus  admitted  among  the  peers  of  the  realm, 
or  from  a  persuasion  that  the  king  would  take  their  money 
if  they  refused  it,  or  from  inability  to  withstand  the  plausible 
reasons  of  his  ministers,  or  from  the  private  influence  to  which 
the  leaders  of  every  popular  assembly  have  been  accessible, 
much  more  was  granted  in  subsidies  after  the  representation 
of  the  towns  commenced  than  had  ever  been  extorted  in 
tallages. 

To  grant  money  was,  therefore,  the  main  object  of  their 
meeting ;  and  if  the  exigencies  of  the  administration  could 
have  been  relieved  without  subsidies,  the  citizens  and  bur- 
gesses might  still  have  sat  at  home  and  obeyed  the  laws  which 
a  council  of  prelates  and  barons  enacted  for  their  govern- 
ment. But  it  is  a  diflicult  question  whether  the  king  and  the 
peers  designed  to  make  room  for  them,  as  it  were,  in  legisla- 
tion; and  whether  the  power  of  the  purse  drew  after  it  im- 
mediately, or  only  by  degrees,  those  indispensable  rights  of 
consenting  to  laws  which  they  now  possess.     There  are  no 


454  DIVISION  OF  PABLIAMENT    Chap.  VIII.  Part  IIL 

sufficient  means  of  solving  this  doubt  during  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.  f  but  it  must  be  highly  questionable  whether  the 
Commons,  who  had  so  recently  taken  their  place  in  Parlia- 
ment, gave  any  thing  more  than  a  constructive  assent  to  the 
laws  enacted  during  this  reign.  They  are  not  even  named  in 
the  preamble  of  any  statute  till  the  last  year  of  Edward  I. 
Upon  more  than  one  occasion  the  sheriffs  were  directed  to 
return  the  same  members  who  had  sat  in  the  last  Parliament, 
unless  prevented  by  death  or  infirmity. 

§  11.  It  has  been  a  very  prevailing  opinion  that  Parliament 
was  not  divided  into  two  houses  at  the  first  admission  of  the 
Commons.  If  by  this  is  only  meant  that  the  Commons  did 
not  occupy  a  separate  chamber  till  some  time  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  III.,  the  proposition,  true  or  false,  will  be  of  little 
importance.  They  may  have  sat  at  the  bottom  of  Westmin- 
ster Hall,  while  the  Lords  occupied  the  upper  end.  But  that 
they  were  ever  intermingled  in  voting  appears  inconsistent 
with  likelihood  and  authority.  The  usual  object  of  calling  a 
Parliament  was  to  impose  taxes;  and  these,  for  many  years 
after  the  introduction  of  the  Commons,  were  laid  in  different 
proportions  upon  the  three  estates  of  the  realm.  Thus,  in 
23  Edward  I.,  the  earls,  barons,  and  knights  gave  the  king 
an  eleventh,  the  clergy  a  tenth ;  while  he  obtained  a  seventh 
from  the  citizens  and  burgesses:  in  the  twenty-fourth  of  the 
same  king  the  two  former  of  these  orders  gave  a  twelfth,  the 
last  an  eighth :  in  the  thirty-third  year  a  thirtieth  was  tne 
grant  of  the  barons  and  knights  and  of  the  clergy,  a  twen- 
tieth of  the  cities  and  towns.  In  the  first  of  Edward  IT.  the 
counties  paid  a  twentieth,  the  towns  a  fifteenth.  In  the  sixth 
of  Edward  III.  the  rates  were  a  fifteenth  and  a  tenth.  These 
distinct  grants  imply  distinct  grantors;  for  it  is  not  to  be 
imagined  that  the  Commons  intermeddled  in  those  affecting 
the  Lords,  or  the  Lords  in  those  of  the  Commons.  In  fact, 
however,  there  is  abundant  proof  of  their  separate  existence 

'  The  writ  in  22  Edward  I.  directs  two  knights  to  be  chosen  "cum  plenfi  potestate 
pro  se  et  totii  commnnitate  comitatus  praedicti  ad  consulendum  et  conpentienduir, 
pro  se  et  communitate  iHa,  his  qua;  comites,  barones,  et  proceres  praedicti  concorditei 
ordinaveriut  in  praemissis."  That  of  the  next  year  runs,  "ad  faciendum  tunc  quo(} 
dc  comrauni  consilio  ordinabitur  in  praemissis."  The  same  words  are  inserted  in  the 
writ  of  26  Edward  I.  In  that  of  28  Edward  I.  the  knights  are  directed  to  be  sent  "  cum 
plena  potestate  audiendi  et  faciendi  quae  ibidem  ordinari  coutigerint  pro  communl 
commodo."  Several  others  of  the  same  reign  have  the  words  "  ad  faciendum,"  The 
diflSculty  is  to  pronounce  whether  this  term  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  sense  of  per- 
furming  or  of  enacting;  whether  the  representatives  of  the  Commons  were  merely  to 
learn  from  the  Lords  what  was  to  be  done,  or  to  bear  their  part  in  advising  upon  it. 
The  earliest  writ,  that  of  22  Edward  I.,  certainly  implies  the  latter ;  and  I  do  not 
know  that  any  of  the  rest  are  conclusive  to  the  contrary.  In  the  reign  of  Edward 
If.  the  words  "ad  consentiendum"  alone,  or  "ad  faciendum  et  conseutiendara,"  be- 
gin ;  and  from  that  of  Edipard  III.  this  form  has  been  constantly  used. 


English  Const.  INTO  TWO  HOUSES.  455 

long  before  the  seventeenth  of  Edward  III.,  which  is  the 
epoch  assigned  by  Carte,  or  even  the  sixth  of  that  king,  which 
has  been  chosen  by  some  other  writers.  Thus  the  Commons 
sat  at  Acton  Burnell  in  the  eleventh  of  Edward  L,  while  the 
upper  house  was  at  Shrewsbury.  In  the  eighth  of  Edward 
II.  "  the  Commons  of  England  complain  to  the  king  and  his 
council,"  etc.  These  must  surely  have  been  the  Commons 
assembled  in  Parliament,  for  who  else  could  thus  have  enti- 
tled themselves  ?  In  the  nineteenth  of  the  same  king  we  find 
several  petitions,  evidently  proceeding  from  the  body  of  the 
Commons  in  Parliament,  and  complaining  of  public  griev- 
ances. 

As  the  knights  of  shires  correspond  to  the  lower  nobility 
of  other  feudal  countries,  we  have  less  cause  to  be  surprised 
that  they  belonged  originally  to  the  same  branch  of  Parlia- 
ment as  the  barons,  than  at  their  subsequent  intermixture 
with  men  so  inferior  in  station  as  the  citizens  and  burgesses. 
It  is  by  no  means  easy  to  define  the  point  of  time  when  this 
distribution  was  settled ;  but  I  tliink  it  may  be  inferred  from 
the  rolls  of  Parliament  that  the  houses  were  divided  as  they 
are  at  present  in  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  nineteenth  years  of 
Edward  II.  This  appears,  however,  beyond  doubt  in  the 
first  of  Edward  III.  Yet  in  the  sixth  of  the  same  prince, 
though  the  knights  and  burgesses  are  expressly  mentioned  to 
have  consulted  together,  the  former  taxed  themselves  in  a 
smaller  rate  of  subsidy  than  the  latter. 

§  12.  The  proper  business  of  the  House  of  Commons  was 
to  petition  for  redress  of  grievances,  as  much  as  to  provide 
for  the  necessities  of  the  crown.  In  the  prudent  fiction  of 
English  law  no  wrong  is  supposed  to  proceed  from  the 
source  of  right.  The  throne  is  fixed  upon  a  pinnacle  which 
perpetual  beams  of  truth  and  justice  irradiate,  though  cor- 
ruption and  partiality  may  occupy  the  middle  region  and 
cast  their  chill  shade  upon  all  below.  In  his  high  court  of 
Parliament  a  king  of  England  was  to  learn  where  injustice 
had  been  unpunished  and  Avhere  right  had  been  delayed. 
The  common  courts  of  law,  if  they  were  sufficiently  honest, 
were  not  sufficiently  strong,  to  redress  the  subject's  injuries 
where  the  officers  of  the  crown  or  the  nobles  interfered.  To 
Parliament  he  looked  as  the  great  remedial  court  for  relief 
of  private  as  well  as  public  grievances.  For  this  cause  it 
was  ordained  in  the  fifth  of  Edward  II.  that  the  king  should 
hold  a  Parliament  once,  or,  if  necessary,  twice  every  year; 
"  that  the  pleas  which  have  been  thus  delayed,  and  those 
where  the  justices  have  differed,  may  be  brought  to  a  close." 


466  EDWARD  III.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

And  a  short  act  of  4  Edward  III.,  which  was  not  very  strict- 
ly regarded,  provides  that  a  Parliament  shall  be  held'"  every 
year,  or  oftener,  if  need  be."  By  what  persons,  and  under 
wliat  limitations,  this  jurisdiction  in  Parliament  was  exer- 
cised will  come  under  our  future  consideration. 

The  efficacy  of  a  king's  personal  character  in  so  imperfect 
a  state  of  government  was  never  more  strongly  exemplified 
that  in  the  two  first  Edwards.  The  father,  a  little  before  his 
death,  had  humbled  his  boldest  opponents  among  the  nobil- 
ity ;  and  as  for  the  Commons,  so  far  from  claiming  a  right  of 
remonstrating,  we  have  seen  cause  to  doubt  wlhether  they 
were  accounted  effectual  members  of  the  legislature  for  any 
purposes  but  taxation.  But  in  the  very  second  year  of  the 
son's  reign  they  granted  the  twenty-fifth  penny  of  their 
goods,  "  upon  this  condition,  that  the  king  should  take  ad- 
vice and  grant  redress  upon  certain  articles  wherein  they  are 
aggrieved."  These  were  answered  at  the  ensuing  Parlia- 
ment, and  are  entered  with  the  king's  respective  promises 
of  redress  upon  the  roll.  It  will  be  w^orth  while  to  extract 
part  of  this  record,  that  we  may  see  what  were  the  com- 
plaints of  the  Commons  of  England,  and  their  notions  of 
right,  in  1309. 

"  The  good  people  of  the  kingdom  who  are  come  hither  to 
Parliament  pray  our  lord  the  king  that  he  will,  if  it  please 
him,  have  regard  to  his  poor  subjects,  who  are  much  ag- 
grieved by  reason  that  they  are  not  governed  as  they  should 
be,  especially  as  to  the  articles  of  the  Great  Charter ;  and 
for  this,  if  it  please  him,  they  pray  remedy.  Besides  which, 
they  pray  their  lord  the  king  to  hear  what  has  long  ag- 
grieved his  people,  and  still  does  so  from  day  to  day,  on  the 
part  of  those  who  call  themselves  his  officers,  and  to  amend 
it,  if  he  pleases."  The  articles,  eleven  in  number,  are  to  the 
following  purport:  1.  That  the  king's  purveyors  seize  great 
quantities  of  victuals  without  payment ;  2.  That  new  cus- 
toms are  set  on  wine,  cloth,  and  other  imposts ;  3.  That  the 
current  coin  is  not  so  good  as  formerly  ;  4,  5.  That  the  stew- 
ard and  marshal  enlarge  their  jurisdiction  beyond  measure, 
to  the  oppression  of  the  people;  6.  That  the  commons  find 
none  to  receive  petitions  addressed  to  the  council;  V.  That 
the  collectors  of  the  king's  dues  (pernours  des  prises)  in 
towns  and  at  fairs  take  more  than  is  lawful ;  8.  That  men 
are  delayed  in  their  civil  suits  by  writs  of  protection ;  9, 
That  felons  escape  punishment  by  procuring  charters  of  par- 
don;  10.  That  the  constables  of  *the  king's  castles  take  cog- 
nizance of  common  pleas;   11.  That  the  king's  escheators 


English  Const.  .  EDWARD  III.  457 

oust  men  of  lands  held  by  good  title,  under  pretense  of  an 
inquest  of  office. 

These  articles  display  in  a  short  compass  the  nature  of 
those  grievances  which  existed  under  almost  all  the  princes 
of  the  Plantagenet  dynasty,  and  are  spread  over  the  rolls  of 
Parliament  for  more  than  a  century  after  this  time.  Edward 
gave  the  amplest  assurances  of  putting  an  end  to  them  all, 
except  in  one  instance,  the  augmented  customs  on  imports, 
to  which  he  answered,  rather  evasively,  that  lie  would  take 
them  off  till  he  should  perceive  whether  himself  and  his  peo- 
ple derived  advantage  from  so  doing,  and  act  thereupon  as 
he  should  be  advised.  Accordingly,  the  next  year,  he  issued 
writs  to  collect  these  new  customs  again.  But  the  Lords 
Ordainers  superseded  the  writs,  having  entirely  abrogated 
all  illegal  impositions.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that, 
regard  had  to  the  times,  there  was  any  thing  very  tyrannical 
in  Edward's  government.  He  set  tallages  sometimes,  like 
his  father,  on  his  demesne  towns,  without  assent  of  Parlia- 
ment. In  the  nineteenth  year  of  his  reign  the  Commons 
show  that,  "  Whereas  we  and  our  ancestors  have  given  many 
tallages  to  the  king's  ancestors  to  obtain  the  charter  of  the 
forest,  which  charter  we  have  had  confirmed  by  the  present 
king,  paying  him  largely  on  our  part ;  yet  the  king's  officers 
of  the  forest  seize  on  lands,  and  destroy  ditches,  and  oppress 
the  people,  for  which  they  pray  remedy,  for  the  sake  of  God 
and  his  father's  soul."  They  complain  at  the  same  time  of 
arbitrary  imprisonment,  against  the  law  of  the  land.  To 
both  these  petitions  the  king  returned  a  promise  of  redress ; 
and  they  complete  the  catalogue  of  customary  grievances  in 
tliis  period  of  our  constitution. 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  II.  the  rolls  of  Parliament 
are  imperfect,  and  we  have  not  much  assistance  from  other 
sources.  The  assent  of  the  Commons,  which  frequently  is  not 
specified  in  the  statutes  of  this  age,  appears  in  a  remarkable 
and  revolutionary  proceeding,  the  appointment  of  the  Lords 
Ordainers  in  1312.  In  this  case  it  indicates  that  the  aristo- 
cratic party  then  combined  against  the  crown  were  desirous 
of  conciliating  popularity.  An  historian  relates  that  some 
of  the  Commons  were  consulted  upon  the  ordinances  to  be 
made  for  the  reformation  of  government. 

§  13.  During  the  long  and  prosperous  reign  of  Edward 
III.  the  efforts  of  Parliament  in  behalf  of  their  country  were 
rewarded  with  success  in  establishing  upon  a  firm  footing 
three  essential  principles  of  our  Government — the  illegality 
of  raising  money  without  consent ;  the  necessity  that  the 

20 


458  ILLEGALITY  OF  EAISING    Chap.  VIII.  Part  IIL 

two  houses  should  concur  for  any  alterations  in  the  law ; 
and,  lastly,  the  right  of  the  Commons  to  inquire  into  public 
abuses,  and  to  impeach  public  counsellors.  By  exhibiting 
proofs  of  each  of  these  from  Parliamentary  records  I  shall  be 
able  to  substantiate  the  progressive  improvement  of  our  free 
constitution,  which  was  principally  consolidated  during  the 
reigns  of  Edward  III.  and  his  two  next  successors. 

I.  Illegality  of  raising  Money  icithout  Consent.  —  In  the 
sixth  year  of  Edward  III.  a  Parliament  was  called  to  pro- 
vide for  the  emergency  of  an  Irish  rebellion,  wherein,  "  be- 
cause the  king  could  not  send  troops  and  money  to  Ireland 
without  the  aid  of  his  people,  the  prelates,  earls,  barons,  and 
other  great  men,  and  the  knights  of  shires,  and  all  the  Com- 
mons, of  their  free  will,  for  the  said  purpose,  and  also  iu 
order  that  the  king  might  live  of  his  own,  and  not  vex  his 
people  by  excessive  prizes,  nor  in  other  manner,  grant  to  him 
the  fifteenth  penny,  to  levy  of  the  commons,^  and  the  tenth 
from  the  cities,  towns,  and  royal  demesnes.  And  the  king, 
at  the  request  of  the  same,  in  ease  of  his  people,  grants  that 
the  commissions  lately  made  to  certain  persons  assigned  to 
set  tallages  on  cities,  towns,  and  demesnes  throughout  En- 
gland shall  be  immediately  repealed;  and  that  in  time  to 
come  he  will  not  set  such  tallage,  except  as  it  has  been  done 
in  the  time  of  his  ancestors,  and  he  may  reasonably  do." 

These  concluding  words  arc  of  dangerous  implication ;  and 
certainly  it  was  not  the  intention  of  Edward,  inferior  to  none 
of  his  predecessors  in  the  love  of  power,  to  divest  himself 
of  that  eminent  prerogative  which,  however  illegally  since 
the  Confirmatio  Chartarum,  had  been  exercised  by  them  all. 
But  the  Parliament  took  no  notice  of  this  reservation,  and 
continued  with  unshaken  perseverance  to  insist  on  this  in- 
contestable and  fundamental  right,  which  he  was  prone 
enough  to  violate. 

In  the  thirteenth  year  of  this  reign  the  Lords  and  Commons 
gave  their  answer  to  commissioners  sent  to  open  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  to  treat  with  them  on  the  king's  part,  in  separate 
sealed  rolls.  The  Commons  declared  that  they  could  grant 
no  subsidy  without  consulting  their  constituents ;  and  there- 
fore begged  that  another  Parliament  might  be  summoned, 
and  in  the  mean  time  they  would  endeavor,  by  using  persua- 
sion with  the  people  of  their  respective  counties,  to  procure 
the  grant  of  a  reasonable  aid  in  the  next  Parliament.  They 
demanded  also  that  the  imposition  on  wool  and  lead  should 

*  "La  commonaltee"  seems  in  this  place  to  mean  the  tenants  of  land,  or  commons 
of  the  counties,  in  contradistinction  to  citizens  Hud  burgesses. 


English  Const.      MONEY  WITHOUT  CONSENT.  459 

be  taken  as  it  used  to  be  in  former  times,  "  inasmuch  as  it  is 
enhanced  without  assent  of  the  Commons,  or  of  the  Lords,  as 
we  understand ;  and  if  it  be  otherwise  demanded,  that  any 
one  of  the  Commons  may  refuse  it  without  being  troubled  on 
that  account." 

Wool,  however,  the  staple  export  of  that  age,  was  too  easy 
and  tempting  a  prey  to  be  relinquished  by  a  prince  engaged 
in  an  impoverishing  war.  Seven  years  afterwards,  in  20 
Edward  III.,  we  find  the  Commons  praying  that  the  great 
subsidy  of  forty  shillings  upon  the  sack  of  wool  be  taken 
off;  and  the  old  custom  paid  as  heretofore  was  assented  to 
and  granted.  Tiie  Government  spoke  this  time  in  a  more 
authoritative  tone.  "As  to  this  point,"  the  answer  runs, 
"the  prelates  and  others,  seeing  in  what  need  the  king  stood 
of  an  aid  before  his  passage  beyond  sea,  to  recover  his  rights 
and  defend  his  kingdom  of  England,  consented,  with  the  con- 
currence of  the  merchants,  that  he  should  have  in  aid  of  his 
said  war,  and  in  defense  of  his  said  kingdom,  forty  shillings 
of  subsidy  for  each  sack  of  wool  that  should  be  exported 
beyond  sea  for  two  years  to  come.  And  upon  this  grant 
divers  merchants  have  made  many  advances  to  our  lord 
the  king  in  aid  of  his  war;  for  which  cause  this  subsidy 
can  not  be  repealed  without  assent  of  the  king  and  his 
lords." 

It  is  probable  that  Edward's  counsellors  wished  to  estab- 
lish a  distinction,  long  afterwards  revived  by  those  of  James 
I.,  between  customs  levied  on  merchandise  at  the  ports  and 
internal  taxes.  The  statute  entitled  Confirmatio  Chartarum 
had  manifestly  taken  away  the  prerogative  of  imposing  the 
latter,  which,  indeed,  had  never  extended  beyond  the  ten- 
ants of  the  royal  demesne.  But  its  language  was  not  quite 
so  explicit  as  to  the  former,  although  no  reasonable  doubt 
could  be  entertained  that  the  intention  of  the  legislature 
was  to  abrogate  every  species  of  imposition  unauthorized  by 
Parliament.  The  thirtieth  section  of  Magna  Charta  had  pro- 
vided that  foreign  merchants  should  be  free  from  all  tributes 
except  the  ancient  customs ;  and  it  was  strange  to  suppose 
that  natives  were  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  that  enact- 
ment. Yet,  owing  to  the  ambiguous  and  elliptical  style  so 
frequent  in  our  older  laws,  this  was  open  to  dispute,  and 
could,  perhaps,  only  be  explained  by  usage.  Edward  I.,  in 
despite  of  both  these  statutes,  had  set  a  duty  of  threepence 
in  the  pound  upon  goods  imported  by  merchant-strangers. 
This  imposition  was  noticed  as  a  grievance  in  the  third  year 
of  his  successor,  and  repealed  by  the  Lords  Ordainers,  .  It 


460       CONCURRENCE  OF  BOTH  HOUSES    Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

was  revived,  however,  by  Edward  III.,  and  continued  to  be 
levied  ever  afterwards. 

Edward  was  led  by  the  necessities  of  his  unjust  and  ex- 
^^ensive  w^ar  into  another  arbitrary  encroachment,  of  which 
kve  find  as  many  complaints  as  of  his  pecuniary  extortions. 
The  Commons  pray,  in  the  same  Parliament  of  20  Edward 
fll.,  that  commissions  should  not  issue  for  the  future  out  of 
jhancery  to  charge  the  people  with  providing  men-at-arms, 
hobelers  (or  light  cavalry),  archers,  victuals,  or  in  any  other 
manner,  without  consent  of  Parliament.  The  king  in  reply 
alleges  absolute  necessity;  and  the  roll  of  Parliament  in  the 
next  two  years,  the  21st  and  22d  of  Edward  III.,  is  full  of 
the  same  complaints  on  one  side,  and  the  same  allegations 
of  necessity  on  the  other.  In  the  latter  year  the  Commons 
grant  a  subsidy,  on  condition  that  no  illegal  levying  of 
money  should  take  place,  with  several  other  remedial  pro- 
visions ;  "  and  that  these  conditions  should  be  entered  on 
the  roll  of  Parliament,  as  a  matter  of  record,  by  which  they 
may  have  remedy,  if  any  thing  should  be  attempted  to  the 
contrary  in  time  to  come."  From  this  year  the  complaints 
of  extortion  became  rather  less  frequent ;  and  soon  after- 
wards a  statute  was  passed,  "  that  no  man  shall  be  con- 
strained to  find  men-at-arms,  hobelers,  nor  archers,  other 
than  those  which  hold  by  such  services,  if  it  be  not  by  com- 
mon assent  and  grant  made  in  Parliament." 

II.  The  Concurrence  of  both  Houses  in  Legislation  neces- 
sary.— The  second  constitutional  principle  established  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III.  was  that  the  king  and  two  houses  of 
Parliament,  in  conjunction,  possessed  exclusively  the  right 
of  legislation.  Laws  were  now  declared  to  be  made  by  the 
king  at  the  request  of  the  Commons,  and  by  the  assent  of 
the  Lords  and  prelates.  Such  at  least  was  the  general  form, 
though  for  many  subsequent  ages  there  was  no  invariable 
regularity  in  this  respect.  The  Commons,  who  till  this  reign 
were  rarely  mentioned,  were  now  as  rarely  omitted  in  the 
enacting  clause.  In  fact,  it  is  evident  from  the  rolls  of  Par- 
liament that  statutes  were  almost  always  founded  upon  their 
petition.  These  petitions,  with  the  respective  answers  made 
to  them  in  the  king's  name,  were  drawn  up  after  the  end  of 
the  session  in  the  form  of  laws,  and  entered  upon  the  stat- 
ute-roll. But  here  it  must  be  remarked  that  the  petitions 
were  often  extremely  qualified  and  altered  by  the  answer, 
insomuch  that  many  statutes  of  this  and  some  later  reigns 
by  no  means  express  the  true  sense  of  the  Commons.  Some- 
times they  contented  themselves  with  showing  their  griev- 


English  Const.      IN  LEGISLATION  NECESSARY.  461 

ance,  and  praying  remedy  from  the  king  and  his  council. 
Of  this  one  eminent  instance  is  the  great  statute  of  treasons. 
In  the  petition  whereon  this  act  is  founded  it  is  merely 
prayed  that,  "whereas  the  king's  justices  in  different  coun- 
ties adjudge  persons  indicted  before  them  to  be  traitors  for 
sundry  matters  not  known  by  the  Commons  to  be  treason, 
it  would  please  the  king  by  his  council,  and  by  the  great  and 
wise  men  of  the  land,  to  declare  what  are  treasons  in  this 
present  Parliament."  The  answer  to  this  petition  contains 
the  existing  statute,  as  a  declaration  on  the  king's  part. 
But  there  is  no  appearance  that  it  received  the  direct  assent 
of  the  lower  house.  In  the  next  reigns  we  shall  find  more 
remarkable  instances  of  assuming  a  consent  which  was  never 
positively  given. 

The  statute  of  treasons,  however,  was  supposed  to  be  de- 
claratory of  the  ancient  law :  in  permanent  and  material  in- 
novations a  more  direct  concurrence  of  all  the  estates  was 
probably  required.  A  new  statute,  to  be  perpetually  incor- 
porated with  the  law  of  England,  was  regarded  as  no  light 
matter.  It  was  a  very  common  answer  to  a  petition  of  the 
Commons,  in  the  early  part  of  this  reign,  that  it  could  not  be 
granted  without  making  a  new  law.  After  the  Parliament 
of  14  Edward  III.  a  certain  number  of  prelates,  barons,  and 
counsellors,  with  twelve  knights  and  six  burgesses,  were  ap- 
pointed to  sit  from  day  to  day  in  order  to  turn  such  peti- 
tions and  answers  as  were  fit  to  be  perpetual  into  a  stat- 
ute ;  but  for  such  as  were  of  a  temporary  nature  the  king 
issued  his  letters  patent.  This  reluctance  to  innovate  with- 
out necessity,  and  to  swell  the  number  of  laws  which  all  were 
bound  to  know  and  obey  with  an  accumulation  of  transitory 
enactments,  led  apparently  to  the  distinction  between  stat- 
utes and  ordinances.  The  latter  are  indeed  defined  by  some 
lawyers  to  be  regulations  proceeding  from  the  king  and 
Lords  without  concurrence  of  the  Commons.  But  if  this  be 
applicable  to  some  ordinances,  it  is  certain  that  the  word, 
even  when  opposed  to  statute,  with  which  it  is  often  synon- 
ymous, sometimes  denotes  an  act  of  the  whole  legislature. 
In  the  37th  of  Edward  III.,  when  divers  sumptuary  regula- 
tions against  excess  of  apparel  were  made  in  full  Parliament, 
"it  was  demanded  of  the  Lords  and  Commons,  inasmuch  as 
the  matter  of  their  petitions  was  novel  and  unheard  of  be- 
fore, whether  they  would  have  them  granted  by  way  of  or- 
dinance or  of  statute.  They  answered  that  it  would  be  best 
to  have  them  by  way  of  ordinance  and  not  of  statute,  in 
order  that  any  thing  which  should  need  amendment  might 


462  STATUTES  DISTINGUISHED    Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

be  amended  at  the  next  Parliament."  So  much  scruple  did 
they  entertain  about  tampering  with  the  statute  law  of  the 
land. 

Ordinances  which,  if  it  were  not  for  their  partial  or  tem- 
porary operation,  could  not  well  be  distinguished  from  laws' 
were  often  established  in  great  councils.  These  assemblies, 
which  frequently  occurred  in  Edward's  reign,  w^ere  hardly 
distinguishable,  except  in  name,  from  Parliaments;  being 
constituted  not  only  of  those  who  were  regularly  summoned 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  but  of  deputies  from  counties,  cities, 
and  boroughs.  Several  places  that  never  returned  burgesses 
to  Parliament  have  sent- deputies  to  some  of  these  coun- 
cils. The  most  remarkable  of  these  was  that  held  in  the 
2'7th  of  Edward  III.,  consisting  of  one  knight  for  each  coun- 
ty, and  of  two  citizens  or  burgesses  from  every  city  or  bor- 
ough wherein  the  ordinances  of  the  staple  were  established. 
These  were  previously  agreed  upon  by  the  king  and  Lords, 
and  copies  given,  one  to  the  knights,  another  to  the  burgesses. 
The  roll  tells  us  that  they  gave  their  opinion  in  writing  to 
the  council,  after  much  deliberation,  and  that  this  was  read 
and  discussed  by  the  great  men.  These  ordinances  fix  the 
staple  of  wool  in  particular  places  within  England,  prohibit 
English  merchants  from  exporting  that  article  under  pain  of 
death,  inflict  sundry  other  penalties,  create  jurisdictions,  and 
in  short  have  the  eifect  of  a  new  and  important  law.  After 
they  were  passed  the  deputies  of  the  Commons  granted  a 
subsidy  for  three  years,  complained  of  grievances,  and  re- 
ceived answers,  as  if  in  a  regular  Parliament.  But  they 
were  aware  that  these  proceedings  partook  of  some  irregu- 
larity, and  endeavored,  as  was  their  constant  method,  to 
keep  up  the  legal  forms  of  the  constitution.  In  the  last  pe- 
tition of  this  council  the  Commons  pray,  "because  many  ar- 
ticles touching  the  state  of  the  king  and  common  profit  of 
his  kingdom  have  been  agreed  by  him,  the  prelates.  Lords, 
and  Commons  of  his  land,  at  this  council,  that  the  said  ar- 
ticles may  be  recited  at  the  next  Parliament,  and  entered 
upon  the  roll ;  for  this  cause,  that  ordinances  and  agreements 
made  in  council  are  not  of  record,  as  if  they  had  been  made 
in  a  general  Parliament."  This,  accordingly,  was  done  at  the 
ensuing  Parliament,  when  these  ordinances  were  expressly 
confirmed,  and  directed  to  be  "holden  for  a  statute  to  en- 
dure always." 

*  "  If  there  be  any  diiference  between  an  ordinance  and  a  statute,  ae  some  have  col- 
lected, it  is  but  only  this,  that  an  ordinance  is  but  temporary  till  confirmed  and  made 
perpetual,  but  a  statute  is  perpetual  at  first,  and  so  have  some  ordinances  also  been." 
— Whitelocke  on  Parliamentary  Writ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  297. 


English  Const.  FROM  ORDINANCES.  4(J3 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  distinction  between  ordi- 
nances and  statutes  is  very  obscure,  and  perhaps  no  precise 
and  uniform  principle  can  be  laid  down  about  it.  But  it 
sufficiently  appears  that  whatever  provisions  altered  the 
common  law  or  any  former  statute  and  were  entered  upon 
the  statute- roll,  transmitted  to  the  sheriffs,  and  promulgated 
to  the  people  as  general  obligatory  enactments,  were  holden 
to  require  the  positive  assent  of  both  houses  of  Parliament, 
duly  and  formally  summoned. 

Before  we  leave  this  subject  it  will  be  proper  to  take  no- 
tice of  a  remarkable  stretch  of  prerogative  which,  if  drawn 
into  precedent,  would  have  effectually  subverted  this  prin- 
ciple of  parliamentary  consent  in  legislation.  In  the  15th 
of  Edward  III.  petitions  were  presented  of  a  bolder  and  more 
innovating  cast  than  was  acceptable  to  the  court ;  that  no 
peer  should  be  put  to  answer  for  any  trespass  except  before 
his  peers;  that  commissioners  should  be  assigned  to  examine 
the  accounts  of  such  as  had  received  public  moneys ;  that 
the  judges  and  ministers  should  be  sworn  to  observe  the 
Great  Charter  and  other  laws ;  and  that  they  should  be  ap- 
pointed in  Parliament.  The  last  of  these  was  probably  the 
most  obnoxious ;  but  the  king,  unwilling  to  defer  a  supply 
which  was  granted  merely  upon  condition  that  these  peti- 
tions should  prevail,  suffered  them  to  pass  into  a  statute 
with  an  alteration  which  did  not  take  off  much  from  their 
efficacy  —  namely,  that  these  officers  should  indeed  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  king  with  the  advice  of  his  council,  but  should 
surrender  their  charges  at  the  next  Parliament,  and  be  there 
responsible  to  any  who  should  have  cause  of  complaint 
against  them.  The  chancellor,  treasurer,  and  judges  entered 
their  protestation  that  they  had  not  assented  to  the  said 
statutes,  nor  could  they  observe  them,  in  case  they  should 
prove  contrary  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  kingdom, 
which  they  were  sworn  to  maintain.  This  is  the  first  instance 
of  a  protest  on  the  roll  of  Parliament  against  the  passing  of 
an  act.  Nevertheless  they  were  compelled  to  swear  on  the 
cross  of  Canterbury  to  its  observance. 

This  excellent  statute  was  attempted  too  early  for  com- 
plete success.  Edward's  ministers  plainly  saw  that  it  left 
them  at  the  mercy  of  future  Parliaments,  who  would  readily 
learn  the  wholesome  and  constitutional  principle  of  sparing 
the  sovereign  while  they  punished  his  advisers.  They  had 
recourse,  therefore,  to  a  violent  measure,  but  which  was 
likely  in  those  times  to  be  endured.  By  a  proclamation  ad- 
dressed to  all  the  sheriffs  the  kinsj  revokes  and  annuls  the 


464  RIGHT  OF  ^;Ox\IMONS     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

statute,  as  contrary  to  the  laws  and  custems  of  England  and 
to  his  own  just  rights  and  prerogatives,  which  he  had  sworn 
to  preserve;  declaring  that  he  had  never  consented  to  its 
passing,  but,  having  previously  protested  that  he  would  re- 
voke it,  lest  the  Parliament  should  have  been  separated  in 
wrath,  had  dissembled,  as  was  his  duty,  and  permitted  the 
great  seal  to  be  affixed  ;  and  that  it  appeared  to  the  earls, 
barons,  and  other  learned  persons  of  his  kingdom  with  whom 
he  had  consulted,  that,  as  the  said  statute  had  not  proceeded 
from  his  own  good- will,  it  was  null,  and  could  not  have  the 
name  or  force  of  law.  This  revocation  of  a  statute,  as  the 
price  of  which  a  subsidy  had  been  granted,  was  a  gross  in- 
fringement of  law,  and  undoubtedly  passed  for  such  at  that 
time;  for  the  right  was  already  clear,  though  the  remedy 
was  not  always  attainable.  Two  years  afterwards  Edward 
met  his  Parliament,  when  that  obnoxious  statute  was  formal- 
ly repealed. 

Notwithstanding  the  king's  unwillingness  to  permit  this 
control  of  Parliament  over  his  administration,  he  suffered, 
or  rather  solicited,  their  interference  in  matters  which  have 
since  been  reckoned  the  exclusive  province  of  the  crown. 
This  was  an  unfair  trick  of  his  policy.  He  was  desirous,  in 
order  to  prevent  any  murmuring  about  subsidies,  to  throw 
the  war  upon  Parliament  as  their  own  act,  though  none  could 
have  been  commenced  more  selfishly  for  his  own  benefit,  or 
less  for  the  advantage  of  the  people  of  England.  It  is  called 
"  the  war  which  our  lord  the  king  has  undertaken  against  his 
adversary  of  France,  by  common  assent  of  all  the  Lords  and 
Commons  of  his  realm  in  divers  parliaments."  And  he  sev- 
eral times  referred  it  to  them  to  advise  upon  the  subject  of 
peace.  But  the  Commons  showed  their  humility  or  discre- 
tion by  treating  this  as  an  invitation  which  it  would  show 
good  manners  to  decline,  though  in  the  eighteenth  of  the 
king's  reign  they  had  joined  with  the  Lords  in  imploring  the 
king  to  make  an  end  of  the  war  by  a  battle  or  by  a  suitable 
peace. 

in.  Right  of  the  Commons  to  inquire  into  Public  Abuses. 
— A  third  important  acquisition  of  the  House  of  Commons 
during  this  reign  was  the  establishment  of  their  right  to  in- 
vestigate and  chastise  the  abuses  of  administration. 

The  most  memorable  example  of  the  exercise  of  this  right 
occurred  in  the  fiftieth  of  Edward  HI.  It  will  be  remember- 
ed by  every  one  who  has  read  our  history  that  in  the  latter 
years  of  Edward's  life  his  fame  w^as  tarnished  by  the  ascend- 
ency of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  and  Alice  Perrers.     The  for 


English  Const.        TO  INQUIRE  INTO  ABUSES.  463 

mer,  a  man  of  more  ambition  than  his  capacity  seems  to  have 
warranted,  even  incurred  the  suspicion  of  meditating  to  set 
aside  the  heir  of  the  crown  when  the  Black  Prince  should 
have  sunk  into  the  grave.  Whether  he  were  wronged  or  not 
by  these  conjectures,  they  certainly  appear  to  have  operated 
on  those  most  concerned  to  take  alarm  at  them.  A  Parlia- 
ment met,  in  April,  1376,  wherein  the  general  unpopularity 
of  the  king'^  administration,  or  the  influence  of  the  Princ'e 
of  Wales,  led  to  very  remarkable  consequences. 

The  Commons  alleged  three  particular  grievances :  the  re- 
moval of  the  staple  from  Calais,  where  it  had  been  fixed  by 
Parliament,  through  the  procurement  and  advice  of  the  pri- 
vate counsellors  about  the  king;  the  participation  of  the  same 
persons  in  lending  money  to  the  king  at  exorbitant  usury ; 
and  their  purchasing  at  a  low  rate,  for  their  own  benefit,  old 
debts  from  the  crown,  the  whole  of  which  they  had  after- 
wards induced  the  king  to  repay  to  themselves.  For  these 
and  for  many  more  misdemeanors  the  Commons  accused  and 
impeached  the  lords  Latimer  and  Nevil,  with  four  merchants, 
Lyons,  Ellis,  Peachey,  and  Bury.  Latimer  had  been  cham- 
berlain, and  Nevil  held  another  oflUce.  The  former  was  the 
friend  and  creature  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster.  Nor  was  this 
Parliament  at  all  nice  in  touching  a  point  where  kings  least 
endure  their  interference.  An  ordinance  was  made  that, 
"whereas  many  women  prosecute  the  suits  of  others  in  courts 
of  justice  by  way  of  maintenance,  and  to  get  profit  there- 
by, which  is  displeasing  to  the  king,  he  forbids  any  woman 
henceforward,  and  especially  Alice  Perrers,  to  do  so,  on  pain 
of  the  said  Alice  forfeiting  all  her  goods,  and  suffering  ban- 
ishment from  the  kingdom." 

The  part  which  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  had  ever  been 
distinguished  for  his  respectful  demeanor  towards  Edward, 
bore  in  this  unprecedented  opposition,  is  strong  evidence  of 
the  jealousy  with  which  he  regarded  the  Duke  of  Lancaster; 
and  it  was  led  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  Peter  de  la 
Mare,  a  servant  of  the  Earl  of  March,  who,  by  his  marriage 
with  Philippa,  heiress  of  Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  stood  next 
after  the  young  Prince  Richard  in  lineal  succession  to  the 
crown.  The  proceedings  of  this  session  were,  indeed,  highly 
popular.  But  no  House  of  Commons  would  have  gone  such 
lengths  on  the  mere  support  of  popular  opinion,  unless  insti- 
gated and  encouraged  by  higher  authority.  Without  this, 
their  petitions  might,  perhaps,  have  obtained,  for  the  sake  of 
subsidy,  an  immediate  consent ;  but  those  who  took  the  lead 
in  preparing  them  must  have  remained  unsheltered  after 

20* 


466  KICHARD  III.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

dissolution,  to  abide  the  vengeance  of  the  crown,  with  no  as- 
surance that  another  Parliament  would  espouse  their  cause 
as  its  own.  Such,  indeed,  was  their  fate  in  the  present  in- 
stance. Soon  after  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  who,  long  sinking  by  fatal  decay,  had  rallied  his 
expiring  energies  for  this  domestic  combat,  left  his  inher- 
itance to  a  child  ten  years  old,  Richard  of  Bordeaux.  Im- 
mediately after  this  event  Lancaster  recovered  his  influence, 
and  the  former  favorites  returned  to  court.  Peter  de  la  Mare 
was  confined  at  Nottingham,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
The  citizens,  indeed,  attempted  an  insurrection,  and  threat- 
ened to  burn  the  Savoy,  Lancaster's  residence,  if  De  la  Mare 
were  not  released ;  but  the  Bishop  of  London  succeeded  in 
appeasing  them.  A  Parliament  met  next  year  which  over- 
threw the  work  of  its  predecessor,  restored  those  who  had 
been  impeached,  and  repealed  the  ordinance  against  Alice 
Perrers.  So  little  security  will  popular  assemblies  ever  af- 
ford against  arbitrary  power,  when  deprived  of  regular  lead- 
ers and  the  consciousness  of  mutual  fidelity. 

The  policy  adopted  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  Earl  of 
March,  in  employing  the  House  of  Commons  as  an  engine  of 
attack  against  an  obnoxious  ministry,  was  perfectly  novel, 
and  indicates  a  sensible  change  in  the  character  of  our  con- 
stitution. In  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  Parliament  had  little 
share  in  resisting  the  Government ;  much  more  was  effected 
by  the  barons  through  risings  of  their  feudal  tenantry.  Fif- 
ty years  of  authority  better  respected,  of  law  better  enforced, 
had  rendered  these  more  perilous,  and  of  a  more  violent  ap- 
pearance than  formerly.  A  surer  resource  presented  itself 
in  the  increased  weight  of  the  lower  house  in  Parliament. 
And  this  indirect  aristocratical  influence  gave  a  surprising 
impulse  to  that  assembly,  and  particularly  tended  to  estab- 
lish beyond  question  its  control  over  public  abuses.  It  is  no 
less  just  to  remark  that  it  also  tended  to  preserve  the  rela- 
tion and  harmony  between  each  part  and  the  other,  and  to 
prevent  that  jarring  of  emulation  and  jealousy  which,  though 
generally  found  in  the  division  of  power  between  a  noble  and 
a  popular  estate,  has  scarcely  ever  caused  a  dissension,  except 
in  cases  of  little  moment,  between  our  two  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

§  14.  The  Commons  had  sustained  with  equal  firmness  and 
discretion  a  defensive  war  against  arbitrary  power  under  Ed- 
ward III. ;  they  advanced  with  very  different  steps  towards 
his  successor.  Upon  the  king's  death,  though  Richard's  cor- 
onation took  place  without  delay,  and  no  proper  regency  was 


English  Const.      CHARACTER  OF  RICHARD  11.  467 

constituted,  yet  a  council  of  twelve,  whom  the  great  officers 
of  state  were  to  obey,  supplied  its  place  to  every  efi'ectual 
intent.  Among  these  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  was  not  num- 
bered, and  he  retired  from  court  in  some  disgust.  In  the 
first  Parliament  of  the  young  king  a  large  proportion  of  the 
knights  who  had  sat  in  that  which  impeached  the  Lancas- 
trian party  were  returned.  Peter  de  la  Mare,  now  released 
from  prison,  was  elected  speaker.  The  prosecution  against 
Alice  Perrers  was  revived — not,  as  far  as  appears,  by  direct 
impeachment  of  the  Commons ;  but  articles  were  exhibited 
against  her  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  king's  part,  for 
breaking  the  ordinance  made  against  her  intermeddling  at 
court ;  upon  which  she  received  judgment  of  banishment  and 
forfeiture.  At  the  request  of  the  lower  house,  the  Lords,  in 
the  king's  name,  appointed  nine  persons  of  different  ranks — 
three  bishops,  two  earls,  two  bannerets,  and  two  bachelors — 
to  be  a  permanent  council  about  the  king,  so  that  no  business 
of  importance  should  be  transacted  without  their  unanimous 
consent.  The  king  was  even  compelled  to  consent  that,  dur- 
ing his  minority,  the  chancellor,  treasurer,  judges,  and  oth- 
er chief  officers,  should  be  made  in  Parliament ;  by  which 
provision,  combined  with  that  of  the  Parliamentary  council, 
the  whole  executive  government  was  transferred  to  the  two 
houses. 

For  the  first  few  years  of  Richard's  reign  we  find  from  the 
rolls  repeated  demands  of  subsidy  on  one  side,  remonstrance 
and  endeavors  at  reformation  on  the  other.  But  the  power 
of  the  Commons  steadily  increases.  After  the  tremendous 
insurrection  of  the  villeins  in  1382,  a  Parliament  was  con- 
vened to  advise  about  repealing  the  charters  of  general  man- 
umission, extorted  from  the  king  by  the  pressure  of  circum- 
stances. Li  this  measure  all  concurred  ;  but  the  Commons 
were  not  afraid  to  say  that  the  late  risings  had  been  pro- 
voked by  the  burdens  which  a  prodigal  court  had  called  for 
in  the  preceding  session. 

The  character  of  Richard  IL  was  now  developing  itself, 
and  the  hopes  excited  by  his  remarkable  presence  of  mind 
in  confronting  the  rioters  on  Blackheath  were  rapidly  de- 
stroyed. Not  that  he  was  wanting  in  capacity,  as  has  becR 
sometimes  imagined.  For  if  we  measure  intellectual  power 
by  the  greatest  exertion  it  ever  displays,  rather  than  by  its 
average  results,  Richard  IL  was  a  man  of  considerable  tal- 
ents. He  possessed,  along  with  much  dissimulation,  a  deci- 
sive promptitude  in  seizing  the  critical  moment  for  action* 
Of  this  quality,  besides  his  celebrated  behavior  towards  tha 


468  POWER  OF  RICHARD  II.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  111 

insurgents,  he  gave  striking  evidence  in  several  circumstances 
which  we  shall  have  shortly  to  notice.  But  his  ordinary  con- 
duct belied  the  abilities  Avhich  on  these  rare  occasions  shone 
forth,  and  rendered  them  ineffectual  for  his  security.  Ex- 
treme pride  and  violence,  with  an  inordinate  partiality  for 
the  most  worthless  favorites,  were  his  predominant  charac- 
teristics. 

Though  no  king  could  be  less  respectable  than  Richard, 
yet  the  constitution  invested  a  sovereign  with  such  ample 
prerogative,  that  it  was  far  less  easy  to  resist  his  personal 
exercise  of  power  than  the  unsettled  councils  of  a  minority. 
Though  the  Commons  did  not  relax  in  their  importunities  for 
the  redress  of  general  grievances,  they  did  not  venture  to 
intermeddle  as  before  with  the  conduct  of  administration. 
Tliey  did  not  even  object  to  the  grant  of  the  marquisate  of 
Dublin,  with  almost  a  princely  dominion  over  Ireland ; 
which  enormous  donation  was  confirmed  by  act  of  Parlia- 
ment to  Vere,  a  favorite  of  the  king.  A  petition  that  the 
officers  of  state  should  annually  visit  and  inquire  into  his 
household  was  answered  that  the  king  would  do  what  he 
pleased. 

There  is  nothing,  however,  more  deceitful  to  a  monarch 
unsupported  by  an  armed  force,  and  destitute  of  wary  ad- 
visers, than  this  submission  of  his  people.  A  single  effort 
was  enough  to  overturn  his  government.  Parliament  met 
in  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  steadily  determined  to  reform 
the  administration,  and  especially  to  punish  its  chief  leader, 
Michael  de  la  Pole,  earl  of  Suffolk  and  lord  chancellor. 

The  charges  against  this  minister,  without  being  wholly 
frivolous,  were  not  so  weighty  as  the  clamor  of  the  Commons 
might  have  led  us  to  expect.  Besides  forfeiting  all  his 
grants  from  the  crown,  he  was  committed  to  prison,  there  to 
remain  till  he  should  have  paid  such  fine  as  the  king  might 
impose — a  sentence  that  would  have  been  outrageously  se- 
vere in  many  cases,  though  little  more  than  nugatory  in  ihe 
present. 

This  was  the  second  precedent  of  that  grand  constitutional 
resource.  Parliamentary  impeachment ;  and  more  remarkable, 
from  the  eminence  of  the  person  attacked,  than  that  of  Lora 
Latimer  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  Edward  III.  The  Commons 
were  content  to  waive  the  prosecution  of  any  other  minis 
ters ;  but  they  rather  chose  a  scheme  of  reforming  the  ad- 
ministration which  should  avert  both  the  necessity  of  pun- 
ishment and  the  malversations  that  provoked  it.  They  pe- 
titioned the  kins  to  ordain  in  Parliament  certain  chief  offi- 


English  Const.         COMMISSION  OF  REFORM.  469 

cers  of  his  household  and  other  lords  of  his  council,  with 
power  to  reform  those  abuses  by  which  his  crown  was  so 
much  blemished  that  the  laws  were  not  kept,  and  his  rev- 
enues were  dilapidated,  confirming  by  a  statute  a  commission 
for  a  year,  and  forbidding,  under  heavy  penalties,  any  one 
from  opposing,  in  private  or  openly,  what  they  should  advise. 
With  this  the  king  complied,  and  a  commission  founded  upon 
the  prayer  of  Parliament  was  established  by  statute.  It 
comprehended  fourteen  persons  of  the  highest  eminence  for 
rank  and  general  estimation  ;  princes  of  the  blood  and  an- 
cient servants  of  the  crown,  by  whom  its  prerogatives  were 
not  likely  to  be  unnecessarily  impaired.  Still,  the  design  as 
w^ell  as  tendency  of  this  commission  was  no  doubt  to  throw 
the  whole  administration  into  their  hands  during  the  period 
of  their  sway. 

Many  have  exclaimed  against  this  Parliamentary  commis- 
sion as  an  unwarrantable  violation  of  the  king's  sovereignty, 
and  even  impartial  men  are  struck  at  first  sight  by  a  meas 
ure  that  seems  to  overset  the  natural  balance  of  our  consti- 
tution. But  it  would  be  unfair  to  blame  either  those  con- 
cerned in  this  commission,  some  of  whose  names  at  least  have 
been  handed  down  with  unquestioned  respect,  or  those  high- 
spirited  representatives  of  the  people  whose  patriot  firmness 
has  been  hitherto  commanding  all  our  sympathy  and  grati- 
tude, unless  we  could  distinctly  pronounce  by  what  gentler 
means  they  could  restrain  the  excesses  of  goverment.  Thir- 
teen Parliaments  had  already  met  since  the  accession  of  Rich- 
ard ;  in  all  the  same  remonstrances  had  been  repeated,  and 
the  same  promises  renewed.  Subsidies,  more  frequent  than 
in  any  former  reign,  had  been  granted  for  the  supposed  exi- 
gencies of  the  war;  but  this  was  no  longer  illuminated  by 
those  dazzling  victories  which  give  to  fortune  the  mien  of 
wisdom :  the  coasts  of  England  were  perpetually  ravaged, 
and  her  trade  destroyed,  while  the  administration  incurred 
the  suspicion  of  diverting  to  private  uses  that  treasure  which 
they  so  feebly  and  unsuccessfully  applied  to  the  public  serv- 
ice. No  voice  of  his  people,  until  it  spoke  in  thunder, 
would  stop  an  intoxicated  boy  in  the  wasteful  career  of  dis- 
sipation. He  loved  festivals  and  pageants,  the  prevailing 
folly  of  his  time,  with  unusual  frivolity ;  and  his  ordinary 
living  is  represented  as  beyond  comparison  more  showy  and 
sumptuous  than  even  that  of  his  magnificent  and  chivalrous 
predecessor.  Acts  of  Parliament  were  no  adequate  barriers 
to  his  misgovernment.  By  yielding  to  the  will  of  his  Par- 
liament and  to  a  temporary  suspension  of  prerogative,  this 


470      ANSV7ERS  TO  RICHARD'S  QUESTIONS.     Ch.  VIII.  Pt  III. 

unfortunate  prince  might  probably  have  reigned  long  and 
peacefully ;  the  contrary  course  of  acting  led  eventually  to 
his  deposition  and  miserable  death. 

Before  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  Richard  made  a  ver- 
bal protestation  that  nothing  done  therein  should  be  in  prej- 
udice of  his  rights — a  reservation  not  unusual  when  any  re- 
markable concession  was  made,  but  which  could  not  decently 
be  interpreted,  whatever  he  might  mean,  as  a  dissent  from 
the  statute  just  passed.  Some  months  had  intervened  when 
the  king,  who  had  already  released  SuiFolk  from  prison  and 
restored  him  to  his  favor,  procured  from  the  judges,  whom  he 
had  summoned  to  Nottingham,  a  most  convenient  set  of  an- 
swers to  questions  concerning  the  late  proceedings  in  Parlia- 
ment. Tresilian  and  Belknap,  chief  justices  of  the  King's 
Bench  and  Common  Pleas,  with  several  other  judges,  gave  it 
under  their  seals  that  the  late  statute  and  commission  were 
derogatory  to  the  prerogative ;  that  all  who  procured  it  to 
be  passed,  or  persuaded  or  compelled  the  king  to  consent  to 
it,  were  guilty  of  treason  ;  that  the  king's  business  must  be 
proceeded  upon  before  any  other  in  Parliament;  that  he  may 
put  an  end  to  the  session  at  his  pleasure ;  that  his  ministers 
can  not  be  impeached  without  his  consent ;  that  any  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  contravening  the  three  last  articles  incur 
the  penalties  of  treason,  and  especially  he  who  moved  for  the 
sentence  of  deposition  against  Edward  II.  to  be  read ;  and 
that  the  judgment  against  the  Earl  of  Suffolk  might  be 
revoked  as  altogether  erroneous. 

These  answers,  perhaps  extorted  by  menaces,  as  all  the 
judges,  except  Tresilian,  protested  before  the  next  Parlia- 
ment, were  for  the  most  part  servile  and  unconstitutional. 
The  indignation  which  they  excited,  and  the  measures  suc- 
cessfully taken  to  withstand  the  king's  designs,  belong  to 
general  history ;  but  I  shall  pass  slightly  over  that  season 
of  turbulence,  which  afforded  no  legitimate  precedent  to  our 
constitutional  annals.  Of  the  five  lords  appellants,  as  they 
were  called — Gloucester,  Derby,  Nottingham,  Warwick,  and 
Arundel — the  three  former,  at  least,  have  little  claim  to  our 
esteem ;  but  in  every  age  it  is  the  sophism  of  malignant  and 
peevish  men  to  traduce  the  cause  of  freedom  itself,  on  ac- 
count of  the  interested  motives  by  which  its  ostensible  ad- 
vocates have  frequently  been  actuated.  The  Parliament,  who 
had  the  country  thoroughly  with  them,  acted  no  doubt  hon- 
estly, but  with  an  inattention  to  the  rules  of  law,  culpable 
indeed,  yet  from  which  the  most  civilized  of  their  succes- 
sors, in  the  heat  of  passion  and  triumph,  have  scarcely  been 


English  Const.  APPARENT  HARMONY.  471 

exempt.  Whether  all  with  whom  they  dealt  severely,  some 
of  them  apparently  of  good  previous  reputation,  merited  such 
punishment,  is  more  than,  upon  uncertain  evidence,  a  modern 
writer  can  profess  to  decide. 

Notwithstanding  the  death  or  exile  of  all  Richard's  favor- 
ites, and  the  oath  taken  not  only  by  Parliament,  but  by  ev- 
ery class  of  the  people,  to  stand  by  the  lords  appellants,  we 
find  him,  after  about  a  year,  suddenly  annihilating  their  pre- 
tensions, and  snatching  the  reins  again  without  obstruction. 
The  secret  cause  of  this  event  is  among  the  many  obscurities 
that  attend  the  history  of  his  reign.  It  was  conducted  with 
a  spirit  and  activity  which  broke  out  two  or  three  times  in 
the  course  of  his  imprudent  life;  but  we  may  conjecture  that 
he  had  the  advantage  of  disunion  among  his  enemies.  For 
some  years  after  this  the  king's  administration  was  prudent. 
The  great  seal,  which  he  took  away  from  Archbishop  Arun- 
del, he  gave  to  Wykeham,  bishop  of  Winchester,  another 
member  of  the  reforming  commission,  but  a  man  of  great 
moderation  and  political  experience.  Some  time  after  he 
restored  the  seal  to  Arundel,  and  reinstated  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester  in  the  council.  The  Duke  of  Lancaster,  who  had 
been  absent  during  the  transactions  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
years  of  the  king,  in  prosecution  of  his  Castilian  war,  formed 
a  link  between  the  parties,  and  seems  to  have  maintained 
some  share  of  public  favor. 

There  was  now  a  more  apparent  harmony  between  the 
court  and  the  Parliament.  It  seems  to  have  been  tacitly 
agreed  that  they  should  not  interfere  with  the  king's  house- 
hold expenses ;  and  they  gratified  him  in  a  point  where  his 
honor  had  been  most  ^vounded,  declaring  his  prerogative  to 
be  as  high  and  unimpaired  as  that  of  his  predecessors,  and 
repealing  the  pretended  statute  by  virtue  of  which  Edward 
II.  was  said  to  have  been  deposed.  They  were  provident 
enough,  however,  to  grant  conditional  subsidies,  to  be  levied 
only  in  case  of  a  royal  expedition  against  the  enemy ;  and 
several  were  accordingly  remitted  by  proclamation,  this  con- 
dition not  being  fulfilled.  Richard  never  ventured  to  recall 
his  favorites,  though  he  testified  his  unabated  afiection  for 
Vere  by  a  pompous  funeral.  Few  complaints  unequivocally 
affecting  the  ministry  were  presented  by  the  Commons.  In 
one  Parliament,  the  chancellor,  treasurer,  and  counsel  re- 
signed their  ofiices,  submitting  themselves  to  its  judgment 
in  case  any  matter  of  accusation  should  be  alleged  against 
them.  The  Commons,  after  a  day's  deliberation,  probably  to 
make  their  approbation  nppcar  more  solemn,  declared  in  full 


472  DISUNION  AMONG  LEADING  PEERS.    Ch.  Vlll.  Tt.  in 

Parliament  that  nothing  amiss  had  been  found  in  the  con- 
duct of  these  ministers,  and  that  they  held  them  to  have 
faithfully  discharged  their  duties.  The  king  reinstated  them 
accordingly,  with  a  protestation  that  this  should  not  be  made 
a  precedent,  and  that  it  was  his  right  to  change  his  servants 
at  pleasure. 

But  this  summer  season  was  not  to  last  forever.  Richard 
had  but  dissembled  with  those  concerned  in  the  transactions 
of  1388,  none  of  whom  he  could  ever  forgive.  These  lords, 
in  lapse  of  time,  were  divided  among  each  other.  The  earls 
of  Derby  and  Nottingham  were  brought  into  the  king's  in- 
terest.  The  Earl  of  Arundel  came  to  an  open  breach  with 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  whose  pardon  he  was  compelled  to 
ask  for  an  unfounded  accusation  in  Parliament.  Gloucester's 
ungoverned  ambition,  elated  by  popularity,  could  not  brook 
the  ascendency  of  his  brother  Lancaster,  who  was  much  less 
odious  to  the  king.  And  the  latter  had  given  keener  provo- 
cation by  speaking  contemptuously  of  that  misalliance  witli 
Katherine  Swineford  which  contaminated  the  blood  of  Plan- 
tagenet.  To  the  Parliament  summoned  in  the  20th  of  Rich- 
ard, one  object  of  which  was  to  legitimate  the  Duke  of  Lan- 
caster's ante-nuptial  children  by  this  lady,  neither  Glouces- 
ter nor  Arundel  would  repair.  There  passed  in  this  assem- 
bly something  remarkable,  as  it  exhibits  not  only  the  arbi- 
trary temper  of  the  king,  a  point  by  no  means  doubtful,  but 
the  inefficiency  of  the  Commons  to  resist  it  without  suppoi-t 
from  political  confederacies  of  the  nobility.  The  circum- 
stances are  thus  related  in  the  record : 

During  the  session  the  king  sent  for  the  lords  into  Parlia- 
ment one  afternoon,  and  told  them  how  he  had  heard  of  cei-- 
tain  articles  of  complaint  made  by  the  Commons  in  confer- 
ence with  them  a  few  days  before,  some  of  which  appeared 
to  the  king  against  his  royalty,  estate,  and  liberty,  and  com- 
manded the  chancellor  to  inform  him  fully  as  to  this.  The 
chancellor  accordingly  related  the  whole  matter,  which  con- 
sisted of  four  alleged  grievances — namely,  that  sheriffs  and 
escheators,  notwithstanding  a  statute,  are  continued  in  their 
offices  beyond  a  year;'"  that  the  Scottish  marches  were  not 

"  Home  has  represented  this  as  if  the  Commons  had  petitioned  for  the  continn- 
ance  of  elieriffs  beyond  a  year,  and  grounds  upon  this  mistalce  part  of  his  defense  of 
Richard  II.  (Note  to  vol.  ii.,  p.  2T0, 4to  edit.)  For  this  he  refers  to  Cotton's  Abridg- 
ment ;  whether  rightly  or  not  I  can  not  say,  being  little  acquainted  with  that  inaccu- 
rate book,  upon  which  it  is  unfortunate  that  Hume  relied  so  much.  The  passage  from 
Walsingham  in  the  same  note  is  also  wholly  perverted ;  as  the  reader  will  discover 
without  further  observation.  An  historian  must  be  strangely  warped  who  quotes  a 
passage  explicitly  complaining  of  illegal  acts  in  order  to  infer  that  those  very  acts 
were  legal. 


English  Const.         PROSECUTION  OF  HAXEY.  473 

well  kept ;  that  the  statute  against  wearing  great  men's  liv- 
eries was  disregarded  ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  excessive  charges 
of  the  king's  household  ought  to  be  diminished,  arising  from 
the  multitude  of  bishops  and  of  ladies  who  are  there  main- 
tained at  his  cost. 

Upon  this  information  the  king  declared  to  the  Lords  that 
through  God's  gift  he  is  by  lineal  right  of  inheritance  King 
of  England,  and  will  have  the  royalty  and  freedom  of  his 
crown,  from  which  some  of  these  articles  derogate.  The 
first  petition,  that  sheriifs  should  never  remain  in  office  be- 
yond a  year,  he  rejected ;  but,  passing  lightly  over  the  rest, 
took  most  offense  that  the  Commons,  who  are  his  lieges, 
should  take  on  themselves  to  make  any  ordinance  respect- 
ing his  royal  person  or  household,  or  those  whom  he  might 
please  to  have  about  him.  He  enjoined,  therefore,  the  Lords 
to  declare  plainly  to  the  Commons  his  pleasure  in  this  mat- 
ter; and  especially  directed  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  to  make 
the  speaker  give  up  the  name  of  the  person  who  presented  a 
bill  for  this  last  article  in  the  lower  house. 

The  Commons  were  in  no  state  to  resist  this  unexpected 
promptitude  of  action  in  the  king.  They  surrendered  the 
obnoxious  bill,  with  its  proposer,  one  Thomas  Haxey,  and 
with  great  humility  made  excuse  that  they  never  designed 
to  give  offfense  to  his  majesty,  nor  to  interfere  with  his  house- 
hold or  attendants,  knowing  well  that  such  things  do  not  be- 
long to  them,  but  to  the  king  alone ;  but  merely  to  draw  his 
attention,  that  he  might  act  therein  as  should  please  him 
best.  The  king  forgave  these  pitiful  suppliants;  but  Haxey 
was  adjudged  in  Parliament  to  suffer  death  as  a  traitor.  As, 
however,  he  was  a  clerk,^*  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  at 
the  head  of  the  prelates,  obtained  of  the  king  that  his  life 
might  be  spared,  and  that  they  might  have  the  custody  of 
his  person;  protesting  that  this  was  not  claimed  by  way  of 
right,  but  merely  of  the  king's  grace.^^ 

This  was  an  open  defiance  of  Parliament,  and  a  declaration 
of  arbitrary  power ;  for  it  would  be  impossible  to  contend 

"  The  record  calls  him  Sir  Thoraas  Haxey,  a  title  at  that  time  regularly  given  to 
the  parson  of  a  parish.  If  this  be  so,  it  is  a  remarkable  authority  for  the  clergy's  ca- 
pacity of  sitting  in  Parliament. 

12  In  Henry  IV. 's  first  Parliament  the  Commons  petitioned  for  Haxey's  restoration, 
and  truly  say  that  his  sentence  was  en  aneantissement  des  custumes  de  la  commune, 
p.  434.  His  judgment  was  reversed  by  both  houses.  There  can  be  no  doubt  with 
any  man  who  looks  attentively  at  the  passages  relative  to  Haxey  that  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Parliament ;  though  this  was  questioned  some  years  ago  by  the  committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  who  made  a  report  on  the  right  of  the  clergy  to  be  elected : 
a  right  which,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  did  exist  down  to  the  Eeformation,  as  the 
grounds  alleged  for  Nowell's  expulsion  in  the  first  of  Mary,  besides  this  infitauce  of 
Haxey,  conspire  to  prove,  though  it  has  since  been  lost  by  disuse. 


474  ARBITRAEY  MEASURES      Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

that,  after  the  repeated  instances  of  control  over  public  ex* 
penditure  by  the  Commons  since  the  50th  of  Edward  III., 
this  principle  was  novel  and  nnauthoi'ized  by  the  constitu- 
tion, or  that  the  right  of  free  speech  demanded  by  them  in 
every  Parliament  was  not  a  real  and  indisputable  privilege. 
The  king,  however,  was  completely  successful,  and,  having 
proved  the  feebleness  of  the  Commons,  fell  next  upon  those 
he  more  dreaded.  By  a  skillful  piece  of  treachery  he  seized 
the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  spread  consternation  among 
all  his  party.  A  Parliament  was  summoned,  in  which  the 
only  struggle  was  to  outdo  the  king's  wishes,  and  thus  to  ef- 
face their  former  transgressions.  Gloucester,  who  had  been 
murdered  at  Calais,  was  attainted  after  his  death ;  Arundel 
was  beheaded,  his  brother,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
deposed  and  banished,  Warwick  and  Cobham  sent  beyond 
sea.  The  commission  of  the  tenth,  the  proceedings  in  Parlia- 
ment of  the  eleventh,  year  of  the  king  were  annulled.  The 
answers  of  the  judges  to  the  questions  put  at  Nottingham, 
which  had  been  punished  with  death  and  exile,  were  pro- 
nounced by  Parliament  to  be  just  and  legal.  It  was  de- 
clared high  treason  to  procure  the  repeal  of  any  judgment 
against  persons  therein  impeached.  Their  issue  male  were 
disabled  from  ever  sitting  in  Parliament  or  holding  place  in 
council.  These  violent  ordinances,  as  if  the  precedent  they 
were  then  overturning  had  not  shielded  itself  with  the  same 
sanction,  w^ere  sworn  to  by  Parliament  upon  the  cross  of 
Canterbury,  and  confirmed  by  a  national  oath,  with  the  pen- 
alty of  excommunication  denounced  against  its  infringers. 
Of  those  recorded  to  have  bound  themselves  by  this  adjura- 
tion to  Richard,  far  the  greater  part  had  touched  the  same 
relics  for  Gloucester  and  Arundel  ten  years  before,  and  two 
years  afterwards  swore  allegiance  to  Henry  of  Lancaster. 

In  the  fervor  of  prosecution  this  Parliament  could  hardly 
go  beyond  that  whose  acts  they  w^ere  annulling  ;  and  each  is 
alike  unworthy  to  be  remembered  in  the  way  of  precedent. 
But  the  leaders  of  the  former,  though  vindictive  and  turbu- 
lent, had  a  concern  for  the  public  interest ;  and,  after  punish- 
ing their  enemies,  left  the  government  upon  its  right  foun- 
dation. In  this  all  regard  for  liberty  was  extinct ;  and  the 
Commons  set  the  dangerous  precedent  of  granting  the  king 
a  subsidy  upon  wool  during  his  life.  Their  remarkable  act 
of  severity  was  accompanied  by  another,  less  unexampled, 
but,  as  it  proved,  of  more  ruinous  tendency.  The  petitions 
of  the  Commons  not  having  been  answered  during  the  ses- 
Bion,  which  they  were  always  anxious  to  conclude,  a  commis- 


English  Const.  OF  RICHARD  II.  475 

sion  was  granted  for  twelve  peers  and  six  commoners  to  sit 
after  the  dissolution,  and  "  examine,  answer,  and  fully  deter- 
mine, as  well  all  the  said  petitions,  and  the  matters  therein 
comprised,  as  all  other  matters  and  things  moved  in  the  king's 
presence,  and  all  things  incident  thereto  not  yet  determined, 
as  shall  seem  best  to  them."  The  "  other  matters"  mentioned 
above  were,  I  suppose,  private  petitions  to  the  king's  council 
in  Parliament,  which  had  been  frequently  dispatched  after  a 
dissolution.  For  in  the  statute  which  establishes  this  com- 
mission, 21  R.  II.,  c.  16,  no  powers  are  committed  but  those 
of  examining  petitions ;  which,  if  it  does  not  confirm  the 
charge  afterwards  alleged  against  Richard,  of  falsifying  the 
Parliament  roll,  must,  at  least,  be  considered  as  limiting  and 
explaining  the  terms  of  the  latter.  Such  a  trust  had  been 
committed  to  some  lords  of  the  council  eight  years  before,  in 
very  peaceful  times ;  and  it  was  even  requested  that  the  same 
might  be  done  in  future  Parliaments.  But  it  is  obvious  what 
a  latitude  this  gave  to  a  prevailing  faction.  These  eighteen 
commissioners,  or  some  of  them  (for  there  were  who  disliked 
the  turn  of  affairs),  usurped  the  full  rights  of  the  legislature, 
which  undoubtedly  were  only  delegated  in  respect  of  busi- 
ness already  commenced.  They  imposed  a  perpetual  oath  on 
prelates  and  lords  for  all  time  to  come,  to  be  taken  before 
obtaining  livery  of  their  lands,  that  they  would  maintain  the 
statutes  and  ordinances  made  by  this  Parliament,  or  "  after- 
wards by  the  lords  and  knights  having  power  committed  to 
them  by  the  same."  They  declared  it  high  treason  to  dis- 
obey their  ordinances.  They  annulled  the  patents  of  the 
dukes  of  Hereford  and  Norfolk,  and  adjudged  Henry  Bowet, 
the  former's  chaplain,  who  had  advised  him  to  petition  for 
his  inheritance,  to  the  penalties  of  treason.  And  thus,  hav- 
ing obtained  a  ravenue  for  life,  and  the  power  of  Parliament 
being  notoriously  usurped  by  a  knot  of  his  creatures,  the 
king  was  little  likely  to  meet  his  people  again,  and  became 
as  truly  absolute  as  his  ambition  could  require. 

It  had  been  necessary  for  this  purpose  to  subjugate  the  an- 
cient nobility ;  for  the  English  constitution  gave  them  such 
paramount  rights  that  it  was  impossible  either  to  make  them 
surrender  their  country's  freedom  or  to  destroy  it  without 
their  consent.  But  several  of  the  chief  men  had  fallen  or 
were  involved  with  the  party  of  Gloucester.  Two,  who,  hav- 
ing once  belonged  to  it,  had  lately  plunged  into  the  depths 
of  infamy  to  ruin  their  former  friends,  were  still  perfectly 
obnoxious  to  the  king,  who  never  forgave  their  original  sin. 
These  two,  Henry  of  Bolingbroke,  earl  of  Derby,  and  Mow- 


476     HEREFORD  AND  NORFOLK  QUARREL.     Ch.  VIII.  Pt.  IIL 

bray,  earl  of  Nottingham,  now  dukes  of  Hereford  and  Nor- 
folk, the  most  powerful  of  the  remaining  nobility,  were,  by  a 
singular  conjuncture,  thrown,  as  it  were,  at  the  king's  feet. 
Of  the  political  mysteries  which  this  reign  affords,  none  is 
more  inexplicable  than  the  quarrel  of  these  peers.  In  the 
Parliament  at  Shrewsbury,  in  1398,  Hereford  was  called  upon 
by  the  king  to  relate  what  had  passed  between  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  and  himself  in  slander  of  his  majesty.  He  detailed 
a  pretty  long  and  not  improbable  conversation,  in  which 
Norfolk  had  asserted  the  king's  intention  of  destroying  them 
both  for  their  old  offense  in  impeaching  his  ministers.  Nor- 
folk had  only  to  deny  the  charge  and  throw  his  gauntlet  at 
the  accuser.  It  was  referred  to  the  eighteen  commissioners 
who  sat  after  the  dissolution,  and  a  trial  by  combat  was 
awarded.  But  when  this,  after  many  delays,  was  about  to 
take  place  at  Coventry,  Richard  interfered  and  settled  the 
dispute  by  condemning  Hereford  to  banishment  for  ten  years 
and  Norfolk  for  life.  This  strange  determination,  which  treat- 
ed both  as  guilty  where  only  one  could  be  so,  seems  to  ad- 
mit of  no  other  solution  than  the  king's  desire  to  rid  himself 
of  two  peers,  w^hom  he  feared  and  hated,  at  a  blow.  But  it 
is  difficult  to  understand  by  what  means  he  drew  the  crafty 
Bolingbroke  into  his  snare.  However  this  might  have  been, 
he  now  threw  away  all  appearance  of  moderate  government. 
The  indignities  he  had  suffered  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his 
reign  were  still  at  his  heart,  a  desire  to  revenge  which  seems 
to  have  been  the  mainspring  of  his  conduct.  Though  a  gen- 
eral pardon  of  those  proceedings  had  been  granted,  not  only 
at  the  time,  but  in  his  own  last  Parliament,  he  made  use  of 
them  as  a  pretense  to  extort  money  from  seventeen  counties, 
to  whom  he  imputed  a  share  in  the  rebellion.  He  compelled 
men  to  confess  under  their  seals  that  they  had  been  guilty 
of  treason,  and  to  give  blank  obligations,  which  his  officers 
filled  up  with  large  sums.  Upon  the  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  who  had  passively  complied  throughout  all  these 
transactions,  Richard  refused  livery  of  his  inheritance  to 
Hereford,  whose  exile  implied  no  crime,  and  Avho  had  letters 
patent  enabling  him  to  make  his  attorney  for  that  purpose 
during  its  continuance.  In  short,  his  government  for  nearly 
two  years  was  altogether  tyrannical ;  and,  upon  the  same 
principles  that  cost  James  II.  his  throne,  it  was  unquestiona- 
bly far  more  necessary,  unless  our  fathers  would  have  aban- 
doned all  thought  of  liberty,  to  expel  Richard  II.  Far  be  it 
from  us  to  extenuate  the  treachery  of  the  Percies  towards 
this  unhappy  prince,  or  the  cruel  circumstances  of  his  death, 


English  Const.         ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  IV.  477 

or  in  any  way  to  extol  either  his  successor  or  the  chief  men 
of  that  time,  most  of  whom  were  ambitious  and  faithless ; 
but  after  such  long  experience  of  the  king's  arbitrary,  dis- 
sembling, and  revengeful  temper,  I  see  no  other  safe  course, 
in  the  actual  state  of  the  constitution,  than  what  the  nation 
concurred  in  pursuing. 

The  reign  of  Richard  II.  is,  in  a  constitutional  light,  the 
most  interesting  part  of  our  earlier  history ;  and  it  has  been 
the  most  imperfectly  written.  Some  have  misrepresented 
the  truth  through  prejudice,  and  others  through  carelessness. 
It  is  only  to  be  understood — and,  indeed,  there  are  great 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  understanding  it  at  all — by  a  pe- 
rusal of  the  rolls  of  Parliament,  with  some  assistance  from 
the  contemporary  historians,  Walsingham,  Knyghton,  the 
anonymous  biographer  published  by  Hearne,  and  Froissart. 
These,  I  must  remark,  except  occasionally  the  last,  are  ex- 
tremely hostile  to  Richard ;  and  although  we  are  far  from 
being  bound  to  acquiesce  in  their  opinions,  it  is  at  least  un- 
warrantable in  modern  writers  to  sprinkle  their  margins  with 
references  to  such  authority  in  support  of  positions  decidedly 
opposite.^^ 

§  15.  The  revolution  which  elevated  Henry  TV.  to  the 
throne  was  certainly  so  far  accomplished  by  force  that  the 
king  was  in  captivity,  and  those  who  might  still  adhere  to 
him  in  no  condition  to  support  his  authority.  But  the  sin- 
cere concurrence  which  most  of  the  prelates  and  nobility, 
with  the  mass  of  the  people,  gave  to  changes  that  could  not 
have  been  otherwise  effected  by  one  so  unprovided  with  for- 
eign support  as  Henry,  proves  this  revolution  to  have  been, 
if  not  an  indispensable,  yet  a  national  act,  and  should  pre- 
vent our  considering  the  Lancastrian  kings  as  usurpers  of 
the  throne.  Nothing,  indeed,  looks  so  much  like  usurpation 
in  the  whole  transaction  as  Henry's  remarkable  challenge  of 
the  crown,  insinuating,  though  not  avowing,  as  Hume  has 
justly  animadverted  upon  it,  a  false  and  ridiculous  title  by 
right  line  of  descent,  and  one  equally  unwarrantable  by  con- 
quest. The  course  of  proceedings  is  worthy  of  notice.  As 
the  renunciation  of  Richard  might  well  pass  for  the  effect 
of  compulsion,  there  was  a  strong  reason  for  propping  up  its 
instability  by  a  solemn  deposition  from  the  throne,  found- 
ed upon  specific  charges  of  misgovernment.     Again,  as  the 

^3  It  is  fair  to  observe  that  Froissart's  testimony  makes  most  in  favor  of  the  king, 
or  rather  against  his  enemies,  where  it  is  most  valuable;  that  is,  in  his  account  of 
what  he  heard  in  the  English  court  in  1395, 1.  iv.,  c.  62,  where  he  gives  a  very  indif- 
ferent character  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  In  general  this  writer  is  ill-informed  o  * 
English  affairs,  and  undeserving  to  be  quoted  as  an  authority. 


478  .  CIRCUMSTANCES  ATTENDING     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

right  of  dethroning  a  monarch  was  nowhere  found  in  the 
law,  it  was  equally  requisite  to  support  this  assumption  of 
power  by  an  actual  abdication.  But  as  neither  one  nor  the 
other  filled  up  the  Duke  of  Lancaster's  wishes,  who  was  not 
contented  with  owing  a  crown  to  election,  nor  seemed  al- 
together to  account  for  the  exclusion  of  the  house  of  March, 
he  devised  this  claim,  which  was  preferred  in  the  vacancy  of 
the  throne,  Richard's  cession  having  been  read  and  approved 
in  Parliament,  and  the  sentence  of  deposition,  "  out  of  abun- 
dant caution,  and  to  remove  all  scruple,"  solemnly  passed  by 
seven  commissioners  appointed  out  of  the  several  estates. 
"  After  which  challenge  and  claim,"  says  the  record,  "  the 
lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  all  the  estates  there  pres- 
ent, being  asked,  separately  and  together,  what  they  thought 
of  the  said  challenge  and  claim,  the  said  estates,  with  the 
whole  people,  without  any  difficulty  or  delay,  consented  that 
the  said  duke  should  reign  over  them."  The  claim  of  Henry, 
as  opposed  to  that  of  the  Earl  of  March,  was,  indeed,  ridicu- 
lous ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  evident  that,  in  such  cases  of  ex- 
treme urgency  as  leave  no  security  for  the  common  weal  but 
the  deposition  of  a  reigning  prince,  there  rests  any  positive 
obligation  upon  the  estates  of  the  realm  to  fill  his  place  with 
the  nearest  heir.  A  revolution  of  this  kind  seems  rather  to 
defeat  and  confound  all  prior  titles ;  though  in  the  new  set- 
tlement it  will  commonly  be  prudent,  as  well  as  equitable,  to 
treat  them  with  some  regard.  Were  this  otherwise,  it  would 
be  hard  to  say  why  William  III.  reigned  to  the  exclusion 
of  Anne,  or  even  of  the  Pretender,  who^  had  surely  commit- 
ted no  ofi*ense  at  that  time  ;  or  why  (if  such,  indeed,  be  the 
true  construction  of  the  Act  of  Settlement)  the  more  distant 
branches  of  the  royal  stock,  descendants  of  Henry  VH.  and 
earlier  kings,  have  been  cut  oif  from  their  hope  of  succession 
by  the  restriction  to  the  heirs  of  the  Princess  Sophia. 

In  this  revolution  of  1399  there  was  as  remarkable  an  at- 
tention  shown  to  the  formalities  of  the  constitution,  allow- 
ance made  for  the  men  and  the  times,  as  in  that  of  1688.  The 
Parliament  was  not  opened  by  commission ;  no  one  took  the 
office  of  president ;  the  Commons  did  not  adjourn  to  their 
own  chamber;  they  chose  no  speaker;  the  name  of  Parlia- 
ment was  not  taken,  but  that  only  of  estates  of  the  realm. 
But  as  it  would  have  been  a  violation  of  constitutional  prin- 
ciples to  assume  a  parliamentary  character  without  the  king's 
commission,  though  summoned  by  his  writ,  so  it  was  still 
more  essential  to  limit  their  exercise  of  power  to  the  neces- 
sity of  circumstances.     Upon  the  cession  of  the  king,  as  upon 


English  Const.  HENRY  IV. 'S  ACCESSION.  479 

his  death,  the  Parliament  was  no  more  ;  its  existence,  as  the 
council  of  the  sovereign,  being  dependent  upon  his  will.  The 
actual  convention  summoned  by  the  writs  of  Richard  could 
not  legally  become  the  Parliament  of  Henry ;  and  the  valid- 
ity of  a  statute  declaring  it  to  be  such  would  probably  have 
been  questionable  in  that  age,  when  the  power  of  statutes  to 
alter  the  original  principles  of  the  common  law  was  by  no 
means  so  thoroughly  recognized  as  at  the  Restoration  and 
Revolution.  Yet  Henry  was  too  well  pleased  with  his  friends 
to  part  with  them  so  readily  ;  and  he  had  much  to  effect  be- 
fore the  fervor  of  their  spirits  should  abate.  Hence  an  ex- 
pedient was  devised  of  issuing  writs  for  a  new  Parliament, 
returnable  in  six  days.  These  neither  were  nor  could  be  com- 
plied with ;  but  the  same  members  as  had  deposed  Richard 
sat  in  the  new  Parliament,  which  was  regularly  opened  by 
Henry's  commissioner  as  if  they  had  been  duly  elected.  In 
this  contrivance,  more  than  in  all  the  rest,  we  may  trace  the 
hand  of  lawyers. 

§  1 6.  If  we  look  back  from  the  accession  of  Henry  IV.  to  that 
of  his  predecessor,  the  constitutional  authority  of  the  House 
of  Commons  will  be  perceived  to  have  made  surprising  prog- 
ress during  the  course  of  twenty-two  years.  Of  the  three 
capital  points  in  contest  while  Edward  reigned — that  money 
could  not  be  levied,  or  laws  enacted,  without  the  Commons' 
consent,  and  that  the  administration  of  Government  was  sub- 
ject to  their  inspection  and  control — the  first  was  absolutely 
decided  in  their  favor,  the  second  was  at  least  perfectly  ad- 
mitted in  principle,  and  the  last  was  confirmed  by  frequent 
exercise.  The  Commons  had  acquired  two  additional  engines 
of  immense  efficiency — one,  the  right  of  directing  the  appli- 
cation of  subsidies,  and  calling  accountants  before  them ;  the 
other,  that  of  impeaching  the  king's  ministers  for  misconduct. 
All  these  vigorous  shoots  of  liberty  throve  more  and  more 
under  the  three  kings  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  and  drew 
such  strength  and  nourishment  from  the  generous  heart  of 
England  that  in  after-times,  and  in  a  less  prosperous  season, 
though  checked  and  obstructed  in  their  growth,  neither  the 
blasts  of  arbitrary  power  could  break  them  ofif,  nor  the  mil- 
dew of  servile  opinion  cause  them  to  wither.  I  shall  trace 
the  progress  of  Parliament  till  the  civil  wars  of  York  and  Lan- 
caster:  1,  in  maintaining  the  exclusive  right  of  taxation ;  2,  in 
directing  and  checking  the  public  expenditure ;  3,  in  making 
supplies  depend  on  the  redress  of  grievances ;  4,  in  securing 
the  people  against  illegal  ordinances  and  interpolations  of 
the  statutes;    5,  in  controlling  the  royal  administration;    6, 


480  RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

in  punishing  bad  ministers ;  and  lastly,  in  establishing  their 
own  immunities  and  privileges. 

1.  Bight  of  Taxation.  —  The  pretense  of  levying  money 
without  consent  of  Parliament  expired  with  Edward  III.,  who 
had  asserted  it,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  very  last  year  of  his 
reign.  A  great  council  of  lords  and  prelates,  summoned  in 
the  second  year  of  his  successor,  declared  that  they  could 
advise  no  remedy  for  the  king's  necessities  without  laying 
taxes  on  the  people,  which  could  only  be  granted  in  Parlia- 
ment. Nor  was  Richard  ever  accused  of  illegal  tallages,  the 
frequent  theme  of  remonstrance  under  Edward.  Doubtless 
his  innocence  in  this  respect  was  the  effect  of  weakness ;  and 
if  the  revolution  of  1399  had  not  put  an  end  to  this  newly- 
acquired  despotism,  this,  like  every  other  right  of  his  people, 
would  have  been  swept  away.  A  less  palpable  means  of 
evading  the  consent  of  the  Commons  was  by  the  extortion  of 
loans,  and  harassing  those  who  refused  to  pay  by  summonses 
before  the  council.  These  loans,  the  frequent  resource  of  ar- 
bitrary sovereigns  in  later  times,  are  first  complained  of  in 
an  early  Parliament  of  Richard  II. ;  and  a  petition  is  grant- 
ed that  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  lend  the  king  money. 
But  how  little  this  was  regarded  we  may  infer  from  a  writ 
directed,  in  1386,  to  some  persons  in  Boston,  enjoining  them 
to  assess  every  person  who  had  goods  and  chattels  to  the 
amount  of  twenty  pounds,  in  his  proportion  of  two  hundred 
pounds,  which  the  town  had  promised  to  lend  the  king,  and 
giving  an  assurance  that  this  shall  be  deducted  from  the  next 
subsidy  to  be  granted  by  Parliament.  After  his  triumph 
over  the  popular  party,  towards  the  end  of  his  reign,  he  ob- 
tained large  sums  in  this  way. 

Under  the  Lancastrian  kings  there  is  much  less  appearance 
of  raising  money  in  an  unparliamentary  course.  Henry  IV. 
obtained  an  aid  from  a  great  council  in  the  year  1400;  but 
they  did  not  pretend  to  charge  any  besides  theinselves, though 
it  seems  that  some  towns  afterwards  gave  the  king  a  contri- 
bution. A  few  years  afterwards  he  directs  the  sheriflTs  to  call 
on  the  richest  men  in  their  counties  to  advance  the  money 
voted  by  Parliament.  This,  if  any  compulsion  was  threat- 
ened, is  an  instance  of  overstrained  prerogative,  though  con- 
sonant to  the  practice  of  the  late  reign. 

2.  Appropriation  of  Supplies. — The  right  of  granting  sup- 
plies would  have  been  very  incomplete,  had  it  not  been  ac- 
companied with  that  of  directing  their  application.  The  prin- 
ciple of  appropriating  public  moneys  began,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  minority  of  Richard,  and  was  among  the  best  fruits  of 


Knglish  Const.        REDRESS  OF  GRIEVANCES.  481 

that  period.  It  was  steadily  maintained  under  the  new  dy- 
nasty. The  Parliament  of  6  Henry  lY.  granted  two-fifteenths 
and  two-tenths,  with  a  tax  on  skins  and  wool,  on  condition 
that  it  should  be  expended  in  the  defense  of  the  kingdom, 
and  not  otherwise,  as  Thomas  lord  Furnival  and  Sir  John  Pel- 
ham,  ordained  treasurers  of  war  for  this  Parliament  to  receive 
the  said  subsidies,  shall  account  and  answer  to  the  Commons 
at  the  next  Parliament.  These  treasurers  were  sworn  in  Par- 
liament to  execute  their  trusts.  A  similar  precaution  was 
adopted  in  the  next  session. 

3.  Redress  of  Grievances. — The  Commons  made  a  bold  at- 
tempt in  the  second  year  of  Henry  IV.  to  give  the  strongest 
security  to  their  claims  of  redress,  by  inverting  the  usual 
coxirse  of  parliamentary  proceedings.  It  was  usual  to  answer 
their  petitions  on  the  last  day  of  the  session,  which  put  an 
end  to  all  further  discussion  upon  them,  and  prevented  their 
making  the  redress  of  grievances  a  necessary  condition  of 
supply.  They  now  requested  that  an  answer  might  be  given 
before  they  made  their  grant  of  subsidy.  This  was  one  of 
the  articles  which  Richard  II.'s  judges  had  declared  it  high 
treason  to  attempt.  Henry  was  not  inclined  to  make  a  con- 
cession which  would  virtually  have  removed  the  chief  im- 
pediment to  the  ascendency  of  Parliament.  He  first  said 
that  he  would  consult  with  the  Lords,  and  answer  according 
to  their  advice.  On  the  last  day  of  the  session  the  Com- 
mons were  informed  that  "  it  had  never  been  known  in  the 
time  of  his  ancestors  that  they  should  have  their  petitions 
answered  before  they  had  done  all  their  business  in  Par- 
liament, whether  of  granting  money  or  any  other  concern ; 
wherefore  the  king  will  not  alter  the  good  customs  and  usages 
of  ancient  times." 

Notwithstanding  the  just  views  these  Parliaments  appear 
generally  to  have  entertained  of  their  power  over  the  public 
purse,  that  of  the  third  of  Henry  V.  followed  a  precedent 
from  the  worst  times  of  Richard  II.,  by  granting  the  king  a 
subsidy  on  wool  and  leather  during  his  life.  This,  an  histo- 
rian tells  us,  Henry  IV.  had  vainly  labored  to  obtain ;  but 
the  taking  of  Harfleur  intoxicated  the  English  with  new 
dreams  of  conquest  in  France,  which  their  good  sense  and 
constitutional  jealousy  were  not  firm  enough  to  resist.  The 
continued  expenses  of  the  war,  however,  prevented  this  grant 
from  becoming  so  dangerous  as  it  might  have  been  in  a  sea- 
son of  tranquillity.  Henry  V.,like  his  father,  convoked  Par- 
liament almost  in  every  year  of  his  reign. 

4.  Legislative  Bights. — It  had  long  been  out  of  all  question 

21 


482  DISPENSING  POWER     Chap.  VIII.  Part  IIL 

that  the  legislature  consisted  of  the  king,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons  ;  or,  in  stricter  language,  that  the  king  could  not  make 
or  repeal  statutes  without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  But 
this  fundamental  maxim  was  still  frequently  defeated  by  va- 
rious acts  of  evasion  or  violence;  which,  though  protested 
against  as  illegal,  it  was  a  difficult  task  to  prevent.  The 
king  sometimes  exerted  a  power  of  suspending  the  observ- 
ance of  statutes,  as  in  the  ninth  of  Richard  II.,  when  a  peti- 
tion that  all  statutes  might  be  confirmed  is  granted,  with  an 
exception  as  to  one  passed  in  the  last  Parliament,  forbidding 
the  judges  to  take  fees  or  give  counsel  in  cases  where  the 
king  was  a  party  ;  which, "  because  it  was  too  severe  and 
needs  declaration,  the  king  would  have  of  no  effect  till  it 
should  be  declared  in  Parliament." 

The  dispensing  power,  as  exercised  in  favor  of  individuals, 
is  quite  of  a  different  character  from  this  general  suspension 
of  statutes,  but  indirectly  weakens  the  sovereignty  of  the 
legislature.  This  power  was  exerted,  and  even'  recognized, 
throughout  all  the  reigns  of  the  Plantagenets.  In  the  first 
of  Henry  V.  the  Commons  pray  that  the  statute  for  driving 
aliens  out  of  the  kingdom  be  executed.  The  king  assents, 
saving  his  prerogative  and  his  right  of  dispensing  with  it 
when  he  pleased.  To  which  the  Commons  replied  that  their 
intention  was  never  otherwise,  nor,  by  God's  help,  ever  should 
be.  At  the  same  time  one  Rees  ap  Thomas  petitions  the  king 
to  modify,  or  dispense  with,  the  statute  prohibiting  Welsh- 
men from  purchasing  lands  in  England,  or  the  English  towns 
in  Wales;  which  the  king  grants.  In  the  same  Parliament 
the  Commons  pray  that  no  grant  or  protection  be  made  to 
any  one  in  contravention  to  the  statute  of  provisors,  saving 
the  king's  prerogative.  He  merely  answers, "Let  the  stat- 
utes be  observed;"  evading  any  allusion  to  his  dispensing 
power. 

The  practice  of  leaving  statutes  to  be  drawn  up  by  the 
judges,  from  the  petition  and  answer  jointly,  after  a  disso- 
lution of  Parliament,  presented  an  opportunity  of  falsifying 
the  intention  of  the  legislature,  whereof  advantage  was  often 
taken.  Some  very  remarkable  instances  of  this  fraud  occur- 
red in  the  reigns  of  Richard  II.  and  Plenry  IV. 

An  ordinance  was  put  upon  the  roll  of  Parliament,  in  the 
fifth  of  Richard  II.,  empowering  sheriffs  of  counties  to  arrest 
preachers  of  heresy  and  their  abettors,  and  detain  them  in 
prison  till  they  should  justify  themselves  before  the  Church. 
This  was  introduced  into  the  statutes  of  the  year;  but  the 
assent  of  Lords  and  Commons  is  not  expressed.     In  the  next 


English  Const.  OF  THE  CROWN.  483 

Parliament  the  Commons,  reciting  this  ordinance,  declare  that 
it  was  never  assented  to  nor  granted  by  them,  but  what  had 
been  proposed  in  this  matter  was  without  their  concurrence 
(that  is,  as  I  conceive,  had  been  rejected  by  them),  and  pray 
that  this  statute  be  annulled ;  for  it  was  never  their  intent 
to  bind  themselves  or  their  descendants  to  the  bishops  more 
than  their  ancestors  had  been  bound  in  times  past.  The 
king  returned  an  answer  agreeing  to  this  petition.  Never- 
theless the  pretended  statute  was  untouched,  and  remains  still 
among  our  laws,**  unrepealed,  except  by  desuetude,  and  by 
inference  from  the  acts  of  much  later  times. 

This  commendable  reluctance  of  the  Commons  to  let- the 
clergy  forge  chains  for  them  produced,  as  there  is  much  ap- 
pearance, a  similar  violation  of  their  legislative  rights  in  the 
next  reign.  The  statute  against  heresy  in  the  second  of 
Henry  IV.  is  not  grounded  upon  any  petition  of  the  Com- 
mons, but  only  upon  one  of  the  clergy.  It  is  said  to  be  en- 
acted by  consent  of  the  Lords  ;  but  no  notice  is  taken  of  the 
lower  house  in  the  Parliament  roll,  though  the  statute  re- 
citing the  petition  asserts  the  Commons  to  have  joined  in  it. 
The  petition  and  the  statute  are  both  in  Latin,  which  is  un- 
usual in  the  laws  of  this  time.  In  a  subsequent  petition  of 
the  Commons  this  act  is  styled  "the  statute  made  in  the 
second  year  of  your  majesty's  reign  at  the  request  of  the 
prelates  and  clergy  of  your  kingdom ;"  which  affords  a  pre- 
sumption that  it  had  no  regular  assent  of  Parliament.  And 
the  spirit  of  the  Commons  during  this  whole  reign  being  re- 
markably hostile  to  the  Church,  it  would  have  been  hardly 
possible  to  obtain  their  consent  to  so  penal  a  law  against 
heresy.  Several  of  their  petitions  seem  designed  indirectly 
to  weaken  its  efficacy. 

These  infringements  of  their  most  essential  right  were  re- 
sisted by  the  Commons  in  various  ways,  according  to  the 
measure  of  their  power.  But  even  where  there  was  no  de- 
sign to  falsify  the  roll  it  was  impossible  to  draw  up  statutes 
which  should  be  in  truth  the  acts  of  the  whole  legislature,  so 
long  as  the  king  continued  to  grant  petitions  in  part,  and  to 
ingraft  new  matter  upon  them.  Such  was  still  the  case  till 
the  Commons  hit  upon  an  effectual  expedient  for  screening 

1*  5  R.  II.,  stat.  2,  c.  5 ;  Rot.  Pari.  6  R.  II.,  p.  141.  Some  other  instances  of  the  Com- 
Tnous  attempting  to  prevent  these  unfair  practices  are  adduced  by  RufFhead,  in  hiJs 
preface  to  the  Statutes,  and  in  Prynne's  preface  to  Cotton's  Abridgment  of  the  Rec- 
ords. The  act  13  R.  II.,  stat.  1,  c.  15,  that  the  king's  castles  and  jails  which  had  been 
separated  from  the  body  of  the  adjoining  counties  should  be  reunited  to  them,  is  not 
founded  upon  any  petition  that  appears  on  the  roll ;  and  probably,  by  making  search^ 
other  instances  equally  flagrant  might  be  discovered. 


484  CONTROLLING  THE      Chap.  VIIL  Part  IIL 

themselves  against  these  encroachments,  which  has  lasted 
without  alteration  to  the  present  day.  This  was  the  intro- 
duction of  complete  statutes  under  the  name  of  bills,  instead 
of  the  old  petitions ;  and  these  containing  the  royal  assent 
and  the  whole  form  of  a  law,  it  became,  though  not  quite 
immediately,  a  constant  principle  that  the  king  must  admit 
or  reject  them  without  qualification.  This  alteration,  which 
wrought  an  extraordinary  effect  on  the  character  of  our  con- 
stitution, was  gradually  introduced  in  Henry  VL's  reign. 

From  the  first  years  of  Henry  V.,  though  not,  I  think, 
earlier,  the  Commons  began  to  concern  themselves  with  the 
petitions  of  individuals  to  the  Lords  or  Council.  The  nature 
of  the  jurisdiction  exercised  by  the  latter  will  be  treated 
more  fully  hereafter ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  in  this 
place  that  many  of  the  requests  preferred  to  them  were  such 
as  could  not  be  granted  without  transcending  the  boundaries 
of  law.  A  just  inquietude  as  to  the  encroachments  of  the 
king's  council  had  long  been  manifested  by  the  Commons; 
and  finding  remonstrances  ineffectual,  they  took  measures 
for  preventing  such  usurpations  of  legislative  power  by  in- 
troducing their  own  consent  to  private  petitions.  These 
were  now  presented  by  the  hands  of  the  Commons,  and  in 
very  many  instances  passed  in  the  form  of  statutes  with  the 
express  assent  of  all  parts  of  the  legislature.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  private  bills,  which  occupy  the  greater  part  of  the 
rolls  in  Henry  V.  and  VL's  Parliament. 

5.  Controlling  the  Royal  Expeyiditure. — If  the  strength  of 
the  Commons  had  lain  merely  in  the  weakness  of  the  crown, 
it  might  be  inferred  that  such  harassing  interference  with 
the  administration  of  affairs  as  the  youthful  and  frivolous 
Richard  was  compelled  to  endure  would  have  been  sternly 
lepelled  by  his  experienced  successor.  But,  on  the  contrary, 
the  spirit  of  Richard  might  have  rejoiced  to  see  that  his  mor- 
tal enemy  suffered  as  hard  usage  at  the  hands  of  Parliament 
as  himself.  After  a  few  years  the  government  of  Henry  be- 
came extremely  unpopular.  Perhaps  his  dissension  with  the 
great  family  of  Percy,  which  had  placed  him  on  the  throne, 
and  was  regarded  with  partiality  by  the  people,  chiefly  con- 
tributed to  this  alienation  of  their  attachment.  The  Com- 
mons requested,  in  the  fifth  of  his  reign,  that  certain  persons 
might  be  removed  from  the  court ;  the  Lords  concurred  in 
displacing  four  of  these,  one  being  the  king's  confessor. 
Henry  came  down  to  Parliament  and  excused  these  four  per- 
sons, as  knowing  no  special  cause  why  they  should  be  re- 
moved ;   yet,  well  understanding  that  what  the  Lords  and 


English  Const.  ROYAL  EXPENDITURE.  485 

Commons  should  ordain  would  be  for  his  and  his  kingdom's 
interest,  and  therefore  anxious  to  conform  himself  to  their 
wishes,  consented  to  the  said  ordinance,  and  charged  the  per- 
sons in  question  to  leave  his  palace;  adding,  that  he  would 
do  as  much  by  any  other  about  his  person  whom  he  should 
find  to  have  incurred  the  ill  affection  of  his  people. 

But  no  Parliament  came  near,  in  the  number  and  boldness 
of  its  demands,  to  that  held  in  the  eighth  year  of  Henry  IV. 
The  Commons  presented  thirty-one  articles,  none  of  which 
the  king  ventured  to  refuse,  though  pressing  very  severely 
upon  his  prerogative.  He  was  to  name  sixteen  counsellors, 
by  whose  advice  he  was  solely  to  be  guided,  none  of  them 
to  be  dismissed  without  conviction  of  misdemeanor.  The 
chancellor  and  privy  seal  to  pass  no  grants  or  other  matter 
contrary  to  law.  Any  persons  about  the  court  stirring  up 
the  king  or  queen's  minds  against  their  subjects,  and  duly 
convicted  thereof,  to  lose  their  offices  and  be  fined.  The 
king's  ordinary  revenue  was  wholly  appropriated  to  his  house- 
hold and  the  payment  of  his  debts;  no  grant  of  wardship  or 
other  profit  to  be  made  thereout,  nor  any  forfeiture  to  be 
pardoned.  The  king,  "  considering  the  wise  government  of 
other  Christian  princes,  and  conforming  himself  thereto," 
was  to  assign  two  days  in  the  week  for  petitions,  "  it  being 
an  honorable  and  necessary  thing  that  his  lieges,  who  desired 
to  petition  him,  should  be  heard."  No  judicial  officer,  nor 
any  in  the  revenue  or  household,  to  enjoy  his  place  for  life  or 
term  of  years.  No  petition  to  be  presented  to  the  king  by 
any  of  his  household  at  times  when  the  council  were  not  sit- 
ting. The  council  to  determine  nothing  cognizable  at  com- 
mon law,  unless  for  a  reasonable  cause  and  with  consent  of 
the  judges.  The  statutes  regulating  purveyance  were  af- 
firmed— abuses  of  various  kinds  in  the  council  ?.nd  in  courts 
of  justice  enumerated  and  forbidden — elections  of  knights  for 
counties  put  under  regulation.  The  council  and  officers  of 
state  were  sworn  to  observe  the  common  law  and  all  statutes, 
those  especially  just  enacted. 

It  must  strike  every  reader  that  these  provisions  were  of 
themselves  a  noble  fabric  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  hard- 
ly perhaps  inferior  to  the  petition  of  right  under  Charles  I. 
We  can  not  account  for  the  submission  of  Henry  to  condi- 
tions far  more  derogatory  than  ever  were  imposed  on  Rich- 
ard, because  the  secret  politics  of  his  reign  are  very  imper- 
fectly understood. 

Power  deemed  to  be  ill  gotten  is  naturally  precarious ; 
and  the  instance  of  Henry  IV.  has  been  well  quoted  to 


48e  TREATY  OF  TROYES.     Chap.  VIII.*  Part  III. 

prove  that  public  liberty  flourishes  with  a  bad  title  in  the 
sovereign.  None  of  our  kings  seem  to  have  been  less  be- 
loved ;  and  indeed  he  had  little  claim  to  affection.  But 
what  men  denied  to  the  reigning  king  they  poured  in  full 
measure  upon  the  heir  of  his  throne.  The  virtues  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  are  almost  invidiously  eulogized  by  those 
Parliaments  who  treat  harshly  his  fiither ;  and  these  records 
afford  a  strong  presumption  that  some  early  petulance  or 
riot  has  been  much  exaggerated  by  the  vulgar  minds  of  our 
chroniclers.  One  can  scarcely  understand,  at  least,  that  a 
prince  who  was  three  years  engaged  in  quelling  the  danger- 
ous insurrection  of  Glendower,  and  who  in  the  latter  time 
of  his  father's  reign  presided  at  the  council,  was  so  lost  in  a 
cloud  of  low  debauchery  as  common  fame  represents.  Loved 
he  certainly  was  throughout  his  life,  as  so  intrepid,  affable, 
and  generous  a  temper  well  deserved;  and  this  sentiment  was 
heightened  to  admiration  by  successes  still  more  rapid  and 
dazzling  than  those  of  Edward  III.  During  his  reign  there 
scarcely  appears  any  vestige  of  dissatisfaction  in  Parliament 
— a  circumstance  very  honorable,  whether  we  ascribe  it  to 
the  justice  of  his  administration  or  to  the  affection  of  his 
people. 

The  Parliament  confirmed  the  league  of  Henry  V.  with 
the  Emperor  Sigismund  ;  and  the  treaty  of  Troyes,  which 
was  so  fundamentally  to  change  the  situation  of  Henry  and 
his  successors,  obtained,  as  it  evidently  required,  the  sanction 
of  both  houses  of  Parliament.  These  precedents  conspiring 
with  the  weakness  of  the  executive  government,  in  the  mi- 
nority of  Henry  VI.,  to  fling  an  increase  of  influence  into  the 
scale  of  the  Commons,  they  made  their  concurrence  necessa- 
ry to  all  important  business  both  of  a  foreign  and  domestic 
nature.  Thus  commissioners  were  appointed  to  treat  of  the 
deliverance  of  the  King  of  Scots,  the  duchesses  of  Bedford 
and  Gloucester  were  made  denizens,  and  mediators  were  ap- 
pointed to  reconcile  the  dukes  of  Gloucester  and  Burgundy, 
by  authority  of  the  three  estates  assembled  in  Parliament. 
Leave  was  given  to  the  dukes  of  Bedford  and  Gloucester, 
and  others  in  the  king's  behalf,  to  treat  of  peace  with 
France,  by  both  houses  of  Parliament,  in  pursuance  of  an  ar- 
ticle in  the  treaty  of  Troyes,  that  no  treaty  should  be  set  on 
foot  with  the  dauphin  without  consent  of  the  three  estates 
of  both  realms.     This  article  was  afterwards  repealed. 

Some  complaints  are  made  by  the  Commons,  even  during 
the  first  years  of  Henry's  minority,  that  the  king's  sub- 
jects, underwent  arbitrary  imprisonment,  and  were  vexed  by 


English  Const.     IMPEACHMENT  OF  MINISTERS.  487 

summonses  before  the  council  and  by  the  newly-invented 
writ  of  subpoena  out  of  chancery.  But  these  are  not  so  com- 
mon as  formerly;  and  so  far  as  the  rolls  lead  us  to  any  in- 
ference, there  was  less  injustice  committed  by  the  govern- 
ment under  Henry  VI.  and  his  father  than  at  any  former  pe- 
riod. Wastefulness,  indeed,  might  justly  be  imputed  to  the 
regency,  who  had  scandalously  lavished  the  king's  revenue. 
This  ultimately  led  to  an  act  for  resuming  all  grants  since  his 
accession,  founded  upon  a  public  declaration  of  the  great  of- 
ficers of  the  crown  that  his  debts  amounted  to  £372,000, 
and  the  annual  expense  of  the  household  amounted  to 
£24,000,  while  the  ordinary  revenue  was  not  more  than 
£5000. 

6.  Impeachment  of  Ministers. — But  before  this  time  the 
sky  had  begun  to  darken,  and  discontent  with  the  actual  ad- 
ministration pervaded  every  rank.  The  causes  of  this  are 
familiar — the  unpopularity  of  the  king's  marriage  with  Mar- 
garet of  Anjou,  and  her  impolitic  violence  in  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  particularly  the  imputed  murder  of  the-people's  favor- 
ite, the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  This  provoked  an  attack  upon 
her  own  creature,  the  Duke  of  Suffolk.  Impeachment  had 
lain  still,  like  a  sword  in  the  scabbard,  since  the  accession  of 
Henry  IV.  In  Suffolk's  case  the  Commons  seem  to  have 
proceeded  by  bill  of  attainder,  or  at  least  to  have  designed 
the  judgment  against  that  minister  to  be  the  act  of  the 
whole  legislature;  for  they  delivered  a  bill  containing  arti- 
cles against  him  to  the  Lords,  with  a  request  that  they  would 
pray  the  king's  majesty  to  enact  that  bill  in  Parliament,  and 
that  the  said  duke  might  be  proceeded  against  upon  the  said 
articles  in  Parliament  according  to  the  law  and  custom  of 
England.  These  articles  contained  charges  of  high  treason, 
chiefly  relating  to  his  conduct  in  France,  which,  whether 
treasonable  or  not,  seems  to  have  been  grossly  against  the 
honor  and  advantage  of  the  crown.  At  a  later  day  the  Com- 
mons presented  many  other  articles  of  misdemeanor.  To 
the  former  he  made  a  defense,  in  presence  of  tb'^  king  as  well 
as  the  Lords,  both  spiritual  and  temporal ;  and  indeed  the 
articles  of  impeachment  were  directly  addressed  to  the  king, 
which  gave  him  a  reasonable  pretext  to  interfere  in  the  judg- 
ment. But  from  apprehension,  as  it  is  said,  that  Suffolk 
could  not  escape  conviction  upon  at  least  some  part  of  these 
charges,  Henry  anticipated  with  no  slight  irregularity  tho 
course  of  legal  trial,  and,  summoning  the  peers  into  a  private 
chamber,  informed  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  by  mouth  of  his  chan- 
cellor, that,  inasmuch  as  he  had  not  put  himself  upon  his 


488  PRIVILEGE  OF  PARLIAMENT.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

peerage,  but  submitted  wholly  to  the  royal  pleasure,  the 
king,  acquitting  him  of  the  first  articles  containing  matter  of 
treason,  by  his  own  advice  and  not  that  of  the  Lords,  nor  by 
way  of  judgment,  not  being  in  a  place  where  judgment, 
could  be  delivered,  banished  him  for  five  years  from  his 
dominions.  The  lords  then  present  besought  the  king  to 
let  their  protest  appear  on  record,  that  neither  they  nor  their 
posterity  might  lose  their  rights  of  peerage  by  this  prece- 
dent. It  was  justly  considered  as  an  arbitrary  stretch  of 
prerogative,  in  order  to  defeat  the  privileges  of  Parliament 
and  screen  a  favorite  minister  from  punishment.  But  the 
course  of  proceeding  by  bill  of  attainder  instead  of  regular 
impeachment  was  not  judiciously  chosen  by  the  Commons. 

Privilege  of  Parliament. — Privilege  of  Parliament,  an  ex- 
tensive and  singular  branch  of  our  constitutional  law,  be- 
gins to  attract  attention  under  the  Lancastrian  princes.  It 
is  true,  indeed,  that  we  can  trace  long  before  by  records,  and 
may  infer  with  probability  as  to  times  whose  records  have 
not  survived,  one  considerable  immunity — a  freedom  from 
arrest  for  persons  transacting  the  king's  business  in  his  na- 
tional council.  But  in  those  rude  times  members  of  Parlia- 
ment were  not  always  respected  by  the  officers  executing 
legal  process,  and  still  less  by  the  violators  of  law.  After 
several  remonstrances,  w^hich  the  crown  had  evaded,  the 
Commons  obtained  the  statute  11  Henry  VI.,c.  ll,for  the 
punishment  of  such  as  assault  any  on  their  way  to  the  Par- 
liament, giving  double  damages  to  the  party.  They  had 
more  difficulty  in  establishing,  notwithstanding  the  old  prec- 
edents in  their  favor,  an  immunity  from  all  criminal  process 
except  in  charges  of  treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace, 
which  is  their  present  measure  of  privilege.  The  most  cele- 
brated, however,  of  these  early  cases  of  privilege  is  that  of 
Thomas  Thorp,  speaker  of  the  Commons  in  31  Henry  VI. 
This  person,  who  was,  moreover,  a  baron  of  the  Exchequer, 
had  been  imprisoned  on  an  execution  at  suit  of  the  Duke  of 
York.  The  Commons  sent  some  of  their  members  to  com- 
plain of  a  violation  of  privilege  to  the  king  and  Lords  in  Par- 
liament, and  to  demand  Thorp's  release.  It  was  alleged  by 
the  Duke  of  York's  counsel  that  the  trespass  done  by  Thorp 
was  since  the  beginning  of  the  Parliament,  and  the  judgment 
thereon  given  in  time  of  vacation,  and  not  during  the  sitting. 
The  Lords  referred  the  question  to  the  judges,  who  said, 
after  deliberation,  that  "  they  ought  not  to  answer  to  that 
question,  for  it  hath  not  be  used  aforetyme  that  the  judges 
should  in  any  wise  determine  the  privilege  of  this  high  court 


English  Const.      PRIVILEGE  OF  PARLIAMENT.  489 

of  Parliament ;  for  it  is  so  high  and  so  mighty  in  his  nature 
that  it  may  make  hiw,  and  that  that  is  law  it  may  make  no 
law ;  and  the  determination  and  knowledge  of  that  privilege 
belongeth  to  the  Lords  of  the  Parliament,  and  not  to  the  jus- 
tices." They  went  on,  however,  after  observing  that  a  gen- 
eral writ  of  supersedeas  of  all  processes  upon  ground  of  priv- 
ilege had  not  been  known  to  say  that,  "  if  any  person  that 
is  a  member  of  this  high  court  of  Parliament  be  an-ested  in 
such  cases  as  be  not  for  treason,  or  felony,  or  surety  of  the 
peace,  or  for  a  condemnation  had  before  the  Parliament,  it  is 
used  that  all  such  persons  should  be  released  of  sucli  arrests 
and  make  an  attorney,  so  that  they  may  have  their  freedom 
and  liberty  freely  to  intend  upon  the  Parliament." 

Notwithstanding  this  answer  of  the  judges,  it  was  con- 
cluded by  the  Lords  that  Thorp  should  remain  in  prison,  with- 
out regarding  the  alleged  privilege ;  and  the  Commons  were 
directed  in  the  king's  name  to  proceed  "  with  all  goodly 
haste  and  speed"  to  the  election  of  a  new  speaker,  vlt  is 
curious  to  observe  that  the  Commons,  forgetting  their  griev- 
ances, or  content  to  drop  them,  made  such  haste  and  speed 
according  to  this  command  that  they  presented  a  new  speak- 
er for  approbation  the  next  day. 

This  case,  as  has  been  strongly  said,  was  begotten  by  the 
iniquity  of  the  times.  The  state  was  verging  fast  towards 
civil  war ;  and  Thorp,  who  afterwards  distinguished  himself 
for  the  Lancastrian  cause,  was  an  inveterate  enemy  of  the 
Duke  of  York.  That  prince  seems  to  have  been  swayed  a 
little  from  his  usual  temper  in  procuring  so  unwarrantable 
a  determination.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  the  Commons 
claimed  privilege  against  any  civil  suit  during  the  time  of 
their  session  ;  but  they  had  recourse,  as  before,  to  a  particu- 
lar act  of  Parliament  to  obtain  a  writ  of  supersedeas  in  favor 
of  one  Atwell,  a  member,  who  had  been  sued.  The  present 
law  of  privilege  seems  not  to  have  been  fully  established,  or 
at  least  effectually  maintained,  before  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIIL 

No  privilege  of  the  Commons  can  be  so  fundamental  as 
liberty  of  speech.  This  is  claimed  at  the  opening  of  every 
Parliament  by  their  speaker,  and  could  never  be  infringed 
without  shaking  the  ramparts  of  the  constitution.  Richard 
.IL's  attack  upon  Haxey  has  been  already  mentioned  as  a  fla- 
grant evidence  of  his  despotic  intentions.  No  other  case  oc- 
curs until  the  33d  year  of  Henry  VI.,  w^hen  Thomas  Young, 
member  for  Bristol,  complained  to  the  Commons  that, "  for 
matters  by  him  showed  in  the  house  accustomed  for  the 

21* 


490  PRIVILEGE  OF  PARLIAMENT.     Chap.  VIIL  Part  III. 

Commons  in  the  said  Parliaments,  he  was  therefore  taken, 
arrested,  and  rigorously  in  open  wise  led  to  the  Tower  of 
London,  and  there  grievously  in  great  duress  long  time  im- 
prisoned against  the  said  freedom  and  liberty ;"  with  much 
more  to  the  like  effect.  The  Commons  transmitted  this  peti- 
tion to  the  Lords,  and  the  king  "  willed  that  the  lords  of  his 
council  do  and  provide  for  the  said  suppliant  as  in  their  dis- 
cretions shall  be  thought  convenient  and  reasonable."  This 
imprisonment  of  Young,  however,  had  happened  six  years 
before,  in  consequence  of  a  motion  made  by  him  that,  the 
king  then  having  no  issue,  the  Duke  of  York  might  be  de- 
clared heir-apparent  to  the  crown.  In  the  present  session, 
when  the  duke  was  protector,  he  thought  it  well-timed  to 
prefer  his  claim  to  remuneration. 

There  is  a  remarkable  precedent  in  the  9th  of  Henry  lY., 
and  perhaps  the  earliest  authority  for  two  eminent  maxims, 
of  Parliamentary  law — that  the  Commons  possess  an  exclu- 
sive right  of  originating  money  bills,  and  that  the  king  ought 
not  to  take  notice  of  matters  pending  in  Parliament.  A 
quarrel  broke  out  between  the  two  houses  upon  this  ground ; 
and  as  Ave  have  not  before  seen  the  Commons  venture  to 
clash  openly  with  their  superiors,  the  circumstance  is  for  this 
additional  reason  worthy  of  attention.  As  it  has  been  little 
noticed,!  shall  translate  the  whole  record.^* 

IS  "  Friday,  the  second  day  of  December,  which  was  the  last  day  of  the  Parliameut, 
the  Commons  came  before  the  king  and  the  Lords  in  Parliament,  and  there,  by  com- 
mand of  the  king,  a  schedule  of  indemnity  touching  a  certain  altercation  moved  be- 
tween the  Lords  and  Commons  was  read  ;  and  on  this  it  was  commanded  by  onrsaid 
lord  the  king  that  the  said  schedule  should  be  entered  of  record  in  the  roll  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  of  which  schedule  the  tenor  is  as  follows :  Be  it  remembered,  that  on  Mon- 
day, the  21st  day  of  November,  the  king  our  sovereign  lord  being  in  the  council- 
chamber  in  the  abbey  of  Gloucester,  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal  for  this  present 
Parliament  assembled  being  then  in  his  presence,  a  debate  took  place  among  them 
about  the  state  of  the  kingdom,  and  its  defense  to  resist  the  malice  of  the  enemies 
who  on  every  side  prepare  to  molest  the  said  kingdom  and  its  faithful  subjects,  and 
how  no  man  can  resist  this  malice  unless,  for  the  safeguard  and  defense  of  his  said 
kingdom,  our  sovereign  lord  the  king  has  some  notable  aid  and  subsidy  granted  to 
him  in  his  present  Parliament.  And  therefore  it  was  demanded  of  the  said  Lords  by 
way  of  question  what  aid  would  be  sufficient  and  requisite  in  these  circumstances? 
To  which  question  it  was  answered  by  the  said  Lords  severally,  that,  considering  the 
necessity  of  the  king  on  one  side  and  the  poverty  of  his  people  on  the  other,  no  less 
aid  could  be  sufficient  than  one-tenth  and  a  half  from  cities  and  towns,  and  one-fif- 
teenth and  a  half  from  all  other  lay  persons ;  and,  besides,  to  grant  a  continuance  of 
the  subsidy  on  wool,  wool-fells,  and  leather,  and  of  three  shillings  on  the  tun  (of 
wine),  and  twelve  pence  on  the  pound  (of  other  merchandise),  from  Michaelmas 
next  ensuing  for  two  years  thenceforth.  Whereupon,  by  command  of  our  said  lord 
the  king,  a  message  was  sent  to  the  Commons  of  this  Parliament  to  cause  a  certain  . 
number  of  their  body  to  come  before  our  said  lord  the  king  and  the  Lords,  in  order 
to  hear  and  report  to  their  companions  what  they  should  be  commanded  by  our  said 
lord  the  king.  And  upon  this  the  said  Commons  sent  into  the  presence  of  our  said 
lord  the  king  and  the  said  Lords  twelve  of  their  companions ;  to  whom,  by  command 
of  our  said  lord  the  king,  the  said  question  was  declared,  with  the  answer  by  the  said 
lords  severally  given  to  it.    Which  answer  it  was  the  pleasure  of  our  said  lord  the 


English  Const.      PRIVILEGE  OF  PARLIAMENT.  491 

Every  attentive  reader  will  discover  this  remarkable  pas- 
sage to  illustrate  several  points  of  constitutional  law.  For 
hence  it  may  be  perceived — first,  that  the  king  was  used  in 
those  times,  to  be  present  at  debates  of  the  Lords,  personal- 
ly advising  with  them  upon  the  public  business ;  which  also 
appears  by  many  other  passages  on  record ;  and  this  prac- 
tice, I  conceive,  is  not  abolished  by  the  king's  present  dec- 
laration, save  as  to  grants  of  money,  which  ought  to  be  of 
the  free-will  of  Parliament,  and  without  that  fear  or  influ- 
ence which  the  presence  of  so  high  a  person  might  create : 
secondly,  that  it  was  already  the  established  law  of  Parlia- 
ment that  the  Lords  should  consent  to  the  Commons'  grant, 
and  not  the  Commons  to  the  Lords' ;  since  it  is  the  inversion 
of  this  order  whereof  the  Commons  complain,  and  it  is  said 
expressly  that  grants  are  made  by  the  Commons,  and  agreed 
to  by  the  Lords :  thirdly,  that  the  lower  house  of  Parliament 
is  not,  in  proper  language,  an  estate  of  the  realm,  but  rather 
the  image  and  representative  of  the  Commons  ot  England ; 
who,  being  the  third  estate,  with  the  nobility  and  clergy 
make  up  and  constitute  the  people  of  this  kingdom  and  liege 
subjects  of  the  crown. ^" 

king  that  they  should  report  to  the  rest  of  their  fellow?,  to  the  end  that  they  might 
take  the  shortest  course  to  comply  with  the  intention  of  the  siiid  Lords.  Which  re- 
port being  thus  made  to  the  said  commons,  they  were  greatly  disturbed  at  it,  saying 
and  asserting  it  to  be  much  to  the  prejudice  and  derogation  of  their  liberties.  And 
after  that  our  said  lord  the  king  had  heard  this,  not  willing  that  any  thing  should  be 
done  at  present,  or  in  time  to  come,  that  might  anywise  turn  against  the  liberty  of 
the  estate  for  which  they  are  come  to  Parliament,  nor  against  the  liberties  of  the 
said  Lords,  wills  and  grants  and  declares,  by  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  said  Lords, 
as  follows :  to  wit,  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Lords  to  debate  together  in  this  pres- 
ent Parliament,  and  in  every  other  for  time  to  come,  in  the  king's  absence,  concern- 
ing the  condition  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  remedies  necessary  for  it.  And  in  like 
manner  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Commons,  on  their  part,  to  debate  together  concern- 
ing the  said  condition  and  remedies.  Provided  always  that  neither  the  Lords  on  their 
part,  nor  the  Cxjmmons  on  theirs,  do  make  any  report  to  our  said  lord  the  king  of  any 
grant  granted  by  the  Commons,  and  agreed  to  by  the  Lords,  nor  of  the  communica- 
tions of  the  said  grant,  before  that  the  said  Lords  and  Commons  are  of  one  accord 
and  agreement  in  this  matter,  and  then  in  manner  and  form  accustomed— that  is  to 
say,  by  the  mouth  of  the  speaker  of  the  said  Commons  for  the  time  being— to  the  end 
that  the  said  Lords  and  Commons  may  have  what  they  desire  (avoir  puissent  leur  gree) 
of  our  said  lord  the  king.  Our  said  lord  the  king  willing,  moreover,  by  the  consent 
of  the  said  Lords,  that  the  communication  had  in  this  present  Parliament  as  above  be 
not  drawn  into  precedent  in  time  to  come,  nor  be  turned  to  the  prejudice  or  deroga- 
tion of  the  liberty  of  the  estate  for  which  the  said  Commons  are  now  come,  neither  in 
this  present  Parliament  nor  in  any  other  time  to  come.  But  wills  that  himself  and 
all  the  other  estates  should  be  as  free  as  they  were  before.  Also,  the  said  last  day  of 
Parliament,  the  said  speaker  prayed  our  said  lord  the  king,  on  the  part  of  the  said 
Commons,  that  he  would  grant  the  said  Commons  that  they  should  depart  in  as  great 
liberty  as  other  Commons  had  done  before.  To  which  the  king  answered  that  this 
pleased  him  well,  and  that  at  all  times  it  had  been  his  desire." 

i«  A  notion  is  entertained  by  many  people,  and  not  without  the  authority  of  some 
very  respectable  names,  that  the  king  is  one  of  the  three  estates  of  the  realm,  the 
lords  spiritual  and  temporal  forming  together  the  second,  as  the  Commons  in  Parlia- 
ment  do  the  third.    This  is  contradicted  by  the  general  tenor  of  our  ancient  records 


492      RIGHT  OF  VOTING  FOR  KNIGHTS.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III 

It  was  not  only  in  money  bills  that  the  originating  power 
was  supposed  to  reside  in  the  Commons.  The  course  of  pro- 
ceedings in  Parliament,  as  has  been  seen,  from  the  commence- 
ment at  least  of  Edward  III.'s  reign,  was  that  the  Commons 
presented  petitions,  which  the  Lords  by  themselves,  or  with 
the  assistance  of  the  council,  having  duly  considered,  the 
sanction  of  the  king  was  notified  or  withheld.  This  was  so 
much  according  to  usage,  that  on  one  occasion,  when  the 
Commons  requested  the  advice  of  the  other  house  on  a  mat- 
ter before  them,  it  was  answered  that  the  ancient  custom 
and  form  of  Parliament  had  ever  been  for  the  Commons  to 
report  their  own  opinion  to  the  king  and  Lords,  and  not  to 
The  contrary;  and  the  king  would  have  the  ancient  and  laud- 
able usages  of  Parliament  maintained.  It  is  singular  that, 
m  the  terror  of  innovation,  the  Lords  did  not  discover  how 
materially  this  usage  of  Parliament  took  off  from  their  own 
legislative  influence.  The  rule,  however,  was  not  observed  in 
succeeding  times ;  bills  originated  indiscriminately  in  either 
house;  and  indeed  some  acts  of  Henry  V.,  which  do  not  ap- 
pear to  be  grounded  on  any  petition,  may  be  suspected,  from 
the  manner  of  their  insertion  in  the  rolls  of  Parliament,  to 
have  been  proposed  on  the  king's  part  to  the  Commons. 

§17.  Whoever  may  have  been  the  original  voters  for 
county  representatives,  the  first  statute  that  regulates  their 
election,  so  far  from  limiting  the  privilege  to  tenants  in  cap- 
ite,  appears  to  place  it  upon  a  very  large  and  democratical 
foundation.  For  (as  I  rather  conceive,  though  not  without 
much  hesitation)  not  only  all  freeholders,  but  all  persons 
whatever  present  at  the  County  Court,  were  declared,  or 
rendered,  capable  of  voting  for  the  knight  of  their  shire. 
Such  at  least  seems  to  be  the  inference  from  the  expressions 
of  7  Henry  IV.,  c.  15,  "all  who  are  there  present,  as  well  suit- 
ors duly  summoned  for  that  cause  as  others."  And  this  ac- 
quires some  degree  of  confirmation  from  the  later  statute, 
8  Henry  VI.,  c.  7,  which,  reciting  that  "elections  of  knights 
of  shires  have  now  of  late  been  made  by  very  great,  outra- 
geous, and  excessive  number  of  people  dwelling  within  the 
same  counties,  of  the  which  most  part  was  people  of  small 
substance  and  of  no  value,"  confines  the  elective  franchise 
to  freeholders  of  lands  or  tenements  to  the  value  of  forty 
shillings. 

and  law-books ;  and  indeed  the  analogy  of  other  governments  ought  to  have  the 
greatest  weight,  even  if  more  reason  for  doubt  appeared  upon  the  face  of  our  own 
authorities.  But  the  instances  where  the  three  estates  are  declared  or  implied  to 
be  the  nobility,  clergy,  and  commons,  or  at  least  their  representatives  in  Parliament, 
are  too  numerous  for  insertion. 


English  Const.        ELECTION  OF  BURGESSES.  493 

The  representation  of  towns  in  Parliament  was  founded 
upon  two  principles — of  consent  to  public  burdens,  and  of 
advice  in  public  measures,  especially  such  as  related  to  trade 
and  shipping.  Upon  both  these  accounts  it  was  natural  for 
the  kings  who  first  summoned  them  to  Parliament,  little  fore- 
seeing that  such  half-emancipated  burghers  would  ever  clip 
the  loftiest  plumes  of  their  prerogative,  to  make  these  as- 
semblies numerous,  and  summon  members  from  every  town 
of  consideration  in  the  kingdom.  Thus  the  writ  of  23  Ed- 
ward I.  directs  the  sheriffs  to  cause  deputies  to  be  elected 
to  a  general  council  from  every  city,  borough,  and  trading- 
town.  And  although  the  last  words  are  omitted  in  subse- 
quent writs,  yet  their  spirit  was  preserved ;  many  towns 
having  constantly  returned  members  to  Parliament  by  reg- 
ular summonses  from  the  sheriffs,  which  were  no  chartered 
boroughs,  nor  had  apparently  any  other  claim  than  their 
populousness  or  commerce.  These  are  now  called  boroughs 
by  prescription.*^ 

Besides  these  respectable  towns,  there  were  some  of  a  less 
eminent  figure  which  had  writs  directed  to  them  as  ancient 
demesnes  of  the  crown.  During  times  of  arbitrary  taxation 
the  crown  had  set  tallages  alike  upon  its  chartered  boroughs 
and  upon  its  tenants  in  demesne.  When  Parliamentary  con- 
sent became  indispensable,  the  free  tenants  in  ancient  de- 
mesne, or  rather  such  of  them  as  inhabited  some  particular 
vills,  were  called  to  Parliament  among  the  other  representa- 
tives of  the  Commons.  They  are  usually  specified  distinctly 
from  the  other  classes  of  representatives  in  grants  of  subsi- 
dies throughout  the  Parliaments  of  the  first  and  second  Ed- 
wards, till,  about  the  beginning  of  the  third's  reign,  they 
were  confounded  with  ordinary  burgesses.  This  is  the  foun- 
dation of  that  particular  species  of  elective  franchise  incident 
to  what  we  denominate  burgage  tenure ;  which,  however,  is 
not  confined  to  the  ancient  demesne  of  the  crown. 

The  proper  constituents,  therefore,  of  the  citizens  and  bur- 
gesses in  Parliament  appear  to  have  been — 1.  All  chartered 
boroughs,  whether  they  derived  their  privileges  from  the 
crown  or  from  a  mesne  lord,  as  several  in  Cornwall  did  from 
Richard,  king  of  the  Romans ;  2.  All  towns  which  were  the 
ancient  or  the  actual  demesne  of  the  crow^n ;  3.  All  consid- 
erable places,  though  unincorporated,  which  could  afford  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  their  representatives,  and  had  a  nota- 
ble interest  in  the  public  welfare.     But  no  Parliament  ever 

»'  The  majority  of  prescriptive  boroughs  have  prescriptive  corporations  which  carry 
the  legal,  which  is  not  always  the  moral,  presumption  of  an  original  charter. 


494  POWER  OF  SHERIFF.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

perfectly  corresponded  with  this  theory.  The  writ  was  ad- 
dressed ill  general  terms  to  the  sheriff,  requiring  him  to 
cause  two  knights  to  be  elected  out  of  the  body  of  the 
county,  two  citizens  from  every  city,  and  two  burgesses 
from  every  borough.  It  rested  altogether  upon  him  to  de- 
termine what  towns  should  exercise  this  franchise;  and  it  is 
really  incredible,  with  all  the  carelessness  and  ignorance  of 
those  times,  what  frauds  the  sheriffs  ventured  to  commit  in 
executing  this  trust.  Though  Parliaments  met  almost  every 
year,  and  there  could  be  no  mistake  in  so  notorious  a  fact, 
it  was  the  continual  yjractice  of  sheriffs  to  omit  boroughs 
that  had  been  in  recent  habit  of  electing  members,  and  to 
return  upon  the  writ  that  there  were  no  more  within  their 
county.  Thus  in  the  1 2th  of  Edward  III.  the  Sheriff  of  Wilt- 
shire, after  returning  two  citizens  for  Salisbury,  and  burgesses 
for  two  boroughs,  concludes  with  these  words:  "There  are  no 
other  cities  or  boroughs  within  my  bailiwick."  Yet,  in  fact, 
eight  other  towns  had  sent  members  to  preceding  Parlia- 
ments. So  in  the  6th  of  Edward  II.  the  Sheriff  of  Bucks 
declared  that  he  had  no  borough  within  his  county  except 
Wicomb;  though  Wendover,  Agmondeshain,  and  Marlow 
had  twice  made  returns  since  that  king's  accession.  And 
from  this  cause  alone  it  has  happened  that  many  towns 
called  boroughs,  and  having  a  charter  and  constitution  as 
such,  never  returned  members  to  Parliament ;  some  of  which 
are  now  among  the  most  considerable  in  England — as  Leeds, 
Birmingham,  and  Macclesfield. 

It  has  been  suggested,  indeed,  that  these  returns  may  not 
appear  so  false  and  collusive  if  we  suppose  the  sheriff  to 
mean  only  that  there  were  no  resident  burgesses  within  these 
boroughs  fit  to  be  returned,  or  that  the  expense  of  their 
Avages  would  be  too  heavy  for  the  place  to  support.  And 
no  doubt  the  latter  plea,  whether  implied  or  not  in  the  re- 
turn, was  very  frequently  an  inducement  to  the  sheriffs  to 
spare  the  smaller  boroughs.  The  wages  of  knights  were  four 
shillings  a  day,  levied  on  all  freeholders,  or  at  least  on  all 
holding  by  knight-service,  within  the  county.  Those  of 
burgesses  were  half  that  sum  ;"*  but  even  this  pittance  was 

^8  The  wages  of  knights  and  bnrgesses  were  first  rednced  to  this  certain  snm  by 
the  writs  De  levandis  expensis,  10  Edward  II.  These  were  issued  at  the  request  of 
those  who  had  served,  after  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  and  included  a  certain 
number  of  days,  according  to  the  distance  of  the  county  whence  they  came,  forgoing 
and  returning.  It  appears  by  these  that  thirty-live  or  forty  miles  were  reckoned  a 
day's  journey ;  which  may  correct  the  exaggerated  notions  of  bad  roads  and  tardy 
locomotion  that  are  sometimes  entertained. 

The  latest  entries  of  writs  for  expenses  in  the  close  rolls  are  of  2  Henry  V. ;  bnt 
they  may  be  proved  to  have  issued  much  longer  ;  and  Prynne  traces  them  to  the  end 


English  Const.        ELECTORS  IN  BOROUGHS.  495 

raised  with  reluctance  and  difficulty  from  miserable  burghers 
little  solicitous  about  political  franchises.  Poverty,  indeed, 
seems  to  have  been  accepted  as  a  legal  excuse. 

The  elective  franchise  was  deemed  by  the  boroughs  no 
privilege  or  blessing,  but  rather,  during  the  chief  part  of 
this  period,  an  intolerable  grievance.  Where  they  could  not 
persuade  the  sheriff  to  omit  sending  his  writ  to  them  they 
set  it  at  defiance  by  sending  no  return.  And  this  seldom 
failed  to  succeed,  so  that,  after  one  or  two  refusals  to  comply, 
which  brought  no  punishment  upon  them,  they  were  left  in 
quiet  enjoyment  of  their  insignificance. 

The  partiality  of  sheriffs  in  leaving  out  boroughs,  which 
w^ere  accustomed  in  old  time  to  come  to  the  Parliament,  was 
repressed,  as  far  as  law  could  repress  it,  by  a  statute  of 
Richard  IL,  which  imposed  a  fine  on  them  for  such  neglect, 
and  upon  any  member  of  Parliament  who  should  absent  him- 
self from  his  duty.  But  it  is,  I  think,  highly  probable  that  a 
great  part  of  those  who  were  elected  from  the  boroughs  did 
not  trouble  themselves  with  attendance  in  Parliament.  The 
sheriff  even  found  it  necessary  to  take  sureties  for  their  exe- 
cution of  so  burdensome  a  duty,  whose  names  it  was  usual, 
down  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  to  indorse  upon  the 
writ  along  with  those  of  the  elected.  This  expedient  is  not 
likely  to  have  been  very  successful,  and  the  statute  of  Rich- 
ard 11.  produced  no  sensible  effect. 

By  what  persons  the  election  of  burgesses  w*as  usually  made 
is  a  question  of  great  obscurity.  It  appears  to  have  been  the 
common  practice  for  a  very  few  of  the  principal  members  of 
the  corporation  to  make  the  election  in  the  County  Court, 
and  their  names,  as  actual  electors,  are  generally  returned 
upon  the  writ  by  the  sheriff.  But  we  can  not  surely  be  war- 
ranted by  this  to  infer  that  they  acted  in  any  other  capacity 
than  as  deputies  of  the  whole  body,  and  indeed  it  is  frequent- 
ly expressed  that  they  chose  such  and  such  persons  by  the 
assent  of  the  community ;  by  which  word,  in  an  ancient  cor- 
porate borough,  it  seems  natural  to  understand  the  freemen 
participating  in  its  general  franchises,  rather  than  the  ruling 
body,  which,  in  many  instances  at  present,  and  always  per- 
haps in  the  earliest  age  of  corporations,  derived  its  authority 
by  delegation  from  the  rest.  The  consent,  however,  of  the 
inferior  freemen  we  may  easily  believe  to  have  been  merely 

of  Henry  VIIL's  reign,  p.  547.  Withonh  the  formality  of  this  writ  a  very  few  instances 
of  towns  remunerating  their  bnrgesses  for  attendance  in  Parliament  are  known  to 
have  occurred  in  later  times.  Andrew  Marvel  is  commonly  said  to  have  been  the 
last  who  received  this  honorable  salary. 


496  MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMONS.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

nominal ;  and,  from  being  nominal,  it  would  in  many  places 
come  by  degrees  not  to  be  required  at  all — the  corporation, 
specially  so  denominated,  or  municipal  government,  acquiring 
iby  length  of  usage  an  exclusive  privilege  in  election  of  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  as  they  did  in  local  administration.  This, 
at  least,  appears  to  me  a  more  probable  hypothesis  than  that 
of  Dr.  Brady,  who  limits  the  original  right  of  election  in  all 
corporate  boroughs  to  the  aldermen  or  other  capital  bur- 
gesses.^^ 

The  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  from  this  occa- 
sional disuse  of  ancient  boroughs  as  well  as  from  the  creation 
of  new  ones,  underwent  some  fluctuation  during  the  period 
subject  to  our  review.  Two  hundred  citizens  and  burgesses 
sat  in  the  Parliament  held  by  Edward  I.  in  his  twenty-third 
year,  the  earliest  epoch  of  acknowledged  representation. 
But  in  the  reigns  of  Edward  III.  and  his  three  successors 
about  ninety  places,  on  an  average,  returned  members,  so  that 
we  may  reckon  this  part  of  the  C/ommons  at  one  hundred  and 
eighty.  These,  if  regular  in  their  duties,  might  appear  an 
overbalance  for  the  seventy-four  knights  who  sat  with  them. 
But  the  dignity  of  ancient  lineage,  territorial  wealth,  and 
military  character,  in  times  when  the  feudal  spirit  was  hard- 
ly extinct  and  that  of  chivalry  at  its  height,  made  these 
burghers  veil  their  heads  to  the  landed  aristocracy.  It  is 
pretty  manifest  that  the  knights,  though  doubtless  with  some 
support  from  the  representatives  of  towns,  sustained  the 
chief  brunt  of  battle  against  the  crown.  The  rule  and  in- 
tention of  our  old  constitution  was,  that  each  county,  city,  or 
borough  should  elect  deputies  out  of  its  own  body,  resident 
among  themselves,  and  consequently  acquainted  with  their 
necessities  and  grievances.  It  would  be  very  interesting  to 
discover  at  what  time,  and  by  what  degrees,  the  practice  of 
election  swerved  from  this  strictness.  But  I  have  not  been 
able  to  trace  many  steps  of  the  transition.  The  number  of 
practising  lawyers  who  sat  in  Parliament,  of  which  there  ai"e 
several  complaints,  seems  to  aftbrd  an  inference  that  it  had 
begun  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  Besides  several  petitions 
of  the  commons  that  none  but  knights  or  reputable  squires 
should  be  returned  for  shires,  an  ordinance  was  made  in  the 
forty-sixth  of  his  reign  that  no  lawyer  practising  in  the  King's 
Court,  nor  sheriff  during  his  shrievalty,  be  returned  knight 
for  a  county,  because  these  lawyers  put  forward  many  peti- 
tions in  the  name  of  the  Commons  which  only  concerned  their 
clients.     This,  probably,  was  truly  alleged,  as  we  may  guess 

>»  Brady  on  Borough?,  p.  132,  etc. 


English  Coxst.      MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMONS.  497 

from  the  vast  number  of  proposals  for  changing  the  course 
of  legal  process  which  fill  the  rolls  during  this  reign.  It  is 
not  to  be  doubted,  however,  that  many  practising  lawyers 
were  men  of  landed  estate  in  their  respective  counties. 

An  act  in  the  first  year  of  Henry  V.  directs  that  none  be 
chosen  knights,  citizens,  or  burgesses  who  are  not  resident 
within  the  place  for  which  they  are  returned  on  the  day  of 
the  date  of  the  writ.  This  statute  apparently  indicates  a 
point  of  time  when  the  deviation  from  the  line  of  law  was 
frequent  enough  to  attract  notice,  and  yet  not  so  established 
as  to  pass  for  an  unavoidable  irregularit}^  Even  at  the  time 
when  it  was  enacted,  the  law  had  probably,  as  such,  very 
little  effect.  But  still  the  plurality  of  elections  were  made 
according  to  ancient  usage,  as  well  as  statute,  out  of  the  con- 
stituent body.  The  contrary  instances  were  exceptions  to 
the  rule,  but  exceptions  increasing  continually  till  they  sub- 
verted the  rule  itself  Prynne  has  remarked  that  we  chiefly 
find  Cornish  surnames  among  the  representatives  of  Corn- 
wall, and  those  of  Northern  families  among  the  returns  from 
the  North.  Nor  do  the  members  for  shires  and  towns  seem 
to  have  been  much  interchanged — the  names  of  the  former 
belonging  to  the  most  ancient  families,  while  those  of  the  lat- 
ter have  a  more  plebeian  caste.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  IV., 
and  not  before,  a  very  few  of  the  burgesses  bear  the  addition 
of  esquire  in  the  returns,  which  became  universal  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  succeeding  century. 

Even  county  elections  seem  in  general,  at  least  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  to  have  been  ill  attended,  and  left  to  the  in- 
fluence of  a  few  powerful  and  active  persons.  A  petitioner 
against  an  undue  return,  in  the  12th  of  Edward  II.,  complains 
that,  whereas  he  had  been  chosen  knight  for  Devon  by  Sir 
William  Martin,  bishop  of  Exeter,  with  the  consent  of  the 
county,  yet  the  sherifl*  had  returned  another.  In  several  in- 
dentures of  a  much  kter  date  a  few  persons  only  seem  to  have 
been  concerned  in  the  election,  though  the  assent  of  the  com- 
munity be  expressed.  These  irregularities,  which  it  would  be 
exceedingly  erroneous  to  convert,  with  Hume,  into  law^ful  cus- 
toms, resulted  from  the  abuses  of  the  sherifl*'s  power,  which, 
when  Parliament  sat  only  for  a  few  weeks,  with  its  hands  full 
of  business,  were  almost  sure  to  escape  wdth  impunity.  They 
were  sometimes,  also,  countenanced,  or  rather  instigated,  by 
the  crown,  which,  having  recovered  in  Edward  II.'s  reign  the 
prerogative  of  naming  the  sheriff's,  surrendered  by  an  act  of 
his  father,  filled  that  office  with  its  creatures,  and  constantly 
disregarded  the  statute  forbidding  their  continuance  beyond  a 


498  HOUSE  OF  LORDS.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

year.  Without  searching  for  every  passage  that  might  illus- 
trate the  interference  of  the  crown  in  elections,  I  will  mention 
one  or  two  leading  instances.  When  Richard  II.  was  medi- 
tating to  overturn  the  famous  commission  of  reform,  he  sent 
for  some  of  the  sheriffs,  and  required  them  to  permit  no  knight 
or  burgess  to  be  elected  to  the  next  Parliament  without  the 
approbation  of  the  king  and  his  council.  The  sheriffs  replied 
that  the  commons  would  maintain  their  ancient  privilege  of 
electing  their  own  representatives.  The  Parliament  of  1397, 
which  attainted  his  enemies  and  left  the  constitution  at  his 
mercy,  was  chosen,  as  we  are  told,  by  dint  of  intimidation  and 
influence. 

§  1 8.  The  House  of  Lords,  as  we  left  it  in  the  reign  of  Hen- 
ry HI.,  was  entirely  composed  of  such  persons  holding  lands 
by  barony  as  were  summoned  by  particular  writ  of  Parlia- 
ment. Tenure  and  summons  were  both  essential  at  this  time 
in  order  to  render  any  one  a  lord  of  Parliament — the  first,  by 
the  ancient  constitution  of  our  feudal  monarchy  from  the  Con- 
quest; the  second,  by  some  regulation  or  usage  of  doubtful 
origin,  which  was  thoroughl}'^  established  before  the  conclu- 
sion of  Henry  IIL's  reign.  This  produced,  of  course,  a  very 
marked  difference  between  the  greater  and  the  lesser,  or  un- 
parliamentary barons.  The  tenure  of  the  latter,  however,  still 
subsisted ;  and,  though  too  inconsiderable  to  be  members  of 
the  legislature,  they  paid  relief  as  barons,  they  might  be  chal- 
lenged on  juries,  and,  as  I  presume,  by  parity  of  reasoning, 
were  entitled  to  trial  b}'-  their  peerage.  These  lower  barons, 
or  more  commonly  tenants  by  parcels  of  baronies,'^"  may  be 
dimly  traced  to  the  latter  years  of  Edward  IH.  But  many  of 
them  were  successively  summoned  to  Parliament,  and  thus 
recovered  the  former  lustre  of  their  rank,  while  the  rest  fell 
gradually  into  the  station  of  commoners,  as  tenants  by  simple 
knight-service. 

As  tenure  without  summons  did  not  entitle  any  one  to  the 
privileges  of  a  Lord  of  Parliament,  so  no  spiritual  person  at 
least  ought  to  have  been  summoned  without  baronial  tenure. 
Great  irregularities  prevailed  in  the  rolls  of  Chancery,  from 
which  the  writs  to  spiritual  and  temporal  peers  were  taken 
— arising  in  part,  perhaps,  from  negligence,  in  part  from  will- 
ful perversion  ;  so  that  many  abbots  and  priors,  who  had  no 
baronial  tenure,  were  summoned  at  times  and  subsequently 

20  Baronies  were  often  divided  by  descent  among  females  into  many  parts,  each 
retaining  its  character  as  a  fractional  member  of  a  barony.  The  tenants  in  such 
case  were  said  to  hold  of  the  king  by  the  third,  fourth,  or  twentieth  part  of  a  barony, 
and  did  service  or  paid  relief  in  such  proportion. 


English  Const.     TENURE  OF  LORDS  SPIRITUAL.  499 

omitted,  of  whose  actual  exemption  we  have  no  record.  Out 
of  122  abbots  and  41  priors  who  at  some  time  or  other  sat 
in  Parliament,  but  twenty-five  of  the  former  and  two  of  the 
latter  were  constantly  summoned  ;  the  names  of  forty  occur 
only  once,  and  those  of  thirty-six  others  not  more  than  five 
times.  Their  want  of  baronial  tenure,  in  all  probability,  pre- 
vented the  repetition  of  writs  which  accident  or  occasion  had 
caused  to  issue." 

The  ancient  temporal  peers  are  supposed  to  have  been  in- 
termingled with  persons  who  held  nothing  of  the  crown  by 
barony,  but  attended  in  Parliament  solely  by  virtue  of  the 
king's  prerogative  exercised  in  the  writ  of  summons.  These 
have  been  called  Barons  by  Writ;  and  it  seems  to  be  denied 
by  no  one  that,  at  least  under  the  first  three  Edwards,  there 
were  some  of  this  description  in  Parliament.  But,  after  all 
the  labors  of  Dugdale  and  others  in  tracing  the  genealogies 
of  our  ancient  aristocracy,  it  is  a  problem  of  much  difficulty 
to  distinguish  these  from  the  territorial  barons.  As  the  lat- 
ter honors  descended  to  female  heirs,  they  passed  into  new 
families  and  new  names,  so  that  we  can  hardly  decide  of  one 
summoned  for  the  first  time  to  Parliament  that  he  did  not 
inherit  the  possession  of  a  feudal  barony.  Husbands  of  ba- 
ronial heiresses  were  frequently  summoned  in  their  wives' 
right,  but  by  their  own  names.  They  even  sat  after  the 
death  of  their  wives,  as  tenants  by  the  courtesy.  If  we 
judge,  however,  by  the  lists  of  those  summoned,  according 
to  the  best  means  in  our  power,  it  will  appear  that  the  regu- 
lar barons  by  tenure  were  all  along  very  far  more  numerous 
than  those  called  by  writ ;  and  that  from  the  end  of  Edward 
III.'s  reign  no  spiritual  persons,  and  few  if  any  laymen,  ex- 
cept peers  created  by  patent,  were  summoned  to  Parliament 
who  did  not  hold  territorial  baronies. 

With  respect  to  those  who  were  indebted  for  their  seats 
among  the  Lords  to  the  king's  writ,  there  are  two  material 
questions — whether  they  acquired  an  hereditary  nobility  by 
virtue  of  the  writ ;  and,  if  this  be  determined  against  them, 
whether  they  had  a  decisive  or  merely  a  deliberative  voice 
in  the  house.  Now,  for  the  first  question,  it  seems  that,  if 
the  writ  of  summons  conferred  an  estate  of  inheritance,  it 

9»  It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the  spiritual  peers  summoned  to  Parliament 
'vere  in  general  considerably  more  numerous  than  the  temporal.  This  appears, 
among  other  causes,  to  have  saved  the  Church  from  that  sweeping  reformation  of  its 
wealth,  and  perhaps  of  its  doctrines,  which  the  Commons  were  thoroughly  inclined 
to  make  under  Richard  II.  and  Henry  IV.  Thus  the  reduction  of  the  spiritual  lords 
by  the  dissolution  of  monasteries  was  indispensably  required  to  bring  the  ecclesias- 
tical order  into  due  subjection  to  the  state. 


500  BARONS  CALLED  BY  WRIT.     Chap.  VIII.   Part  III. 

must  have  done  so  either  by  virtue  of  its  terms  or  by  estab- 
lished construction  and  precedent.  But  the  writ  contains 
no  words  by  which  such  an  estate  can  in  law  be  limited ;  it 
summons  the  person  addressed  to  attend  in  Parliament  in 
order  to  give  his  advice  on  the  public  business,  but  by  no 
means  implies  that  his  advice  will  be  required  of  his  heirs,  or 
even  of  himself,  on  any  other  occasion.  We  find  that  no  less 
than  ninety-eight  laymen  were  summoned  once  only  to  Par- 
liament, none  of  their  names  occurring  afterwards ;  and  fifty 
others  two,  three,  or  four  times.  Some  were  constantly  sum- 
moned during  their  lives,  none  of  whose  posterity  ever  at- 
tained that  honor.  The  course  of  proceeding,  therefore,  pre- 
vious to  the  accession  of  Henry  VIL,  by  no  means  warrants 
the  doctrine  which  was  held  in  the  latter  end  of  Elizabeth's 
reign,  and  has  since  been  too  fully  established  by  repeated 
precedents  to  be  shaken  by  any  reasoning.  The  foregoing 
observations  relate  to  the  more  ancient  history  of  our  consti- 
tution, and  to  the  plain  matter-of-fact  as  to  those  times,  with- 
out considering  what  political  cause  there  might  be  to  pre- 
vent the  crown  from  introducing  occasional  counsellors  into 
the  House  of  Lords. 

It  is  manifest  by  many  passages  in  these  records  that  ban- 
nerets were  frequently  summoned  to  the  upper  house  of  Par- 
liament, constituting  a  distinct  class  inferior  to  barons,  though 
generally  named  together,  and  ultimately  confounded  with 
them.  Barons  are  distinguished  by  the  appellation  of  Sire  ; 
bannerets  have  only  that  of  Monsieur,  as  le  Sire  de  Berke- 
ley, le  Sire  de  Fitzwalter,  Monsieur  Richard  Scrop,  Monsieur 
Richard  Stafford.  The  distinction,  however,  between  barons 
and  bannerets  died  away  by  degrees.  In  the  second  of  Hen- 
ry VI.,  Scrop  of  Bolton  is  called  le  Sire  de  Scrop — a  proof  that 
he  was  then  reckoned  among  the  barons.  The  bannerets  do 
not  often  appear  afterwards  by  that  appellation  as  members 
of  the  upper  house.  Bannerets,  or,  as  they  are  called,  ban- 
rents,  are  enumerated  among  the  orders  of  Scottish  nobility 
in  the  year  1428,  when  the  statute  directing  the  common 
lairds  or  tenants  in  capite  to  send  representatives  was  enact- 
ed ;  and  a  modern  historian  justly  calls  them  an  intermedi- 
ate order  between  the  peers  and  lairds.  Perhaps  a  consider- 
ation of  these  facts,  which  have  frequently  been  overlooked, 
may  tend  in  some  measure  to  explain  the  occasional  discon- 
tinuance, or  sometimes  the  entire  cessation,  of  writs  of  sum- 
mons to  an  individual  or  his  descendants ;  since  we  may  con- 
ceive that  bannerets,  being  of  a  dignity  much  inferior  to  tiiat 
of  barons,  had  ho  such  inheritable  nobility  in  their  blood  as 


English  Const.      BANNERETS  IN  THE  LORDS.  601 

rendered  their  Parliamentary  privileges  a  matter  of  right. 
But  whether  all  those  who  without  any  baronial  tenure  re- 
ceived their  writs  of  summons  to  Parliament  belonged  to  the 
order  of  bannerets,  I  can  not  pretend  to  affirm  ;  though  some 
passages  in  the  rolls  might  rather  lead  to  such  a  supposition. 
The  second  question  relates  to  the  right  of  suffrage  pos- 
sessed by  these  temporary  members  of  the  upper  house.  It 
might  seem  plausible,  certainly,  to  conceive  that  the  real  and 
ancient  aristocracy  would  not  permit  their  powers  to  be  im- 
paired by  numbering  the  votes  of  such  as  the  king  might 
please  to  send  among  them,  however  they  might  allow  them 
to  assist  in  their  debates.  But  I  am  much  more  inclined  to 
suppose  that  they  were  in  all  respects  on  an  equality  with 
other  peers  during  their  actual  attendance  in  Parliament. 
For,  1.  They  are  summoned  by  the  same  writ  as  the  rest,  and 
their  names  are  confused  among  them  in  the  lists ;  whereas 
the  judges  and  ordinary  counsellors  are  called  by  a  separate 
writ,  vobiscum  et  cgeteris  de  consilio  nostro,  and  their  names 
are  entered  after  those  of  the  peers.  2.  Some,  who  do  not 
appear  to  have  held  land  baronies,  were  constantly  summon- 
ed from  father  to  son,  and  thus  became  hereditary  lords  of 
Parliament  through  a  sort  of  prescrijjtive  right,  which  prob- 
ably was  the  foundation  of  extending  the  same  privilege  af- 
terwards to  the  descendants  of  all  who  had  once  been  sum- 
moned. There  is  no  evidence  that  the  family  of  Scrope,  for 
example,  which  was  eminent  under  Edward  III.  and  subse- 
quent kings,  and  gave  rise  to  two  branches,  the  lords  of 
Bolton  and  Masham,  inherited  any  territorial  honor.  3.  It 
is  very  difficult  to  obtain  any  direct  proof  as  to  the  right  of 
voting,  because  the  rolls  of  Parliament  do  not  take  notice  of 
any  debates ;  but  there  happens  to  exist  one  remarkable  pas- 
sage in  which  the  suffrages  of  the  Lords  are  individually 
specified." 

22  In  the  first  Parliament  of  Henry  IV,  the  Lords  were  requested  by  the  Earl  of  North- 
nmberland  to  declare  what  should  be  done  with  the  late  King  Richard.  The  lords 
then  present  agreed  that  he  should  be  detained  in  safe  custody;  and  on  account  of 
the  importance  of  this  matter  it  seems  to  have  been  thought  necessary  to  enter  their 
names  upon  the  roll  in  these  words:  The  names  of  the  lords  concurring  in  their 
answer  to  the  said  question  here  follow ;  to  wit,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
fourteen  other  bishops;  seven  abbots;  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Duke  of  York,  and 
six  earls  ;  nineteen  barons,  styled  thus— le  Sire  de  Roos,  or  le  Sire  de  Grey  de  Ruthyu. 
Thus  far  the  entry  has  nothing  singular ;  but  then  follow  these  nine  names :  Mon- 
sieur Henry  Percy,  Monsieur  Richard  Scrop,  le  Site  Fitz-hngh,  le  Sire  de  Bergeveny, 
le  Sire  de  Lomley,  le  Baron  de  Greystock,  le  Baron  de  Hilton,  Monsieur  Thomas 
Erpyngham,  chamberlayu.  Monsieur  Mayhew  Gournay.  Of  these  nine  five  were  un- 
doubtedly barons,  from  whatever  cause  misplaced  in  order.  Scrop  was  summoned 
by  writ ;  but  his  title  of  Monsieur,  by  which  he  is  invariably  denominated,  would  of 
itself  create  a  strong  suspicion  that  he  was  no  baron,  and  in  another  place  we  find 
him  reckoned  among  the  bannerets.    The  other  three  do  not  appear  to  have  been 


502  CREATION  OF  PEERS.      Chap.  VIII.  Pabt  III. 

§  19.  The  next  method  of  conferring  an  honor  of  peerage 
was  by  creation  in  Parliament.  This  was  adopted  by  Ed- 
ward III.  in  several  instances,  though  always,  I  believe,  for 
the  higher  titles  of  duke  or  earl.  It  is  laid  down  by  lawyers 
that  whatever  the  king  is  said  in  an  ancient  record  to  have 
done  in  full  Parliament  must  be  taken  to  have  proceeded 
from  the  whole  legislature.  As  a  question  of  fact,  indeed,  it 
might  be  doubted  whether,  in  many  proceedings  where  this 
expression  is  used,  and  especially  in  the  creation  of  peers,  the 
assent  of  the  Commons  was  specifically  and  deliberately  given. 
It  seems  hardly  consonant  to  the  circumstances  of  their  or- 
der under  Edward  III.  to  suppose  their  sanction  necessary 
in  what  seemed  so  little  to  concern  their  interest.  Yet  there 
is  an  instance  in  the  fortieth  year  of  that  prince  where  the 
Lords  individually,  and  the  Commons  with  one  voice,  are 
declared  to  have  consented,  at  the  king's  request,  that  the 
Lord  de  Coucy,  who  had  married  his  daughter,  and  was  al- 
ready possessed  of  estates  in  England,  might  be  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  an  earl,  whenever  the  king  should  determine  what 
earldom  he  would  confer  upon  him.  Under  Richard  II.  the 
marquisate  of  Dublin  is  granted  to  Vere  by  full  consent  of 
all  the  estates.  But  this  instrument,  besides  the  unusual 
name  of  dignity,  contained  an  extensive  jurisdiction  and  au- 
thority over  Ireland.  In  the  same  reign  Lancaster  was  made 
Duke  of  Guienne,  and  the  Duke  of  York's  son  created  Earl 
of  Rutland,  to  hold  during  his  father's  life.  The  consent  of 
the  Lords  and  Commons  is  expressed  in  their  patents,  and 
they  are  entered  upon  the  roll  of  Parliament.  Henry  V.  cre- 
ated his  brothers  dukes  of  Bedford  and  Gloucester,  by  re- 
quest of  the  Lords  and  Commons,  But  the  patent  of  Sir  John 
Cornwall,  in  the  tenth  of  Henry  VI,,  declares  him  to  be  made 
Lord  Fanhope  "  by  consent  of  the  Lords,  in  the  presence  of 
the  three  estates  of  Parliament ;"  as  if  it  were  designed  to 
show  that  the  Commons  had  not  a  legislative  voice  in  the 
creation  of  peers. 

§  20.  The  mention  I  have  made  of  creating  peers  by  act 
of  Parliament  has  partly  anticipated  the  modern  form  of  let- 
ters patent,  with  which  the  other  was  nearly  allied.  The  first 
instance  of  a  barony  conferred  by  patent  was  in  the  tenth 

snmmoned,  their  writs  probably  being  lost.  One  of  them,  Sir  Thomas  Erpyngham, 
a  statesman  well  known  in  the  history  of  those  times,  is  said  to  have  been  a  ban- 
neret ;  certainly  he  was  not  a  baron.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  two  others,  Henry 
Percy  (Hotspur)  and  Gournay,  an  officer  of  the  household,  were  also  bannerets ;  they 
can  not,  at  least,  be  supposed  to  be  barons,  neither  were  they  ever  summoned  to  any 
subsequent  Parliament.  Yet  in  the  only  record  we  possess  of  votes  actually  givcu 
iu  the  House  of  Lords  they  appear  to  have  been  reckoned  among  the  rest. 


English  Const.     CLERGY  TO  ATTEND  PARLIAMENT.  503 

year  of  Richard  II.,  when  Sir  John  Holt,  a  judge  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas,  was  created  Lord  Beaucharap,  of  Kidderminster. 
Holt's  patent,  however,  passed  while  Richard  was  endeavor- 
ing to  act  in  an  arbitrary  manner ;  and  in  fact  he  never  sat 
in  Parliament,  having  been  attainted  in  that  of  the  next  year 
by  the  name  of  Sir  John  Holt.  In  a  number  of  subsequent 
patents,  down  to  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  the  assent  of  Par- 
liament is  expressed,  though  it  frequently  happens  that  no 
mention  of  it  occurs  in  the  Parliamentary  roll.  And  in  some 
instances  the  roll  speaks  to  the  consent  of  Parliament  where 
the  patent  itself  is  silent. 

§  21.  It  is  now,  perhaps,  scarcely  known  by  many  persons 
not  unversed  in  the  constitution  of  their  country  that,  be- 
sides the  bishops  and  baronial  abbots,  the  inferior  clergy  were 
regularly  summoned  at  every  Parliament.  In  the  writ  of 
summons  to  a  bishop  he  is  still  directed  to  cause  the  dean 
of  his  cathedral  church,  the  archdeacon  of  his  diocese,  with 
one  proctor  from  the  chapter  of  the  former,  and  two  from  the 
body  of  his  clergy,  to  attend  with  him  at  the  place  of  meet- 
ing. This  might  by  an  inobservant  reader  be  confounded 
with  the  summons  to  the  convocation,  which  is  composed 
of  the  same  constituent  parts,  and  by  modern  usage  is  made 
to  assemble  on  the  same  day.  But  it  may  easily  be  distin- 
guished by  this  difference — that  the  convocation  is  provin- 
cial, and  summoned  by  the  metropolitans  of  Canterbury  and 
York ;  whereas  the  clause  commonly  denominated  lyrmynu- 
nientes  (from  its  first  woi'd)  in  the  writ  to  each  bishop  pro- 
ceeds from  the  crown,  and  enjoins  the  attendance  of  the  cler- 
gy at  the  national  council  of  Parliament. 

The  first  unequivocal  instance  of  representatives  appear- 
ing for  the  lower  clergy  is  in  the  year  1255,  when  they  are 
expressly  named  by  the  author  of  the  Annals  of  Burton. 
They  preceded,  therefore,  by  a  few  years  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  but  the  introduction  of  each  was  founded  upon  the 
same  principle.  The  king  required  the  clergy's  money,  but 
dared  not  take  it  without  their  consent.  In  the  double  Par- 
liament, if  so  we  may  call  it,  summoned  in  the  11th  of  Ed- 
ward I.,  to  meet  at  Northampton  and  York,  and  divided  ac- 
cording to  the  two  ecclesiastical  provinces,  the  proctors  of 
chapters  for  each  province,  but  not  those  of  the  diocesan 
clergy,  were  summoned  through  a  royal  writ  addressed  to 
the  archbishops.  Upon  account  of  the  absence  of  any  depu- 
ties from  the  lower  clergy,  these  assemblies  refused  to  grant 
a  subsidy.  The  proctors  of  both  descriptions  appear  to  have 
been  summoned  by  the  prtcmunientes  clause  in  the  22d,  23d, 


604  CLERGY  TO  ATTEND  PARLIAMENT.     Ch.  VIII.  Pt.  III. 

24tb,  28th,  and  35th  years  of  the  same  king;  but  in  some  other 
Parliaments  of  his  reign  the  prtemunientes  clause  is  omitted. 
The  same  irregularity  continued  under  his  successor ;  and  the 
constant  usage  of  inserting  this  clause  in  the  bishop's  writ  is 
dated  from  the  28th  of  Edward  III. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  Edward  I.,  whose  legislative 
mind  was  engaged  in  modelling  the  constitution  on  a  com- 
prehensive scheme,  designed  to  make  the  clergy  an  effective 
branch  ofParliament,  however  their  continual  resistance  may 
have  defeated  the  accomplishment  of  this  intention.  We  find 
an  entry  upon  the  roll  of  his  Parliament  at  Carlisle,  contain- 
ing a  list  of  all  the  proctors  deputed  to  it  by  the  several  dio- 
ceses of  the  kingdom.  This  may  be  reckoned  a  clear  proof 
of  their  Parliamentary  attendance  during  his  reign  under  the 
prsemunientes  clause;  since  the  province  of  Canterbury  could 
not  have  been  present  in  convocation  at  a  city  beyond  its 
limits.  And,  indeed,  if  w^e  were  to  found  our  judgment  mere- 
ly on  the  language  used  in  these  writs,  it  would  be  hard  to 
resist  a  very  strange  paradox,  that  the  clergy  were  not  only 
one  of  the  three  estates  of  the  realm,  but  as  essential  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature  by  their  ivpresentatives  as  the  Com- 
mons." They  are  summoned  in  the  earliest  year  extant  (23 
Edward  I.)  "ad  tractandum,  oidmandum  et  faciendum  nobis- 
cum,  et  cum  ca?teris  praelatis,  proceribus,  ac  aliis  incolis  regni 
nostri;"  in  that  of  the  next  year,  "ad  ordinandum  de  quan- 
titate  et  modo  siibsidii ;"  in  that  of  the  twenty-eighth, "  ad 
faciendum  et  consentiendum  his,  qua?  tunc  de  communi  con- 
silio  ordinari  contigerit."  In  later  times  it  ran  sometimes 
"ad  faciendum  et  consentiendum,"  sometimes  only  ad  con- 
sentiendum ;  which,  from  the  fifth  of  Richard  II.,  has  been 
the  term  invariably  adopted.  Now,  as  it  is  usual  to  infer 
from  the  same  words,  when  introduced  into  the  writs  for  elec- 
tion of  the  Commons,  that  they  possessed  an  enacting  power, 
implied  in  the  words  ad  faciendum,  or  at  least  to  deduce  the 
necessity  of  their  assent  from  the  words  ad  consentiendum, 
it  should  seem  to  follow  that  the  clergy  were  invested,  as  a 
branch  of  the  Parliament,  with  rights  no  less  extensive.     It 

'•  The  lower  house  of  convocation  in  1547,  terrified  at  the  progress  of  reformation, 
petitioned  that,  "  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  king's  writ,  and  the  ancient  customs 
of  the  realm,  they  might  have  room  and  place  and  be  associated  with  the  Commons 
in  the  nether  house  of  this  present  Parliament,  as  members  of  the  commonwealth 
and  the  king's  most  humble  subjects."— Burnet's  Hist,  of  Reformation,  vol.  ii. ;  Ap- 
pendix, No.  IT.  This  assertion  that  the  clergy  had  ever  been  associated  as  one  body 
with  the  Commons  is  not  borne  out  by  any  thing  that  appears  on  our  records,  and  is 
contradicted  by  many  passages.  But  it  is  said  that  the  clergy  were  actually  so  united 
with  the  Commons  in  the  Irish  Parliament  till  the  Reformation.— Gilbert's  Hist,  of 
the  Exchequer,  p.  57. 


English  Const.     CLERGY  TO  ATTEND  PARLIAMENT,  505 

is  to  be  considered  how  we  can  reconcile  these  apparent  at- 
tributes of  political  power  with  the  unquestionable  facts  that 
almost  all  laws,  even  while  they  continued  to  attend,  were 
passed  without  their  concurrence,  and  that,  after  some  time, 
they  ceased  altogether  to  comply  with  the  writ.'^* 

The  solution  of  this  difficulty  can  only  be  found  in  that 
estrangement  from  the  common  law  and  the  temporal  courts 
which  the  clergy  throughout  Europe  were  disposed  to  effect. 
In  this  country  their  ambition  defeated  its  own  ends;  and 
while  they  endeavored  by  privileges  and  immunities  to  sep- 
arate themselves  from  the  people,  they  did  not  perceive  that 
the  line  of  demarkation  thus  strongly  traced  would  cut  them 
off  from  the  sympathy  of  common  interests.  Every  thing 
which  they  could  call  of  ecclesiastical  cognizance  was  drawn 
into  their  own  courts;  while  the  administration  of  what  they 
contemned  as  a  barbarous  system,  the  temporal  law  of  the 
land,  fell  into  the  hands  of  lay  judges.  But  these  were  men 
not  less  subtle,  not  less  ambitious,  not  less  attached  to  their 
profession  than  themselves;  and  wielding,  as  they  did  in  the 
courts  of  Westminster,  the  delegated  sceptre  of  judicial  sov- 
ereignty, they  soon  began  to  control  the  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion, and  to  establish  the  inherent  supremacy  of  the  comnion 
law.  From  this  time  an  inveterate  animosity  subsisted  be- 
tween the  two  courts,  the  vestiges  of  which  have  only  been 
effaced  by  the  liberal  wisdom  of  modern  ages.  The  general 
love  of  the  common  law,  however,  with  the  great  weight  of 
its  professors  in  the  king's  council  and  in  Parliament,  kept 
the  clergy  in  surprising  subjection.  None  of  our  kings  after 
Henry  III.  were  bigots ;  and  the  constant  tone  of  the  Com- 
mons serves  to  show  that  the  English  nation  was  thorough- 
ly averse  to  ecclesiastical  influence,  whether  of  their  own 
Church  or  the  See  of  Rome. 

It  was  natural,  therefore,  to  withstand  the  interference  of 
the  clergy  summoned  to  Parliament  in  legislation,  as  much 
as  that  of  the  spiritual  court  in  temporal  jurisdiction.  With 
the  ordinary  subjects,  indeed,  of  legislation  they  had  little 
concern.  The  oppressions  of  the  king's  purveyors,  or  escheat- 
ors,  or  officers  of  the  forests,  the  abuses  or  defects  of  the 
common  laws,  the  regulations  necessary  for  trading-towns 
and  sea-ports,  were  matters  that  touched  them  not,  and  to 
which  their  consent  was  never  required.     And,  as  they  w^ell 

2*  The  prjemunientes  clause  in  a  bishop's  writ  of  summons  was  so  far  regarded 
down  to  the  Reformation,  that  proctors  were  elected,  and  their  names  returned 
upon  the  writ ;  though  the  clergy  never  attended  from  tlie  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
certury,  and  gave  their  money  only  in  convocation.  Since  the  Reformation  the 
clanse  has  been  preserved  for  form  merely  in  the  writ. 

22 


606  CLERGY  TO  ATTEND  PARLIAMENT.     Ch.  VIII.  Pt.  III. 

knew  there  was  no  design  in  summoning  their  attendance 
but  to  obtain  money,  it  was  with  great  reluctance  that  they 
obeyed  the  royal  writ,  which  was  generally  obliged  to  be  en- 
forced by  an  archiepiscopal  mandate.  Thus,  instead  of  an 
assembly  of  deputies  from  an  estate  of  the  realm,  they  be- 
came a  synod  or  convocation.  And  it  seems  probable  that 
in  most,  if  not  all,  instances  where  the  clergy  are  said  in  the 
roll  of  Parliament  to  have  presented  their  petitions,  or  are 
otherwise  mentioned  as  a  deliberative  body,  we  should  sup- 
pose the  convocation  alone  of  the  province  of  Canterbury  to 
be  intended.  For  that  of  York  seems  to  have  been  always 
considered  as  inferior,  and  even  ancillary,  to  the  greater 
province,  voting  subsidies,  and  even  assenting  to  canons,  with- 
out deliberation,  in  compliance  with  the  example  of  Canter- 
bury ;  the  convocation  of  which  province  consequently  as- 
sumed the  importance  of  a  national  council.  But  in  either 
point  of  view  the  proceedings  of  this  ecclesiastical  assembly, 
collateral  in  a  certain  sense  to  Parliament,  yet  very  intimate- 
ly connected  with  it,  whether  sitting  by  virtue  of  the  prae- 
munientes  clause  or  otherwise,  deserve  some  notice  in  a  con- 
stitutional history. 

In  the  sixth  year  of  Edward  III.  the  proctoi-s  of  the  clergy 
are  specially  mentioned  as  present  at  the  speech  pronounced 
by  the  king's  commissioner,  and  retired,  along  with  the  prel- 
ates, to  consult  together  upon  the  business  submitted  to  their 
deliberation.  They  proposed,  accordingly,  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  disturbers  of  the  peace,  which  was 
assented  to  by  the  Lords  and  Commons.  The  clergy  are 
said  afterwards  to  have  had  leave,  as  well  as  the  knights, 
citizens,  and  burgesses,  to  return  to  their  homes,  the  prel- 
ates and  peers  continuing  with  the  king.  This  appearance 
of  the  clergy  in  full  Parliament  is  not,  perhaps,  so  decisively 
proved  by  any  later  record.  But  in  the  eighteenth  of  the 
same  reign  several  petitions  of  the  clergy  are  granted  by  the 
king  and  his  council,  entered  on  the  roll  of  Parliament,  and 
even  the  statute  roll,  and  in  some  respects  are  still  part  of 
our  law.  To  these  it  seems  highly  probable  that  the  Com- 
mons gave  no  assent ;  and  they  may  be  reckoned  among  the 
other  infringements  of  their  legislative  rights.  It  is  remarka- 
ble that  in  the  same  Parliament  the  Commons,  a^  if  appre- 
hensive of  what  was  in  preparation,  besought  the  king  that 
no  petition  of  the  clergy  might  be  granted  till  he  and  his 
council  should  have  considered  whether  it  would  turn  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  Lords  or  Commons. 

in  the  fii-st  session  of  Richard  IL  the  prelates  and  clergy 


English  CoxNst.     JUKISDICTION  OF  KING'S  COUNCIL.  507 

of  both  provinces  are  said  to  have  presented  their  schedule 
of  petitions  whicli  appear  upon  the  roll,  and  three  of  which 
are  the  foundation  of  statutes  unassented  to  in  all  probability 
by  the  Commons.  If  the  clergy  of  both  provinces  were  act- 
ually present,  as  is  here  asserted,  it  must  of  course  have  been 
as  a  House  of  Parliament,  and  not  of  convocation.  It  rather 
seems,  so  far  as  we  can  trust  to  the  phraseology  of  records, 
that  the  clergy  sat  also  in  a  national  assembly  under  the 
king's  writ  in  the  second  year  of  the  same  king.  Upon  other 
occasions  during  the  same  reign,  where  the  representatives 
of  the  clergy  are  alluded  to  as  a  deliberative  body,  sitting  at 
the  same  time  with  the  Parliament,  it  is  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain its  constitution ;  and,  indeed,  even  from  those  already 
cited  we  can  not  draw  any  positive  inference.  But  whether 
in  convocation  or  in  Parliament,  they  certainly  formed  a 
legislative  council  in  ecclesiastical  matters  by  the  advice  and 
consent  of  which  alone,  without  that  of  the  Commons  (I  can 
say  nothing  as  to  the  Lords),  Edward  IIL  and  even  Richard 
II.  enacted,  laws  to  bind  the  laity.  There  is  a  still  more  con- 
spicuous instance  of  this  assumed  prerogative  in  the  memo- 
rable statute  against  heresy  in  the  second  of  Henry  IV. ; 
which  can  hardly  be  deemed  any  thing  else  than  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  rights  of  Parliament,  more  clearly  established 
at  that  time  than  at  the  accession  of  Richard  II.  Petitions 
of  the  Commons  relative  to  spiritual  matters,  however  fre- 
quently proposed,  in  few  or  no  instances  obtained  the  king's 
assent  so  as  to  pass  into  statutes,  unless  approved  by  the 
convocation.  But,  on  the  othfer  hand,  scarcely  any  temporal 
laws  appear  to  have  passed  by  the  concurrence  of  the  clergy. 
Two  instances  only,  so  far  as  I  know,  are  on  record ;  the 
Parliament  held  in  the  eleventh  of  Richard  II.  is  annulled  by 
that  in  the  twenty-first  of  his  reign,  "  with  the  assent  of  the 
lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  proctors  of  the  clergy^ 
and  the  Commons ;"  and  the  statute  entailing  the  crown  on 
the  children  of  Henry  IV,  is  said  to  be  enacted  on  the  peti- 
tion of  the  prelates,  nobles,  clergy,  and  commons.  Both 
these  were  stronger  exertions  of  legislative  authority  than 
ordinary  acts  of  Parliament,  and  were  very  likely  to  be  ques- 
tioned in  succeeding  times. 

§  22.  The  supreme  judicature,  Avhich  had  been  exercised 
by  the  King's  Court,  was  diverted,  about  the  reign  of  John, 
into  three  channels — the  tribunals  of  King's  Bench,  Common 
Pleas,  and  the  Exchequer.  These  became  the  regular  fount- 
ains of  justice,  which  soon  almost  absorbed  the  provincial 
jurisdictions  of  the  sheriff  and  lord  of  mandr.  :  But  the  orig- 


608  JURISDICTION  OF     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

inal  institution,  having  been  designed  for  ends  of  state,  po- 
lice, and  revenue,  fully  as  much  as  for  the  determination  of 
private  suits,  still  preserved  the  most  eminent  parts  of  its 
authority ;  for  the  king's  ordinary  or  privy  council,  which  is 
the  usual  style  from  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  seems  to  have 
been  no  other  than  the  King's  Court  (curia  regis)  of  older 
times,  being  composed  of  the  same  persons,  and  having,  in  a 
principal  degree,  the  same  subjects  of  deliberation.  It  con- 
sisted of  the  chief  ministers ;  as  the  chancellor,  treasurer, 
lord  steward,  lord  admiral,  lord  marshal,  the  keeper  of  the 
privy  seal,  the  chamberlain,  treasurer,  and  comptroller  of  the 
household,  the  chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  the  master  of  the 
wardrobe  ;  and  of  the  judges,  king's  sergeant,  and  attorney- 
general,  the  master  of  the  rolls,  and  justices  in  eyre,  who  at 
that  time  were  not  the  same  as  the  judges  at  Westmin- 
ster. When  all  these  were  called  together,  it  was  a  full 
council ;  but  where  the  business  was  of  a  more  contracted 
nature,  those  only  who  were  fittest  to  advise  were  sum- 
moned— the  chancellor  and  judges  for  matters  of  law ;  the 
officers  of  state  for  what  concerned  the  revenue  or  house- 
hold." 

The  business  of  this  council,  out  of  Parliament,  may  be  re- 
duced to  two  heads  —  its  deliberative  office  as  a  council  of 
advice,  and  its  decisive  power  of  jurisdiction.  With  respect 
to  the  first,  it  obviously  comprehended  all  subjects  of  polit- 
ical deliberation,  which  were  usually  referred  to  it  by  the 
king ;  this  being  in  fact  the  administration  or  governing 
council  of  state,  the  distinction  of  a  cabinet  being  intro- 
duced in  comparatively  modern  times.  But  there  were  like- 
wise a  vast  number  of  petitions  continually  presented  to  the 
council,  upon  which  they  proceeded  no  farther  than  to  sort, 
as  it  were,  and  forward  them  by  indorsement  to  the  proper 
courts,  or  advise  the  suitor  what  remedy  he  had  to  seek. 
Thus  some  petitions  are  answered,  "  this  can  not  be  done 
without  a  new  law ;"  some  were  turned  over  to  the  regular 
court,  as  the  Chancery  or  King's  Bench ;  some  of  greater 
moment  were  indorsed  to  be  heard  "  before  the  Great  Coun- 
ts The  words  "privy  council"  are  said  not  to  be  used  till  after  the  reign  of  Henry 
VI. ;  the  former  style  was  "ordinary"  or  "continual  council."  But  a  distinction 
had  always  been  made,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  business ;  the  great  officers  of 
state,  or,  as  we  might  now  say,  the  ministers,  had  no  occasion  for  the-  presence  of 
judges  or  any  lawyers  in  the  secret  councils  of  the  crown.  They  become,  therefore, 
a  council  of  government,  though  always  members  of  the  consilium  ordinarium;  and, 
in  the  former  capacity,  began  to  keep  formal  records  of  their  proceedings.  The  acts 
of  this  council— though,  as  I  have  just  said,  it  bore  as  yet  no  distinguishing  name- 
are  extant  from  the  year  1386,  and  for  seventy  years  afterwards  are  known  through 
the  valuable  publication  of  Sir  Harris  Nicolas. 


English  Const.  THE  KING'S  COUNCIL.  609 

cil ;"  some,  concerning  the  king's  interest,  were  referred  to 
the  Chancery,  or  select  persons  of  the  council. 

The  coercive  authority  exercised  by  this  standing  council 
of  the  king  was  far  more  important.  It  may  be  divided  into 
acts,  legislative  and  judicial.  As  for  the  first,  many  ordi- 
nances were  made  in  council ;  sometimes  upon  request  of  the 
Commons  in  Parliament,  who  felt  themselves  better  qualified 
to  state  a  grievance  than  a  remedy  ;  sometimes  without  any 
pretense,  unless  the  usage  of  government,  in  the  infancy  of 
our  constitution,  may  be  thought  to  afford  one.  These  were 
always  of  a  temporary  or  partial  nature,  and  were  considered 
as  regulations  not  sufficiently  important  to  demand  a  new 
statute.  But  the  council  frequently  so  much  exceeded  what 
the  growing  spirit  of  public  liberty  would  permit,  that  it 
gave  rise  to  complaint  in  Parliament.  The  Commons  peti- 
tion, in  13  R.  II.,  that  "neither  the  chancellor  nor  the  king's 
council,  after  the  close  of  Parliament,  may  make  any  ordi- 
nance against  the  common  law,  or  the  ancient  customs  of  the 
land,  or  the  statutes  made  heretofore  or  to  be  made  in  this 
Parliament ;  but  that  the  common  law  have  its  course  for 
all  the  people,  and  no  judgment  be  rendered  without  due 
legal  process."  The  king  answers,  "  Let  it  be  done  as  has 
been  usual  heretofore,  saving  the  prerogative ;  and  if  any 
one  is  aggrieved,  let  him  show  it  specially,  and  right  shall 
be  done  him."  This  unsatisfactory  answer  proves  the  ar- 
bitrary spirit  in  which  Richard  was  determined  to  govern. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  council  was  in  some  instances 
founded  upon  particular  acts  of  Parliament,  giving  it  power 
to  hear  and  determine  certain  causes.  Many  petitions  like- 
wise were  referred  to  it  from  Parliament,  especially  where 
they  were  left  unanswered  by  reason  of  a  dissolution.  But, 
independenily  of  this  delegated  authority,  it  is  certain  that 
the  king's  council  did  anciently  exercise,  as  well  out  of  Par- 
liament as  in  it,  a  very  great  jurisdiction,  both  in  causes 
criminal  and  civil.  Some,  however,  have  contended  that 
whatever  they  did  in  this  respect  was  illegal,  and  an  en- 
croachment upon  the  common  law  and  Magna  Charta.  And 
be  the  common  law  what  it  may,  it  seems  an  indisputable 
violation  of  the  charter  in  its  most  admirable  and  essential 
article,  to  drag  men  in  questions  of  their  freehold  or  liberty 
before  a  tribunal  which  neither  granted  them  a  trial  by  their 
peers  nor  always  respected  the  law  of  the  land.  Against 
this  usurpation  the  patriots  of  those  times  never  ceased  to  lift 
their  voices.  Nothing,  however,  would  prevail  on  the  coun- 
cil to  surrender  so  eminent  a  power,  and,  though  usurped, 


510  JURISDICTION  OF     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III 

yet  of  so  long  a  continuance.  Cases  of  arbitrary  imprison- 
ment frequently  occurred,  and  were  remonstrated  against  by 
tbe  Commons.  The  right  of  every  freeman  in  that  cardinal 
point  was  as  indubitable,  legally  speaking,  as  at  this  day ; 
but  the  courts  of  law  were  afraid  to  exercise  their  remedial 
functions  in  defiance  of  so  powerful  a  tribunal.  After  the 
accession  of  the  Lancastrian  family,  these,  like  other  griev- 
ances, became  rather  less  frequent ;  but  the  Commons  re- 
monstrated several  times,  even  in  the  minority  of  Henry 
VI.,  against  the  council's  interference  in  matters  cognizable 
at  common  law.  In  these  later  times  the  civil  jurisdiction 
of  the  council  was  principally  exercised  in  conjunction  with 
the  Chancery,  and  accordingly  they  are  generally  named  to- 
gether in  the  complaint.  The  chancellor  having  the  great 
seal  in  his  custody,  the  council  usually  borrowed  its  process 
from  his  court.  This  was  returnable  into  chancery  even 
where  the  business  was  depending  before  the  council.  Nor 
were  the  two  jurisdictions  less  intimately  allied  in  their  char- 
acter, each  being  of  an  equitable  nature  ;  and  equity,  as  then 
practised,  being  little  else  than  innovation  and  encroachment 
on  the  course  of  law.  This  part,  long  since  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  chancellor's  judicial  function,  can  not  be  traced 
beyond  the  time  of  Richard  II.,  when,  the  practice  of  feoff- 
ments to  uses  having  been  introduced,  without  any  legal 
remedy  to  secure  the  cestui  que  use,  or  usufructuary,  against 
his  feoffees,  the  Court  of  Chancery  undertook  to  enforce  this 
species  of  contract  by  process  of  its  own. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  king's  ordinary  council  in  it- 
self, as  the  organ  of  his  executive  sovereignty,  and  such  the 
jurisdiction  which  it  habitually  exercised.  But  it  is  also  to 
be  considered  in  its  relation  to  the  Parliament,  during  whose 
session,  either  singly  or  in  conjunction  with  the  Lords'  house, 
it  was  particularly  conspicuous.  The  great  officers  of  state, 
whether  peers  or  not,  the  judges,  the  king's  sergeant,  and  at- 
torney-general, w^ere,  from  the  earliest  times,  as  the  latter 
still  continue  to  be,  summoned  by  special  writs  to  the  upper 
house.  But  while  the  writ  of  a  peer  runs  "ad  tractandum 
nobiscum  et  cum  caeteris  praelatis,  magnatibus  et  proceri- 
bus,"  that  directed  to  one  of  the  judges  is  only  "ad  tractan- 
dum nobiscum  et  cum  caeteris  de  consilio  nostro;"  and  the 
seats  of  the  latter  are  upon  the  wool-sacks  at  one  extremity 
of  the  house. 

In  the  reigns  of  Edward  I.  and  II.  the  council  appear  to 
have  been  the  regular  advisers  of  the  king  in  passing  laws 
to  which  the  houses  of  Parliament  had  assented.     The  pre- 


English  Const.  THE  KING'S  COUNCIL.  511 

ambles  of  most  statutes  during  this  period  express  their  con- 
currence. Thus  the  statute  Westminster  I.  is  said  to  be  the 
act  of  the  king  by  his  council,  and  by  the  assent  of  archbish- 
ops, bishops,  abbots,  priors,  earls,  barons,  and  all  the  com- 
monalty of  the  realm  being  hither  summoned.  Still  more 
striking  conclusions  are  to  be  drawn  from  the  petitions  ad- 
dressed to  the  council  by  both  houses  of  Parliament.  In 
the  eighth  of  Edward  II.  there  are  four  petitions  from  the 
Commons  to  the  king  and  his  council,  one  from  the  Lords 
alone,  and  one  in  which  both  appear  to  have  joined.  Later 
Parliaments  of  the  same  reign  present  us  with  several  more 
instances  of  the  like  nature.  Thus  in  18  Edward  II.  a  peti- 
tion begins,  "  To  our  lord  the  king,  and  to  his  council,  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  prelates,  earls,  barons,  and  others  of 
the  commonalty  of  England,  show,"  etc. 

But  from  the  beginning  of  Edward  III.'s  reign  it  seems 
that  the  council  and  the  Lords'  house  in  Parliament  were 
often  blended  together  into  one  assembly.  This  was  de- 
nominated the  great  council,  being  the  lords  spiritual  and 
temporal,  with  the  king's  ordinary  council  annexed  to  them, 
as  a  council  within  a  council.  And  even  in  much  earlier 
times  the  Lords,  as  hereditary  councillors,  were,  either  when- 
ever they  thought  fit  to  attend,  or  on  special  summonses  by 
the  king  (it  is  hard  to  say  which),  assistant  members  of  this 
council,  both  for  advice  and  for  jurisdiction.  This  double 
capacity  of  the  peerage,  as  members  of  the  Parliament  or 
legislative  assembly  and  of  the  deliberative  and  judicial 
council,  throws  a  very  great  obscurity  over  the  subject. 
However,  we  find  that  private  petitions  for  redress  were, 
even  under  Edward  I.,  presented  to  the  Lords  in  Parliament 
as  much  as  to  the  ordinary  council.  The  Parliament  was 
considered  a  high  court  of  justice,  where  relief  was  to  be 
given  in  cases  where  the  course  of  law  was  obstructed,  as 
well  as  where  it  was  defective.  Hence  the  intermission  of 
Parliaments  was  looked  upon  as  a  delay  of  justice,  and  their 
annual  meeting  is  demanded  upon  that  ground.  "  The  king," 
says  Flete,  "  has  his  court  in  his  council,  in  his  Parliaments, 
in  the  presence  of  bishops,  earls,  barons,  lords,  and  other 
wise  men,  where  the  doubtful  cases  of  judgments  are  re- 
solved, and  new  remedies  are  provided  against  new  injuries, 
and  justice  is  rendered  to  every  man  according  to  his  desert." 
In  the  third  year  of  Edward  II.  receivers  of  petitions  began 
to  be  appointed  at  the  opening  of  every  Parliament,  who 
usually  transmitted  them  to  the  ordinary,  but  in  some  in- 
stances to  the  great   couiicil.     These   receivers  were   com- 


512  THE  GREAT  COUNCIL.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

monly  three  for  England,  and  three  for  Ireland,  Wales,  Gas- 
cony,  and  other  foreign  donimions.  There  were  likewise  two 
corresponding  classes  of  auditors  or  triers  of  petitions.  These 
consisted  partly  of  bishops  or  peers,  partly  of  judges  and 
other  members  of  the  council ;  and  they  seem  to  have  been 
instituted  in  order  to  disburden  the  council  by  giving  an- 
swers to  some  petitions.  But  about  the  middle  of  Edward 
III.'s  time  they  ceased  to  act  juridically  in  this  respect,  and 
confined  themselves  to  transmitting  petitions  to  the  Lords 
of  the  council. 

The  great  council,  according  to  the  definition  we  have 
given,  consisting  of  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  in  con- 
junction with  the  ordinary  council,  or,  in  other  words,  of  all 
who  were  severally  summoned  to  Parliament,  exercised  a 
considerable  jurisdiction,  as  well  civil  as  criminal.  In  this 
jurisdiction  it  is  the  opinion  of  Sir  M.  Hale  that  the  coun- 
cil, though  not  peers,  had  right  of  suffrage — an  opinion  very 
probable,  when  we  recollect  that  the  council  by  themselves, 
both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  possessed  in  fact  a  judicial 
authority  little  inferior;  and  that  the  king's  delegated  sov- 
ereignty in  the  administration  of  justice,  rather  than  any 
intrinsic  right  of  the  peerage,  is  the  foundation  on  which 
the  judicature  of  the  Lords  must  be  supported.  But  in  the 
time  of  Edward  III.  or  Richard  11.  the  Lords,  by  their  as- 
cendency, threw  the  judges  and  rest  of  the  council  into 
shade,  and  took  the  decisive  jurisdiction  entirely  to  them- 
selves, making  use  of  their  former  colleagues  but  as  assist- 
ants and  advisers,  as  they  still  continue  to  be  held  in  all  the 
judicial  proceedings  of  that  house. 

Those  statutes  which  restrain  the  king's  ordinary  council 
from  disturbing  men  in  their  freehold  rights,  or  question- 
ing them  for  misdemeanors,  have  an  equal  application  to 
the  Lords'  house  in  Parliament,  though  we  do  not  frequent- 
ly meet  with  complaints  of  the  encroachments  made  by  that 
assembly.  There  was,  however,  one  class  of  cases  tacitly 
excluded  from  the  operation  of  those  acts,  in  which  the  co- 
ercive jurisdiction  of  this  high  tribunal  had  great  conven- 
ience— namely,  where  the  ordinary  course  of  justice  was  so 
much  obstructed  by  the  defending  party,  through  riots, 
combinations  of  maintenance,  or  overawing  influence,  that 
no  inferior  court  would  find  its  process  obeyed.  Those  ages, 
disfigured  in  their  quietest  season  by  rapine  and  oppression, 
afibrded  no  small  number  of  cases  that  called  for  this  inter- 
position of  a  paramount  authority.  Another  indubitable 
branch  of  this  jurisdiction  was  in  writs  of  error;  but  it  may 


English  Const.     CHARACTER  OF  GOVERNMENT.  613 

be  observed  that  their  determination  was  very  frequently 
left  to  a  select  committee  of  peers  and  councillors.  These, 
too,  cease  almost  entirely  with  Henry  IV.,  and  were  scarcely 
revived  till  the  accession  of  James  I. 

§  23.  Although  the  restraining  hand  of  Parliament  was 
continually  growing  more  effectual,  and  the  notions  of  legal 
right  acquiring  more  precision,  from  the  time  of  Magna 
Charta  to  the  civil  wars  under  Henry  VI.,  we  may  justly 
say  that  the  general  tone  of  adininistration  was  not  a  little 
arbitrary.  The  whole  fabric  of  English  liberty  rose  step  by 
step,  through  much  toil  and  many  sacrifices,  each  generation 
adding  some  new  security  to  the  work,  and  trusting  that 
posterity  would  perfect  the  labor  as  well  as  enjoy  the  reward. 

There  is  a  material  distinction  to  be  taken  between  the 
exercise  of  the  king's  undeniable  prerogative,  however  re- 
pugnant to  our  improved  principles  of  freedom,  and  the 
abuse  or  extension  of  it  to  oppressive  purposes.  For  we 
can  not  fairly  consider  as  part  of  our  ancient  constitution 
what  the  Parliament  was  perpetually  remonstrating  against, 
and  the  statute-book  is  full  of  enactments  to  repress.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  shut  our  eyes  with  deliberate  preju- 
dice against  the  whole  tenor  of  the  most  unquestionable  au- 
thorities, against  the  petitions  of  the  Commons,  the  acts  of 
the  legislature,  the  testimony  of  historians  and  lawyers,  be- 
fore we  could  assert  that  England  acquiesced  in  those  abuses 
and  oppressions  which  it  must  be  confessed  she  was  unable 
fully  to  prevent. 

The  word  prerogative  is  of  a  peculiar  import,  and  scarcely 
understood  by  those  who  come  from  the  studies  of  political 
philosophy.  We  can  not  define  it  by  any  theory  of  execu- 
tive functions.  All  these  may  be  comprehended  in  it,  but 
also  a  great  deal  more.  It  is  best,  perhaps,  to  be  understood 
by  its  derivation,  and  has  been  said  to  be  that  law  in  case 
of  the  king  which  is  law  in  no  case  of  the  subject.^"  Of  the 
higher  and  more  sovereign  prerogatives  I  shall  here  say 
nothing ;  they  result  from  the  nature  of  a  monarchy,  and 
have  nothing  very  peculiar  in  their  character.  But  the 
smaller  rights  of  the  crown  show  better  the  original  linea- 
ments of  our  constitution.  It  is  said  commonly  enough  that 
all  prerogatives  are  given  for  the  subject's  good.  I  must 
confess  that  no  part  of  this  assertion  corresponds  with  my 
view  of  the  subject.  It  neither  appears  to  me  that  these 
prerogatives  were  ever  given  nor  that  they  necessarily  re- 
dound to  the  subject's  good.     Prerogative,  in  its  old  sei?€e, 

28  Blackstone's  Comment,  from  Fiuch,  vol.  i.,  c.  7. 
22* 


514^  PURVEYANCE.         Chap.  VIII.  Paut  Hi. 

might  be  defined  an  advantage  obtained  by  the  crown  over 
the  subject,  in  cases  where  their  interests  came  into  compe- 
tition, by  reason  of  its  greater  strength.  This  sprang  from 
the  nature  of  the  Norman  government,  which  rather  resem- 
bled a  scramble  of  wild  beasts,  where  the  strongest  takes 
the  best  share,  than  a  system  founded  upon  principles  of 
common  utility.  And,  modified  as  the  exercise  of  most  pre- 
rogatives has  been  by  the  more  liberal  tone  which  now  per- 
vades our  course  of  government,  whoever  attends  to  the 
common  practice  of  courts  of  justice,  and,  still  more,  who' 
ever  consults  the  law-books,  will  not  only  be  astonished  at 
their  extent  and  multiplicity,  but  very  frequently  at  their 
injustice  and  severity. 

1.  Purveyance. — The  real  prerogatives  that  might  formerly 
be  exerted  were  sometimes  of  so  injurious  a  nature  that  we 
can  hardly  separate  them  from  their  abuse:  a  striking  in- 
stance is  that  of  purveyance,  which  will  at  once  illustrate  the 
definition  above  given  of  a  prerogative,  the  limits  within 
which  it  was  to  be  exercised,  and  its  tendency  to  transgress 
them.  This  was  a  right  of  purchasing  w^hatever  was  nec- 
essary for  the  king's  household  at  a  fair  price,  in  preference 
to  every  competitor,  and  without  the  consent  of  the  ownen 
By  the  same  prerogative,  carriages  and  horses  were  impress* 
ed  for  the  king's  journeys,  and  lodgings  provided  for  his  at^ 
tendants.  This  was  defended  on  a  pretext  of  necessity,  or  at 
least  of  great  convenience  to  the  sovereign,  and  was  both  of 
high  antiquity  and  universal  practice  throughout  Europe. 
But  the  royal  purveyors  had  the  utmost  temptation,  and 
doubtless  no  small  store  of  precedents,  to  stretch  this  power 
beyond  its  legal  boundary ;  and  not  only  to  fix  their  own 
price  too  low,  but  to  seize  what  they  wanted  without  any 
payment  at  all,  or  with  tallies,  which  were  carried  in  vain  to 
an  empty  exchequer.  This  gave  rise  to  a  number  of  petitions 
from  the  Commons,  upon  which  statutes  were  often  framed ; 
but  the  evil  was  almost  incurable  in  its  nature,  and  never 
ceased  till  that  prerogative  was  itself  abolished.  Purvey- 
ance, as  I  have  already  said,  may  serve  to  distinguish  the 
defects  from  the  abuses  of  our  constitution.  It  was  a  re- 
proach to  the  law  that  men  should  be  compelled  to  send 
their  goods  without  their  consent ;  it  was  a  reproach  to  the 
administration  that  they  were  deprived  of  them  without 
payment. 

The  right  of  purchasing  men's  goods  for  the  use  of  the  kinsf 
was  extended,  by  a  sort  of  analogy,  to  their  labor.  Thus  Ed- 
ward III.  announces  to  all  sheriffs  that  William,  of  Walsin^'' 


English  Const.  FEUDAL  EIGHTS.  515 

ham,  had  a  commission  to  collect  as  many  painters  as  might 
suffice  for  "our  works  in  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  Westminster,  to 
be  at  our  wages  as  long  as  shall  be  necessary,"  and  to  arrest 
and  keep  in  prison  all  who  sliould  refuse  or  be  refractory, 
and  enjoins  them  to  lend  their  assistance.  Windsor  Castle 
owes  its  massive  magnificence  to  laborers  impressed  from  ev- 
ery part  of  the  kingdom.  There  is  even  a  commission  from 
Edward  IV.  to  take  as  many  workmen  in  gold  as  were  want- 
ing, and  employ  them  at  the  king's  cost  upon  the  trappings 
of  himself  and  his  household. 

2.  Feudal  Rights. — Another  class  of  abuses,  intimately  con- 
nected with  unquestionable  though  oppressive  rights  of  the 
crown,  originated  in  the  feudal  tenure  which  bound  all  the 
lands  of  the  kingdom.  The  king  had  indisputably  a  right  to 
the  wardship  of  his  tenants  in  chivalry,  and  to  the  escheats 
or  forfeitures  of  persons  dying  without  heirs  or  attainted  for 
treason.  But  his  officers,  under  pretense  of  wardshij),  took 
possession  of  lands  not  held  immediately  of  the  crown,  claim- 
ed escheats  where  a  right  heir  existed,  and  seized  estates  as 
forfeited  which  were  protected  by  the  statute  of  entails.  The 
real  owner  had  no  remedy  against  this  disposition  but  to  pre- 
fer his  petition  of  right  in  Chancery,  or,  which  was  probably 
more  effectual,  to  procure  a  remonstrance  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  his  favor.  Even  where  justice  was  finally  ren- 
dered to  him,  he  had  no  recompense  for  his  damages ;  and 
the  escheaters  were  not  less  likely  to  repeat  an  iniquity  by 
which  they  could  not  personally  suffer. 

3.  Forest  XcM^JS.^The  charter  of  the  forests,  granted  by 
Henry  HI.  along  with  Magna  Charta,  had  been  designed  to 
crush  the  flagitious  system  of  oppression  which  prevailed  in 
those  favorite  haunts  of  the  Norman  kings.  They  had  still, 
however,  their  peculiar  jurisdiction,  though  from  the  time  at 
least  of  Edward  IH.  subject  in  some  measure  to  the  control 
of  the  King's  Bench.  The  foresters,  I  suppose,  might  find  a 
compensation  for  their  want  of  the  common  law  in  that  easy 
and  licentious  way  of  life  which  they  affected  ;  but  the  neigh- 
boring cultivators  frequently  suffered  from  the  king's  officers 
who  attempted  to  recover  those  adjacent  lands,  or,  as  they 
were  called,  purlieus,  which  had  been  disafforested  by  the 
charter,  and  protected  by  frequent  perambulations.  Many 
petitions  of  the  Commons  relate  to  this  grievance. 

4.  Jurisdiction  of  Constable  and  Marshal. — The  constable 
and  marshal  of  England  possessed  a  jurisdiction,  the  proper 
limits  whereof  were  sufficiently  narrow,  as  it  seems,  to  have 
extended  only  to  appeals  of  treason  committed  beyond  sea, 


516      CHARACTER  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.     Ch.  VIII.  i^x.  III. 

which  were  determined  by  combat,  and  to  military  oiFenses 
within  the  realm.  But  these  high  officers  frequently  took 
upon  them  to  inquire  of  treasons  and  felonies  cognizable  at 
common  law,  and  even  of  civil  contracts  and  trespasses.  This 
is  no  bad  illustration  of  the  state  in  which  our  constitution 
stood  under  the  Plantagenets.  No  color  of  right  or  of  su- 
preme prerogative  was  set  up  to  justify  a  procedure  so  mani- 
festly repugnant  to  the  great  charter.  For  all  remonstrances 
against  these  encroachments  the  king  gave  promises  in  re- 
turn ;  and  a  statute  was  enacted,  in  the  thirteenth  of  Rich- 
ard IL,  declaring  the  bounds  of  the  constable  and  marshal's 
jurisdiction.  It  could  not  be  denied,  therefore,  that  all  in- 
fringements of  these  acknowledged  limits  were  illegal,  even 
if  they  had  a  hundred-fold  more  actual  precedents  in  their 
favor  than  can  be  supposed.  But  the  abuse  by  no  means 
ceased  after  the  passing  of  this  statute,  as  several  subse- 
quent petitions  that  it  might  be  better  regarded  will  evince. 
§  24.  If  I  have  faithfully  represented  thus  far  the  history 
of  our  constitution,  its  essential  character  will  appear  to  be 
a  monarchy  greatly  limited  by  law,  though  retaining  much 
power  that  was  ill  calculated  to  promote  the  public  good, 
and  swerving  continually  into  an  irregular  course,  which 
there  was  no  restraint  adequate  to  correct.  But  of  all  the 
notions  that  have  been  advanced  as  to  the  theory  of  this  con- 
stitution, the  least  consonant  to  law  and  history  is  that  which 
represents  the  king  as  merely  an  hereditary  executive  mag' 
istrate,  the  first  officer  of  the  state.  What  advantages  might 
result  from  such  a  form  of  government  this  is  not  the  place 
to  discuss.  But  it  certainly  was  not  the  ancient  constitution 
of  England.  There  was  nothing  in  this,  absolutely  nothing, 
of  a  republican  appearance.  All  seemed  to  grow  out  of  the 
monarchy,  and  was  referred  to  its  advantage  and  honor.  The 
voice  of  supplication,  even  in  the  stoutest  disposition  of  the 
Commons,  was  always  humble  ;  the  prerogative  was  always 
named  in  large  and  pompous  expressions.  Still  more  natu- 
rally may  we  expect  to  find  in  the  law-books  even  an  obse- 
quious deference  to  power,  from  judges  who  scarcely  ventured 
to  consider  it  as  their  duty  to  defend  the  subject's  freedom, 
and  who  beheld  the  gigantic  image  of  prerogative,  in  the 
full  play  of  its  hundred  arms,  constantly  before  their  eyes. 
Through  this  monarchical  tone,  which  certainly  pervades  all 
our  legal  authorities,  a  writer  like  Hume,  accustomed  to  phil- 
osophical liberality  as  to  the  principles  of  government,  and 
to  the  democratical  language  which  the  modern  aspect  of 
the  constitution  and  the  liberty  of  printing  have  produced, 


iSNGLiSH  Const.     TORTESCUE  ON  OUR  CONSTITUTION.  517 

fell  hastily  into  the  error  of  believing  that  all  limitations  of 
royal  power  during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries 
were  as  much  unsettled  in  law  and  in  public  opinion  as  they 
were  liable  to  be  violated  by  force.  Though  a  contrary  po- 
sition has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated,  I  conceive,  by  the 
series  of  Parliamentary  proceedings  which  I  have  already 
produced,  yet  there  is  a  passage  in  Sir  John  Fortescue's  trea- 
tise "  De  Laudibus  Legum  Angliae,"  so  explicit  and  weighty, 
that  no  writer  on  the  English  constitution  can  be  excused 
from  inserting  it.  This  eminent  person,  having  been  chief 
justice  of  the  King's  Bench  under  Henry  VI.,  was  governor 
to  the  young  Prince  of  Wales  during  his  retreat  in  France, 
and  received  at  his  hands  the  office  of  chancellor.  It  must 
never  be  forgotten  that,  in  a  treatisQ^  purposely  composed  for 
the  instruction  of  one  who  hoped  to  reign  over  England,  the 
limitations  of  government  are  enforced  as  strenuously  by 
Fortescue  as  some  succeeding  lawyers  have  inculcated  the 
doctrines  of  arbitrary  prerogative. 

"A  king  of  England  can  not  at  his  pleasure  make  any  alterations  in  the 
laws  of  the  land,  for  the  nature  of  his  government  is  not  only  regal,  but  po- 
litical. Had  it  been  merely  regal,  he  would  have  a  power  to  make  what  in- 
novations and  alterations  he  pleased  in  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  impose  tal- 
lages and  other  hardships  upon  the  people  Avhether  they  would  or  no,  with- 
out their  consent,  Avhich  sort  of  government  the  civil  laws  point  out  when 
they  declare  'Quod  principi  placuit,  legis  habet  vigorem.'  But  it  is  much 
otherwise  with  a  king  whose  government  is  political,  because  he  can  neither 
make  any  alteration  or  change  in  the  laws  of  the  realm  without  the  consent 
of  the  subjects,  nor  burden  them  against  their  wills  with  strange  impositions ; 
so  that  a  people  governed  by  such  laws  as  are  made  by  their  own  consent  and 
approbation  enjoy  their  properties  securely  and  -without  the  hazard  of  being 
deprived  of  them,  either  by  the  king  or  any  other.  The  same  things  may  be 
effected  under  an  absolute  prince,  provided  he  do  not  degenerate  into  the  ty- 
rant. Of  such  a  prince,  Aristotle,  in  the  third  of  his  'Politics,'  says,  'It  is 
better  for  a  city  to  be  governed  by  a  good  man  than  by  good  laws.'  But  be- 
cause it  does  not  always  happen  that  the  person  presiding  over  a  people  is  so 
qualified,  St.  Thomas,  in  the  book  which  he  writ  to  the  King  of  Cyprus,  '  De 
Kegimine  Principum,'  wishes  that  a  kingdom  could  be  so  instituted  as  that 
the  king  might  not  be  at  liberty  to  tyrannize  over  his  people;  which  only 
comes  to  pass  in  the  present  case :  that  is,  when  the  sovereign  power  is  re- 
strained by  political  laws.  Rejoice,  therefore,  my  good  prince,  that  such  is 
the  law  of  the  kingdom  which  you  are  to  inherit,  because  it  will  afford,  both 
to  yourself  and  subjects,  the  greatest  security  and  satisfaction.'"*' 

The  two  great  divisions  of  civil  rule,  the  absolute,  or  regal 
as  he  calls  it,  and  the  political,  Fortescue  proceeds  to  deduce 
from  the  several  originals  of  conquest  and  compact.  Con- 
cerning the  latter  he  declares  emphatically  a  truth  not  ah 
ways  palatable  to  princes,  that  such  governments  were  insti- 

8T  Fortescue,  "De  Laudibus  Legum  Angliae,"  c.  9. 


518         FORTESCUE  ON  OUR  CONSTITUTION.    Ch.  VIII.  Pt.  III. 

tuted  by  the  people  and  for  the  people's  good ;  quoting  St. 
Augustin  for  a'  similar  definition  of  a  political  society  : 

"As  the  head  of  a  body  natural  can  not  change  its  nerves  and  sinews, 
can  not  deny  to  the  several  parts  their  proper  energy,  their  due  proportion 
and  aliment  of  blood  ;  neither  can  a  king,  who  is  the  head  of  a  body  poHtic, 
change  the  laws  thereof,  nor  take  from  the  people  what  is  theirs  by  right 
against  their  consent.  Thus  you  have,  sir,  the  formal  institution  of  every 
political  kingdom,  from  whence  you  may  guess  at  the  power  which  a  king 
may  exercise  with  respect  to  the  laws  and  the  subject.  For  he  is  appointed 
to  protect  his  subjects  in  their  lives,  properties,  and  laws ;  for  this  very  end 
and  purpose  he  has  the  delegation  of  power  from  the  people,  and  he  has  no 
just  claim  to  any  otlier  power  but  tliis.  Wherefore,  to  give  a  brief  an- 
swer to  that  question  of  yours,  concerning  the  different  powers  which  kings 
claim  over  their  subjects,  I  am  firmly  of  opinion  that  it  arises  solely  from  the 
different  natures  of  their  original  institution,  as  you  may  easily  collect  from 
what  has  been  said.  So  the  kingdom  of  England  had  its  original  from 
Brute,  and  the  Trojans  who  attended  him  from  Italy  and  Greece,  and  be- 
came a  mixed  kind  of  government,  compounded  of  the  regal  and  political."'^'* 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  quote  every  other  pas- 
sage of  the  same  nature  in  this  treatise  of  Fortescue,  and  in 
that  entitled, "  Of  the  Difference  between  an  Absolute  and 
Limited  Monarchy,"  which,  so  far  as  these  points  are  con- 
cerned, is  nearly  a  translation  from  the  former."  But  these, 
corroborated  as  they  are  by  the  statute-book  and  by  the  rolls 
of  Parliament,  are  surely  conclusive  against  the  notions  which 
pervade  Mr.  Hume's  history.  I  have  already  remarked  that 
a  sense  of  the  glaring  prejudice  by  which  some  Whig  writers 
had  been  actuated,  in  representing  the  English  constitution 
from  the  earliest  times  as  nearly  arrived  at  its  present  per- 
fection, conspired  with  certain  prepossessions  of  his  own  to 
lead  this  eminent  historian  into  an  equally  erroneous  system 
on  the  opposite  side.  And  as  he  traced  the  stream  back- 
ward, and  came  last  to  the  times  of  the  Plantagenet  dynasty, 
with  opinions  already  biased  and  even  pledged  to  the  world 
in  his  volumes  of  earlier  publication,  he  was  prone  to  seize 
hold  of,  and  even  exaggerate,  every  circumstance  that  indi- 
cated immature  civilization,  and  law  perverted  or  infringed. 
To  this  his  ignorance  of  English  jurisprudence,  which  cer- 
tainly in  some  measure  disqualified  him  from  writing  our  his- 
tory, did  not  a  little  contribute;  misrepresentations  frequent- 
ly occurring  in  his  work  which  a  moderate  acquaintance  with 
the  law  of  the  land  would  haA'e  prevented. 

28  Fortescue,  "De  Landibus  Legara  Anglise,"  c.  13. 

2^  The  latter  treatise  having  been  written  under  Edward  IV. — whom  Fortescue,  as 
ft  restored  Lancastrian,  would  be  anxious  not  to  offend,  and  whom,  in  fact,  he  took 
some  pains  to  conciliate  both  in  this  and  other  writings— it  is  evident  that  the  princi- 
ples of  limited  monarchy  were  as  fully  recognized  in  his  reign,  whatever  particular 
acts  of  violence  might  occur,  as  they  had  been  under  the  Lancastrian  princes. 


English  Const.     ERRONEOUS  VIEWS  OF  HUME.  519 

It  is  an  honorable  circumstance  to  England  t'jat  the  histo- 
ry of  no  other  country  presents  so  few  instances  of  illegal 
condemnations  upon  political  charges.  The  judicial  torture 
was  hardly  known,  and  never  recognized  by  law.  The  sen- 
tence in  capital  crimes,  fixed  unalterably  by  custom,  allowed 
nothing  to  vindictiveness  and  indignation.  There  hardly  oc- 
curs an  example  of  any  one  being  notoriously  put  to  death 
without  form  of  trial,  except  in  moments  of  flagrant  civil 
war.  If  the  rights  of  juries  were  sometimes  evaded  by  ir- 
regular jurisdictions,  they  were  at  least  held  sacred  by  the 
courts  of  law  ;  and  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  civil  liber- 
ty, no  one  ever  questioned  the  primary  right  of  every  free- 
man, handed  down  from  his  Saxon  forefathers,  to  the  trial 
by  his  peers.  A  just  regard  for  public  safety  prescribes  the 
necessity  of  severe  penalties  against  rebellion  and  conspir- 
acy ;  but  the  interpretation  of  these  offenses,  when  intrusted 
to  sovereigns  and  their  counsellors,  has  been  the  most  tre- 
mendous instrument  of  despotic  power.  In  rude  ages,  even 
though  a  general  spirit  of  political  liberty  may  prevail,  the 
legal  character  of  treason  will  commonly  be  undefined  ;  nor 
is  it  the  disposition  of  lawyers  to  give  greater  accuracy  to 
this  part  of  criminal  jurisprudence.  The  nature  of  treason 
appears  to  have  been  subject  to  much  uncertainty  in  En- 
gland before  the  statute  of  Edward  III.  If  that  memorable 
law  did  not  give  all  possible  precision  to  the  off*ense,  which 
we  must  certainly  allow,  it  prevented  at  least  those  stretches 
of  vindictive  tyranny  which  disgrace  the  annals  of  other 
countries.  The  praise,  however,  must  be  understood  as  com- 
parative. Some  cases  of  harsh  if  not  illegal  convictions  could 
hardly  fail  to  occur  in  times  of  violence,  and  during  changes 
of  the  reigning  family.  Perhaps  the  circumstances  have 
now  and  then  been  aggravated  by  historians.  Nothing  could 
be  more  illegal  than  the  conviction  of  the  Earl  of  Cambridge 
and  Lord  Scrope  in  1415,  if  it  be  true,  according  to  Carte  and 
Hume,  that  they  w^ere  not  heard  in  their  defense.  But  wheth- 
er this  is  to  be  absolutely  inferred  from  the  record  is  per- 
haps open  to  question.  There  seems  at  least  to.  have  been 
no  suflicient  motive  for  such  an  irregularity,  their  participa- 
tion in  a  treasonable  conspiracy  being  manifest  from  their 
own  confession.  The  proceedings  against  Sir  John  Morti- 
mer in  the  2d  of  Henry  YI.  are  called  by  Hume  highly  irreg- 
ular and  illegal.  They  were,  however,  by  act  of  attainder, 
which  can  not  well  be  styled  illegal.  Nor  are  they  to  be 
considered  as  severe.  Mortimer  had  broken  out  of  the  Tow- 
er, where  he  was  confined  on  a  charge  of  treason.     This  was 


520  CAUSES  TENDING  TO  EORM    Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

a  capital  felony  at  common  law ;  and  the  chief  irregularity 
seems  to  have  consisted  in  having  recourse  to  Parliament  in 
order  to  attaint  him  of  treason,  when  he  had  already  forfeit- 
ed his  life  by  another  crime. 

§  25.  By  what  means  the  English  acquired  and  preserved 
this  political  liberty,  which,  even  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was 
the  admiration  of  judicious  foreigners,^"  is  a  very  rational  and 
interesting  inquiry.  Their  own  serious  and  steady  attach- 
ment to  the  laws  must  always  be  reckoned  among  the  prin- 
cipal causes  of  this  blessing.  The  civil  equality  of  all  free- 
men below  the  rank  of  peerage,  and  the  subjection  of  peers 
themselves  to  the  impartial  arm  of  justice  and  to  a  due  share 
in  contribution  to  public  burdens — advantages  unknown  to 
other  countries — tended  to  identify  the  interests  and  to  as- 
similate the  feelings  of  the  aristocracy  with  those  of  the  peo- 
ple; classes  whose  dissension  and  jealousy  have  been  in  many 
instances  the  surest  hope  of  sovereigns  aiming  at  arbitrary 
power.  This  freedom  from  the  oppressive  superiority  of  a 
privileged  order  was  peculiar  to  England.  In  many  king- 
doms the  royal  prerogative  was  at  least  equally  limited.  The 
statutes  of  Aragon  are  more  full  of  remedial  provisions.  The 
right  of  opposing  a  tyrannical  government  by  arms  was  more 
frequently  asserted  in  Castile.  But  nowhere  else  did  the 
people  possess  by  law,  and  I  think  upon  the  whole,  in  effect, 
so  much  security  for  their  personal  freedom  and  property. 
Accordingly,  the  middling  ranks  flourished  remarkably,  not 
only  in  commercial  towns,  but  among  the  cultivators  of  the 
soil.  "  There  is  scarce  a  small  village,"  says  Sir  J.  Fortescue, 
"  in  which  you  may  not  find  a  knight,  an  esquire,  or  some 
substantial  householder  (paterfamilias),  commonly  called  a 
frankleyn,^'  possessed  of  considerable  estate  ;  besides  others 
who  are  called  freeholders,  and  many  yeomen  of  estates  suffi- 
cient to  make  a  substantial  jury."  I  would,  however,  point 
out  more  particularly  two  causes  which  had  a  very  leading 
eflficacy  in  the  gradual  development  of  our  constitution:  first, 
the  schemes  of  Continental  ambition  in  which  our  govern- 
so  Philip  de  Comines  takes  seveml  opportnnities  of  testifying  his  esteem  for  the 
English  government.    See  particnlarly  1.  iv.,  c.  i.,  and  1.  v.,  c.  xix. 

31  By  a  franlcleyn  in  this  place  we  are  to  understand  what  we  call  a  country  squire, 
like  the  frankleyn  of  Chaucer;  for  the  word  esquire  in  Fortescue's  time  was  only 
used  in  its  limited  sense,  for  the  sons  of  peers  and  knights,  or  such  as  had  obtained 
the  title  by  creation  or  some  other  legal  means. 

The  mention  of  Chaucer  leads  me  to  add  that  the  prologue  to  his  "Canterbury 
Tales"  is  of  itself  a  continual  testimony  to  the  plenteous  and  comfortable  situation 
of  the  middle  ranks  in  England,  as  well  as  to  that  fearless  independence  and  fre- 
quent originality  of  character  among  them  which  liberty  and  competence  have  coi>- 
epired  to  produce. 


English  Const.  THE  CONSTITUTION.  521 

ment  was  long  engaged ;  secondly,  the  manner  in  which  feud- 
al principles  of  insubordination  and  resistance  were  modified 
by  the  prerogatives  of  the  early  Norman  kings. 

1.  At  the  epoch  when  William  the  Conqueror  ascended 
the  throne,  hardly  any  other  power  was  possessed  by  the 
King  of  France  than  what  he  inherited  from  the  great  fiefs 
of  the  Capetian  family.  War  with  such  a  potentate  was  not 
exceedingly  to  be  dreaded,  and  William,  besides  his  immense 
revenue,  could  employ  the  feudal  services  of  his  vassals, 
which  were  extended  by  him  to  continental  expeditions. 
These  circumstances  were  not  essentially  changed  till  after 
the  loss  of  Normandy ;  for  the  acquisitions  of  Henry  II.  kept 
him  fully  on  an  equality  with  the  French  crown,  and  the  di- 
lapidation which  had  taken  place  in  the  royal  demesnes  was 
compensated  by  several  arbitrary  resources  that  filled  the 
exchequer  of  these  monarchs.  But  in  the  reigns  of  John  and 
Henry  HI.,  the  position  of  England,  or  rather  of  its  sovereign 
with  respect  to  France,  underwent  a  very  disadvantageous 
change.  The  loss  of  Normandy  severed  the  connection  be- 
tween the  English  nobility  and  the  Continent ;  they  had  no 
longer  estates  to  defend,  and  took  not  sufficient  interest  in 
the  concerns  of  Guienne  to  fight  for  that  province  at  their 
own  cost.  Their  feudal  service  was  now  commuted  for  an 
escuage,  which  fell  very  short  of  the  expenses  incurred  in  a 
protracted  campaign.  Tallages  of  royal  towns  and  demesne 
lands,  extortion  of  money  from  the  Jews,  every  feudal  abuse 
and  oppression,  were  tried  in  vain  to  replenish  the  treasury, 
which  the  defense  of  Eleanor's  inheritance  against  the  in- 
creased energy  of  France  was  constantly  exhausting.  Even 
in  the  most  arbitrary  reigns  a  general  tax  upon  land-holders, 
in  any  cases  but  those  prescribed  by  the  feudal  law,  had  not 
been  ventured ;  and  the  standing  bulwark  of  Magna  Charta, 
as  well  as  the  feebleness  and  unpopularity  of  Henry  HI., 
made  it  more  dangerous  to  violate  an  established  principle. 
Subsidies  were  therefore  constantly  required  ;  but  for  these 
it  was  necessary  for  the  king  to  meet  Parliament,  to  hear 
their  complaints,  and,  if  he  could  not  elude,  to  acquiesce  in 
their  petitions.  These  necessities  came  still  more  urgently 
upon  Edward  I.,  whose  ambitious  spirit  could  not  patiently 
endure  the  encroachments  of  Philip  the  Fair,  a  rival  not  less 
ambitious,  but  certainly  less  distinguished  by  personal  prow- 
ess, than  himself  What  advantage  the  friends  of  liberty 
reaped  from  this  ardor  for  continental  warfare  is  strongly 
seen  in  the  circumstances  attending  the  Confirmation  of  the 
Charters. 


522  CAUSES  TENDING  TO  FORM    Chap.  VIII.  Part  III: 

But  after  this  statute  had  rendered  all  tallages  without 
consent  of  Parliament  illegal,  though  it  did  not  for  some 
time  prevent  their  being  occasionally  imposed,  it  was  still 
more  difficult  to  carry  on  a  war  with  France  or  Scotland,  to 
keep  on  foot  naval  armaments,  or  even  to  preserve  the  court- 
ly magnificence  which  that  age  of  chivalry  affecte(j,  without 
perpetual  recurrence  to  the  House  of  Commons. '  Edward 
III.  very  little  consulted  the  interests  of  his  prerogative 
when  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  seize  the  phantom  of  a 
crown  in  France.  It  compelled  him  to  assemble  Parliament 
almost  annually,  and  often  to  hold  more  than  one  session 
within  the  year.  Here  the  representatives  of  England 
learned  the  habit  of  remonstrance  and  conditional  supply ; 
and  though,  in  the  meridian  of  Edward's  age  and  vigor,  they 
often  failed  of  immediate  redress,  yet  they  gradually  swelled 
the  statute-roll  with  provisions  to  secure  their  country's  free- 
dom ;  and,  acquiring  self-confidence  by  mutual  intercourse 
and  sense  of  the  public  opinion,  they  became  able,  before  the 
end  of  Edward's  reign,  and  still  more  in  that  of  his  grandson, 
to  control,  prevent,  and  punish  the  abuses  of  administration. 
Of  all  these  proud  and  sovereign  privileges,  the  right  of  re- 
fusing supply  was  the  key-stone.  But  for  the  long  wars  in 
which  our  kings  were  involved,  at  first  by  their  possession 
of  Guienne,  and  afterwards  by  their  pretensions  upon  the 
crown  of  France,  it  would  have  been  easy  to  suppress  re- 
monstrances by  avoiding  to  assemble  Parliament.  For  it 
must  be  confessed  that  an  authority  was  given  to  the  king's 
proclamations,  and  to  ordinances  of  the  council,  which  difier- 
ed  but  little  from  legislative  power,  and  would  very  soon 
have  been  interpreted  by  complaisant  courts  of  justice  to 
give  them  the  full  extent  of  statutes. 

It  is  common,  indeed,  to  assert  that  the  liberties  of  England 
were  bought  with  the  blood  of  our  forefathers.  This  is  a  very 
magnanimous  boast,  and  in  some  degree  is  consonant  enough 
to  the  truth.  But  it  is  far  more  generally  accurate  to  say 
that  they  were  purchased  by  money.  A  great  proportion 
of  our  best  laws,  including  Magna  Charta  itself,  as  it  now 
stands  confirmed  by  Henry  III.,  were,  in  the  most  literal 
sense,  obtained  by  a  pecuniary  bargain  with  the  crown.  In 
many  Parliaments  of  Edward  HI.  and  Richard  II.  this  sale 
of  redress  is  chafi*ered  for  as  distinctly,  and  with  as  little 
apparent  sense  of  disgrace,  as  the  most  legitimate  business 
between  two  merchants  would  be  transacted.  So  little  was 
there  of  voluntary  benevolence  in  what  the  loyal  courtesy 
of  our  constitution  stvles  concessions  from  the  throne ;  and 


Enulish  Const.  THE  CONSTITUTION.  523 

SO  little  title  have  these  sovereigns,  though  we  can  not  re- 
fuse our  admiration  to  the  generous  virtues  of  Edward  III. 
and  Henry  V.,  to  claim  the  gratitude  of  posterity  as  the  ben- 
efactors of  their  people ! 

2.  The  relation  established  between  a  lord  and  his  vassal 
by  the  feudal  tenure,  far  from  containing  principles  of  any 
servile  and  implicit  obedience,  permitted  the  compact  to  be 
dissolved  in  case  of  its  violation  by  either  party.  This  ex- 
tended as  much  to  the  sovereign  as  to  inferior  lords ;  the 
authority  of  the  former  in  France,  where  the  system  most 
flourished,  being  for  several  ages  rather  feudal  than  political. 
If  a  vassal  were  aggrieved,  and  if  justice  were  denied  him, 
he  sent  a  defiance,  that  is,  a  renunciation  of  fealty,  to  the 
king,  and  was  entitled  to  enforce  redress  at  the  point  of  his 
sword.  It  then  became  a  contest  of  strength  as  between  two 
independent  potentates,  and  was  terminated  by  treaty,  ad- 
vantageous or  otherwise,  according  to  the  fortune  of  war. 
This  privilege,  suited  enough  to  the  situation  of  France,  the 
great  peers  of  which  did  not  originally  intend  to  admit  more 
than  a  nominal  supremacy  in  the  house  of  Capet,  was  evi- 
dently less  compatible  with  the  regular  monarchy  of  England. 
The  stern  natures  of  William  the  Conqueror  and  his  succes- 
sors kept  in  control  the  mutinous  spirit  of  their  nobles,  and 
reaped  the  profit  of  feudal  tenures  without  submitting  to  their 
reciprocal  obligations.  They  counteracted,  if  I  may  so  say, 
the  centrifugal  force  of  that  system  by  the  application  of  a 
stronger  power  ;  by  preserving  order,  administering  justice, 
checking  the  growth  of  baronial  influence  and  riches,  with 
habitual  activity,  vigilance,  and  severity.  Still,  however, 
there  remained  the  original  principle  that  allegiance  de- 
pended conditionally  upon  good  treatment,  and  that  an  ap- 
peal might  be  lawfully  made  to  arms  against  an  oppressive 
government.  Nor  was  this,  we  may  be  sure,  left  for  extreme 
necessity,  or  thought  to  require  a  long-enduring  forbearance. 
In  modern  times  a  king  compelled  by  his  subjects'  swords 
to  abandon  any  pretension  would  be  supposed  to  have  ceased 
to  reign  ;  and  the  express  recognition  of  such  a  right  as  that 
of  insurrection  has  been  justly  deemed  inconsistent  with  the 
majesty  of  law.  But  ruder  ages  had  ruder  sentiments. 
Force  was  necessary  to  repel  force;  and  men  accustomed  to 
see  the  king's  authority  defied  by  private  riot  were  not  much 
shocked  when  it  was  resisted  in  defense  of  public  freedom. 

The  Great  Charter  of  John  was  secured  by  the  election  of 
twenty-five  barons  as  conservators  of  the  compact.  If  the 
king,  or  the  justiciary  in  his  absence,  should  transgress  any 


524  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  NOBILITY.     Chap.  VIIL  Part  II) 

article,  any  four  might  demand  reparation,  and  on  denial 
carry  their  complaint  to  the  rest  of  their  body.  "And  those 
barons,  with  all  the  commons  of  the  land,  shall  distrain  and 
annoy  us  by  every  means  in  their  power ;  that  is,  by  seizing 
our  castles,  lands,  and  possessions,  and  every  other  mode,  till 
the  wrong  shall  be  repaired  to  their  satisfaction ;  saving  our 
person,  and  our  queen  and  children.  And  when  it  shall  be 
repaired  they  shall  obey  us  as  before."  It  is  amusing  to  see 
the  common  law  of  distress  introduced  upon  this  gigantic 
scale,  and  the  capture  of  the  king's  castles  treated  as  analo- 
gous to  impounding  a  neighbor's  horse  for  breaking  fences. 

These  feudal  notions,  which  placed  the  moral  obligation  of 
allegiance  very  low,  acting  under  a  weiglity  pressure  from 
the  real  strength  of  the  crown,  were  favorable  to  constitu- 
tional liberty.  The  great  vassals  of  France  and  Germany 
aimed  at  living  independently  on  their  fiefs,  with  no  further 
concern  for  the  rest  than  as  useful  allies  having  a  common 
interest  against  the  crown.  But  in  England,  as  there  was 
no  prospect  of  throwing  oif  subjection,  the  barons  endeav- 
ored only  to  lighten  its  burden,  fixing  limits  to  prerogative 
by  law,  and  securing  their  observation  by  parliamentary  re- 
monstrances or  by  dint  of  arms.  Hence,  as  all  rebellions  in 
England  were  directed  only  to  coerce  the  government,  or  at 
the  utmost  to  change  the  succession  of  the  crowm,  without 
the  smallest  tendency  to  separation,  they  did  not  impair  the 
national  strength  nor  destroy  the  character  of  the  constitu- 
tion. In  all  these  contentions  it  is  remarkable  that  the  peo- 
ple and  clergy  sided  w^ith  the  nobles  against  the  throne.  No 
individuals  are  so  popular  with  the  monkish  annalists,  who 
speak  the  language  of  the  populace,  as  Simon,  earl  of  Lei 
cester,  Thomas,  earl  of  Lancaster,  and  Thomas,  duke  of  Glou- 
cester—  all  turbulent  opposers  of  the  royal  authority,  and 
probably  little  deserving  of  their  panegyrics.  Very  few 
English  historians  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  advocates  of  pre- 
rogative. This  may  be  ascribed  both  to  the  equality  of  our 
laws  and  to  the  interest  which  the  aristocracy  found  in  court- . 
ing  popular  favor,  when  committed  against  so  formidable  an 
adversary  as  the  king. 

§  26.  From  the  time  of  Edward  I.  the  feudal  system  and 
all  the  feelings  connected  with  it  declined  very  rapidly. 
But  what  the  nobility  lost  in  the  number  of  their  military 
tenants  was  in  some  degree  compensated  by  the  state  of 
manners.  The  higher  class  of  them,  who  took  the  chief  share 
in  public  afiairs,  were  exceedingly  opulent ;  and  their  mode 
of  life  gave  wealth  an  incredibly  greater  efficacy  than  it  po«- 


English  Const.        PREVALENCE  OF  RAPINE.  525 

sesses  at  present.  Gentlemen  of  large  estates  and  good  fam- 
ilies who  had  attached  themselves  to  these  great  peers,  who 
bore  offices  which  we  should  call  menial  in  their  households, 
and  sent  their  children  thither  for  education,  were  of  course 
ready  to  follow  their  banner  in  rising,  without  much  inquiry 
into  the  cause.  Still  less  would  the  vast  body  of  tenants  and 
their  retainers,  who  were  fed  at  the  castle  in  time  of  peace, 
refuse  to  carry  their  pikes  and  staves  into  the  field  of  battle. 
Many  devices  were  used  to  preserve  this  aristocratic  influ- 
ence, which  riches  and  ancestry  of  themselves  rendered  so 
formidable.  Such  was  the  maintenance  of  suits,  or  confed- 
eracies for  the  purpose  of  supporting  each  other's  claims  in 
litigation,  which  was  the  subject  of  frequent  complaints  in 
Parliament,  and  gave  rise  to  several  prohibitory  statutes. 
By  help  of  such  confederacies  parties  were  enabled  to  make 
violent  entries  upon  the  lands  they  claimed,  which  the  law 
itself  could  hardly  be  said  to  discourage.  Even  proceedings 
in  courts  of  justice  were  often  liable  to  intimidation  and  in- 
fluence. A  practice  much  allied  to  confederacies  of  mainte- 
nance, though  ostensibly  more  harmless,  was  that  of  giving 
liveries  to  all  retainers  of  a  noble  family  ;  but  it  had  an  ob- 
vious tendency  to  preserve  that  spirit  of  factious  attachments 
and  animosities  which  it  is  the  general  policy  of  a  wise  gov- 
ernment to  dissipate.  From  the  first  year  of  Richard  II.  we 
find  continual  mention  of  this  custom,  with  many  legal  pro- 
visions asjainst  it,  but  it  was  never  abolished  till  the  reign 
of  Henry  VII. 

§  27.  These  associations  under  powerful  chiefs  were  only  in- 
cidentally beneficial  as  they  tended  to  withstand  the  abuses  of 
prerogative.  In  their  more  usual  course  they  were  designed 
to  thwart  the  legitimate  exercise  of  the  king's  government 
in  the  administration  of  the  laws.  All  Europe  was  a  scene 
of  intestine  anarchy  during  the  Middle  Ages;  and  though 
England  was  far  less  exposed  to  the  scourge  of  private  war 
than  most  nations  on  the  Continent,  we  should  find,  could  we 
recover  the  local  annals  of  every  country,  such  an  accumula- 
tion of  petty  rapine  and  tumult  as  would  almost  alienate  us 
from  the  liberty  which  served  to  engender  it.  This  was  the 
common  tenor  of  manners,  sometimes  so  much  aggravated 
as  to  find  a  place  in  general  history,  more  often  attested  by 
records  during  the  three  centuries  that  the  house  of  Plantag- 
enet  sat  on  the  throne.  Disseizin,  or  forcible  dispossession 
of  freeholds,  makes  one  of  the  most  considerable  articles  in 
our  law-books.  Highway  robbery  was  from  the  earliest  times 
a  sort  of  national  crime.     Capital  punishments,  though  very 


526  PREVALENT  HABITS    Chap.  VIII.  Part  IIL 

frequent,  made  little  impression  on  a  bold  and  a  licentious 
crew,  who  had  at  least  the  sympathy  of  those  who  had  noth- 
ing to  lose  on  their  side,  and  flattering  prospects  of  impunity. 
We  know  how  long  the  outlaws  of  Sherwood  lived  in  tradi- 
tion— men  who,  like  some  of  their  betters,  have  been  permit- 
ted to  redeem  by  a  few  acts  of  generosity  the  just  ignominy 
of  extensive  crimes.  These,  indeed,  were  the  heroes  of  vul- 
gar applause ;  but  when  such  a  judge  as  Sir  John  Fortescue 
could  exult  that  more  Englishmen  were  hanged  for  robbery 
in  one  year  than  French  in  seven,  and  that, "  if  an  English 
man  be  poor,  and  see  another  having  riches  which  may  be 
taken  from  him  by  might,  he  will  not  spare  to  do  so,"  it  may 
be  perceived  how  thoroughly  these  sentiments  had  pervaded 
the  public  mind. 

Such  robbers,  I  have  said,  had  flattering  prospects  of  im- 
punity. Besides  the  general  want  of  communication,  which 
made  one  who  had  fled  from  his  own  neighborhood  tolerably 
secure,  they  had  the  advantage  of  extensive  forests  to  facili- 
tate their  depredations  and  prevent  detection.  When  out- 
lawed or  brought  to  trial,  the  worst  oflenders  could  frequent- 
ly purchase  charters  of  pardon,  which  defeated  justice  in  the 
moment  of  her  blow.  Nor  were  the  nobility  ashamed  to 
patronize  men  guilty  of  every  crime.  Several  proofs  of  this 
occur  in  the  rolls.^'' 

It  is  perhaps  the  most  meritorious  part  of  Ed  ward  T.'s  gov- 
ernment that  he  bent  all  his  power  to  restrain  these  breaches 
of  tranquillity.  One  of  his  salutary  provisions  is  still  in  con- 
stant use — the  statute  of  coroners.  Another,  more  extensive, 
and,  though  partly  obsolete,  the  foundation  of  modern  laws, 
is  the  statute  of  Winton,  which  enacts  that  hue  and  cry  shall 
be  made  upon  the  commission  of  a  robbery,  and  that  the 
hundred  shall  remain  answerable  for  the  damage  unless  the 
felons  be  brought  to  justice.  It  may  be  inferred  from  this 
provision  that  the  ancient  law  of  frank-pledge,  though  re- 

32  A  strange  policy,  for  which  no  rational  cause  can  be  alleged,  kept  Wales  and 
even  Cheshire  distinct  from  the  rest  of  the  kingdom.  Nothing  could  be  more  injuri- 
ous to  the  adjacent  counties.  Upon  the  credit  of  their  immunity  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  king's  courts,  the  people  of  Cheshire  broke  with  armed  bands  into  the 
neighboring  counties,  and  perpetrated  all  the  crimes  in  their  power.  As  to  the 
Welsh  frontier,  it  was  constantly  almost  in  a  state  of  war,  which  a  very  little  good 
sense  and  benevolence  in  any  one  of  our  shepherds  would  have  easily  prevented,  by 
admitting  the  conquered  people  to  partake  in  equal  privileges  with  their  fellow- 
subjects.  Instead  of  this,  they  satisfied  themselves  with  aggravating  the  mischief 
by  granting  legal  reprisals  upon  Welshmen.  Welshmen  were  absolutely  excluded 
from  bearing  offices  in  Wales.  The  English  living  in  the  English  towns  of  Wales 
earnestly  petition  (23  Henry  VI.,  Rot.  Pari.,  vol.  v.,  p.  104, 154)  that  this  exclusion  may 
be  kept  in  force.  Complaints  of  the  disorderly  state  of  the  Welsh  frontier  are  repeated 
as  late  as  12  Edward  IV.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  8. 


English  Const.  OF  RAPINE.  621^ 

tained  longer  in  form,  had  lost  its  efficiency.  By  the  same 
act,  no  stranger  or  suspicious  person  was  to  lodge  even  in 
the  suburbs  of  towns;  the  gates  were  to  be  kept  locked 
from  sunset  to  sunrising ;  every  host  to  be  answerable  for 
his  guest ;  the  highways  to  be  cleared  of  trees  and  under- 
wood for  two  hundred  feet  on  each  side,  and  every  man  to 
keep  arms,  according  to  his  substance,  in  readiness  to  follow 
the  sheriff  on  hue  and  cry  raised  after  felons.  The  last  pro- 
vision indicates  that  the  robbers  plundered  the  country  in 
formidable  bands.  One  of  these,  in  a  subsequent  part  of 
Edward's  reign,  burned  the  town  of  Boston  during  a  fair, 
and  obtained  a  vast  booty,  though  their  leader  had  the  ill 
fortune  not  to  escape  the  gallows. 

The  preservation  of  order  throughout  the  country  was 
originally  intrusted  not  only  to  the  sheriff,  coroner,  and  con- 
stables, but  to  certain  magistrates  called  conservators  of  the 
peace.  These,  in  conformity  to  the  democratic  character  of 
our  Saxon  government,  were  elected  by  the  freeholders  in 
their  County  Court.  But  Edward  I.  issued  commissions  to 
carry  into  effect  the  statute  of  Winton ;  and  from  the  be- 
ginning of  Edward  III.'s  reign  the  appointment  of  conserv- 
ators was  vested  in  the  crown,  their  authority  gradually  en- 
larged by  a  series  of  statutes,  and  their  titles  changed  to 
that  of  justices.  They  were  empowered  to  imprison  and 
punish  all  rioters  and  other  offenders,  and  such  as  they 
should  find  by  indictment  or  suspicion  to  be  reputed  thieves 
or  vagabonds,  and  to  take  sureties  for  good  behavior  from 
persons  of  evil  fame.  Such  a  jurisdiction  was  hardly  more 
arbitrary  than,  in  a  free  and  civilized  age,  it  has  been 
thought  fit  to  vest  in  magistrates  ;  but  it  was  ill  endured  by 
a  people  who  placed  their  notions  of  liberty  in  personal  ex- 
emption from  restraint  rather  than  any  political  theory.  An 
act  having  been  passed  (2  Richard  II.,  stat.  2,  c.  6),  in  conse- 
quence of  unusual  riots  and  outrages,  enabling  magistrates 
to  commit  the  ringleaders  of  tumultuary  assemblies  without 
waiting  for  legal  process  till  the  next  arrival  of  justices  of 
jail  delivery,  the  Commons  petitioned  next  year  against  this 
"  horrible  grievous  ordinance,"  by  which  "  every  freeman  in 
the  kingdom  would  be  in  bondage  to  these  justices,"  con- 
trary to  the  great  charter,  and  to  many  statutes,  which  for- 
bid any  man  to  be  taken  without  due  course  of  law.  So 
sensitive  was  their  jealousy  of  arbitrary  imprisonment,  that 
they  preferred  enduring  riot  and  robbery  to  chastising  them 
by  any  means  that  might  afford  a  precedent  to  oppression, 
or  weaken  men's  reverence  for  Maojna  Charta. 


B2&  VILLENAGE  OF         Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

There  are  two  subjects  remaining  to  which  this  retrospect 
of  the  state  of  manners  naturally  leads  us,  and  which  I  would 
not  pass  unnoticed,  though  not  perhaps  absolutely  essential 
to  a  constitutional  history  ;  because  they  tend  in  a  very  ma- 
terial degree  to  illustrate  the  progress  of  society,  with  which 
civil  liberty  and  regular  government  are  closely  connected. 
These  are,  first,  the  servitude  or  villenage  of  the  peasantry, 
and  their  gradual  emancipation  from  that  condition;  and, 
secondly,  the  continual  increase  of  commercial  intercourse 
with  foreign  countries.  But  as  the  latter  topic  will  fall 
more  conveniently  into  the  next  part  of  this  work,  I  shall 
postpone  its  consideration  for  the  present. 

§  28.  In  a  former  passage  I  have  remarked  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  ceorls  that  neither  their  situation  nor  that  of  their  de- 
scendants for  the  earlier  reigns  after  the  Conquest  appears 
to  have  been  mere  servitude.  But  from  the  time  of  Henry 
II.,  as  we  learn  from  Glanvil,  the  villein,  so  called,  was  abso- 
lutely dependent  upon  his  lord's  will,  compelled  to  unlim- 
ited services,  and  destitute  of  property,  not  only  in  the  land 
he  held  for  his  maintenance,  but  in  his  own  acquisitions. 
If  a  villein  purchased  or  inherited  land,  the  lord  might 
seize  it ;  if  he  accumulated  stock,  its  possession  was  equally 
precarious.  Against  his  lord  he  had  no  right  of  action ; 
because  his  indemnity  in  damages,  if  he  could  have  recov- 
ered any,  might  have  been  immediately  taken  away.  If  he 
fled  from  his"  lord's  service,  or  from  the  land  which  he  held, 
a  writ  issued  de  nativitate  probanda,  and  the  master  recov- 
ered his  fugitive  by  law.  His  children  were  born  to  the 
same  state  of  servitude ;  and,  contrary  to  the  rule  of  the 
civil  law,  where  one  parent  was  free  and  the  other  in  villen- 
age, the  offspring  followed  their  father's  condition. 

This  was  certainly  a  severe  lot ;  yet  there  are  circum- 
stances which  materially  distinguish  it  from  slavery.  The 
condition  of  villenage,  at  least  in  later  times,  was  perfectly 
relative;  it  formed  no  distinct  order  in  the  political  econ- 
omy. No  man  was  a  villein  in  the  eye  of  law  unless  his 
master  claimed  him :  to  all  others  he  was  a  freeman,  and 
might  acquire,  dispose  of,  or  sue  for  property  without  im- 
pediment. 

This  class  was  distinguished  into  villeins  regardant,,  who 
had  been  attached  from  time  immemorial  to  a  certain,  manor, 
and  villeins  in  gross,  where  such  territorial  prescription  had 
never  existed,  or  had  been  broken.  In  the  condition  of 
these,  whatever  has  been  said  by  some  writers,  I  can  find  no 
manner  of  difference;  the  distinction  was  merely  teclinicai, 


English  Const.  THE  PEASANTRY  529 

and  affected  only  the  mode  of  pleading.  The  term  "in 
gross"  is  appropriated  in  our  legal  language  to  property 
held  absolutely  and  without  reference  to  any  other.  Thus 
it  is  applied  to  rights  of  advovvson  or  of  common  when  pos- 
sessed simply  and  not  as  incident  to  any  particular  lands. 
And  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  used  in  the  same 
sense  for  the  possession  of  a  villein.  But  there  was  a  class 
of  persons,  sometimes  inaccurately  confounded  with  villeins, 
whom  it  is  more  important  to  separate.  Villenage  had  a 
double  sense,  as  it  related  to  persons  or  to  lands.  As  all 
men  were  free  or  villeins,  so  all  lands  were  held  by  a  free  or 
villein  tenure.  As  a  villein  might  be  enfeoffed  of  freeholds, 
though  they  lay  at  the  mercy  of  his  lord,  so  a  freeman 
might  hold  tenements  in  villenage.  In  this  case  his  per- 
sonal liberty  subsisted  along  with  the  burdens  of  territorial 
servitude.  He  was  bound  to  arbitrary  service  at  the  will 
of  the  lord,  and  he  might  by  the  same  will  be  at  any  mo- 
ment dispossessed  ;  for  such  was  the  condition  of  his  ten- 
ure. But  his  chattels  were  secure  from  seizure,  his  per- 
son from  injury,  and  he  might  leave  the  land  whenever  he 
pleased. 

From  so  disadvantageous  a  condition  as  this  of  villenage 
it  may  cause  some  surprise  that  the  peasantry  of  England 
should  have  ever  emerged.  The  law  incapacitating  a  vil- 
lein from  acquiring  property  placed,  one  would  imagine,  an 
insurmountable  barrier  in  the  way  of  his  enfranchisement. 
It  followed  from  thence,  and  is  positively  said  by  Glanvil, 
that  a  villein  could  not  buy  his  freedom,  because  the  price 
he  tendered  would  already  belong  to  his  lord.  And  even  in 
the  case  of  free  tenants  in  villenage  it  is  not  easy  to  com- 
prehend how  their  uncertain  and  unbounded  services  could 
ever  pass  into  slight  pecuniary  commutations;  much  less 
how  they  could  come  to  maintain  themselves  in  their  lands, 
and  mock  the  lord  with  a  nominal  tenure  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  manor. 

This,  like  many  others  relating  to  the  progress  of  society, 
is  a  very  obscure  inquiry ;  but  the  following  observations 
may  tend  a  little  to  illustrate  our  immediate  subject,  the 
gradual  extinction  of  villenage. 

The  services  of  villenage  were  gradually  rendered  less  on- 
erous and  uncertain.  Lords  of  generous  tempers  granted  in- 
dulgences which  were  either  intended  to  be  or  readily  be- 
came perpetual.  And  thus,  in  the  time  of  Edward  I.,  we 
find  the  tenants  in  some  manors  bound  only  to  stated  serv- 
ices, as   recorded  in   the  lord's  book.     Some  of  these,  pei"^ 

23 


530  VILLENAGE  OF  PEASANTRY.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

haps,  might  be  villeins  by  blood ;  but  free  tenants  in  villen- 
age  were  still  more  likely  to  obtain  this  precision  in  their 
services ;  and,  from  claiming  a  customary  right  to  be  en- 
tered in  the  court-roll  upon  the  same  terms  as  their  prede- 
cessors, prevailed  at  length  to  get  copies  of  it  for  their  secu- 
rity. Proofs  of  this  remarkable  transformation  from  ten- 
ants in  villenage  to  copy-holders  are  found  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III. ;  and  in  that  of  Edward  IV.  the  judges  permit- 
ted the  copy-holder  to  bring  his  action  of  trespass  against 
the  lord  for  dispossession. 

While  some  of  the  more  fortunate  villeins  crept  up  into 
property  as  well  as  freedom  under  the  name  of  copy-holders, 
the  greater  part  enfranchised  themselves  in  a  different  man- 
ner. The  law  which  treated  them  so  harshly  did  not  take 
away  the  means  of  escape ;  nor  was  this  a  matter  of  diffi- 
culty in  such  a  country  as  England.  To  this,  indeed,  the 
unequal  progression  of  agriculture  and  population  in  differ- 
ent counties  would  have  naturally  contributed.  Men  emi- 
grated, as  they  always  must,  in  search  of  cheapness  or  em- 
ployment, according  to  the  tide  of  human  necessities.  But 
the  villein,  who  had  no  additional  motive  to  urge  his  steps 
away  from  his  native  place,  might  well  hope  to  be  forgotten 
or  undiscovered  when  he  breathed  a  freer  air,  and  engaged 
his  voluntary  labor  to  a  distant  master.  The  lord  had  in- 
deed an  action  against  liim ;  but  there  was  so  little  commu- 
nication between  remote  parts  of  the  country  that  it  might 
be  deemed  his  fault,  or  singular  ill-fortune,  if  he  were  com- 
pelled to  defend  himself  Even  in  that  case  the  law  inclined 
to  favor  him;  and  so  many  obstacles  were  thrown  in  the 
way  of  these  suits  to  reclaim  fugitive  villeins,  that  they 
could  not  have  operated  materially  to  retard  their  general 
enfranchisement.  In  one  case,  indeed — that  of  unmolested 
residence  for  a  year  and  a  day  within  a  walled  city  or  bor- 
ough— the  villein  became  free,  and  the  lord  was  absolutely 
barred  of  his  remedy.  This  provision  is  contained  even  in 
the  laws  of  William  the  Conqueror,  as  contained  in  Hove- 
den,  and,  if  it  be  not  an  interpolation,  may  be  supposed  to 
have  had  a  view  to  strengthen  the  population  of  those  places 
which  were  designed  for  garrisons.  This  law,  whether  of 
William  or  not,  is  unequivocally  mentioned  by  Glanvil. 

By  such  means  a  large  proportion  of  the  peasantry  before 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  had  become  hired  la- 
borers instead  of  villeins.  We  first  hear  of  them  on  a  grand 
scale  in  an  ordinance  made  by  Edward  III.  in  the  twenty- 
third   year  of  his  reign.     This  was  just  after  the  dreadful 


English  Const.  POPULAR  OUTBREAKS.  531 

pestilence  of  1348,  and  it  recites  that,  the  number  of  work- 
men and  servants  having  been  greatly  reduced  by  that  ca- 
lamity, the  remainder  demanded  excessive  wages  from  their 
employers.  Such  an  enhancement  in  the  price  of  labor, 
though  founded  exactly  on  the  same  principles  as  regulate 
the  value  of  any  other  commodity,  is  too  frequently  treated 
as  a  sort  of  crime  by  lawgivers,  who  seem  to  grudge  the 
poor  that  transient  melioration  of  their  lot  which  the  prog- 
ress of  population,  or  other  analogous  circumstances,  will, 
without  any  interference,  very  rapidly  take  away.  This  or- 
dinance, therefore,  enacts  that  every  man  in  England  of 
whatever  condition,  bond  or  free,  of  able  body,  and  within 
sixty  years  of  age,  not  living  of  his  own,  nor  by  any  trade, 
shall  be  obliged,  when  required,  to  serve  any  master  who  is 
willing  to  hire  him  at  such  wages  as  were  usually  paid  three 
years  since,  or  for  some  time  preceding ;  provided  that  the 
laws  of  villeins  or  tenants  in  villenage  shall  have  the  prefer- 
ence of  their  labor,  so  that  they  retain  no  more  than  shall 
be  necessary  for  them.  More  than  these  old  wages  is  strict- 
ly forbidden  to  be  offered,  as  well  as  demanded.  Xo  one  is 
permitted,  under  color  of  charity,  to  give  alms  to  a  beggar. 
And,  to  make  some  compensation  to  the  inferior  classes  for 
these  severities,  a  clause  is  inserted,  as  wise,  just,  and  prac- 
ticable as  the  rest,  for  the  sale  of  provisions  at  reasonable 
prices. 

§  29.  This  ordinance  met  with  so  little  regard  that  a  stat- 
ute was  made  in  Parliament  two  years  after,  fixing  the  wages 
of  all  artificers  and  husbandmen  with  regard  to  the  nature 
and  season  of  their  labor.  From  this  time  it  became  a  fre- 
quent complaint  of  the  Commons  that  the  statute  of  laborers 
was  not  kept.  The  king  had  in  this  case,  probably,  no  other 
reason  for  leaving  their  grievance  unredressed  than  his  in- 
ability to  change  the.  order  of  Providence.  A  silent  altera- 
tion had  been  wrought  in  the  condition  and  character  of 
the  lower  classes  during  the  reign  of  Edw^ard  III.  This  was 
the  effect  of  increased  knowledge  and  refinement,  which 
had  been  making  a  considerable  progress  for  full  half  a  cen- 
tury, though  they  did  not  readily  permeate  the  cold  region 
of  poverty  and  ignorance.  It  was  natural  that  the  country 
people,  or  uplandish  folk,  as  they  were  called,  should  repine 
at  the  exclusion  from  that  enjoyment  of  competence  and 
security  for  the  fruits  of  their  labor  which  the  inhabitants 
of  towns  so  fully  possessed.  The  fourteenth  century  was, 
in  many  parts  of  Europe,  the  age  when  a  sense  of  political 
servitude  was  most  keenly  felt.     Thus  the  insurrection  of 


532  POPULAR  OUTBREAKS.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III. 

the  Jacquerie  in  France,  about  the  year  1358,  had  the  same 
character,  and  resulted  in  a  great  measure  from  the  same 
causes,  as  that  of  the  Englisli  peasants  in  1382.  And  we 
may  account  in  a  similar  manner  for  the  democratical  tone 
of  the  French  and  Flemish  cities,  and  for  the  prevalence  of 
a  spirit  of  liberty  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.^^ 

I  do  not  know  whether  we  should  attribute  part  of  this 
revolutionary  concussion  to  the  preaching  of  Wicliffe's  disci- 
ples, or  look  upon  both  one  and  the  other  as  phenomena  be- 
longing to  that  particular  epoch  in  the  progress  of  society. 
New  principles,  both  as  to  civil  rule  and  religion,  broke  sud- 
denly upon  the  uneducated  mind,  to  render  it  bold,  presump- 
tuous, and  turbulent.  But  at  least  I  make  little  doubt  that 
the  dislike  of  ecclesiastical  power,  which  spread  so  rapidly 
among  the  people  at  this  season,  connected  itself  with  a 
spirit  of  insubordination  and  an  intolerance  of  political  sub- 
jection. Both  were  nourished  by  the  same  teachers,  the 
lower  secular  clergy ;  and  however  distinct  we  may  think  a 
religious  reformation  from  a  civil  anarchy,  there  was  a  good 
deal  common  in  the  language  by  which  the  populace  were 
inflamed  to  either  one  or  the  other.  Even  the  scriptural 
moralities  which  were  then  exhibited,  and  which  became  the 
foundation  of  our  theatre,  aflbrded  fuel  to  the  spirit  of  sedi- 
tion. The  common  original  and  common  destination  of  man- 
kind, with  every  other  lesson  of  equality  which  religion  sup- 
plies to  humble  or  to  console,  were  displayed  with  coarse 
and  glaring  features  in  these  representations.  The  familiar- 
ity of  such  ideas  has  deadened  their  effects  upon  our  minds ; 
but  when  a  rude  peasant,  surprisingly  destitute  of  religious 
instruction  during  that  corrupt  age  of  the  Church,  was  led 
at  once  to  these  impressive  truths,  we  can  not  be  astonished 
at  the  intoxication  of  mind  they  produced. 

The  storm  that  almost  swept  away  all  bulwarks  of  civ- 
ilized and  regular  society  seems  to  have  been  long  in  collect- 
ing itself.  Perhaps  a  more  sagacious  legislature  might  have 
contrived  to  disperse  it;  but  the  Commons  only  presented 
complaints  of  the  refractoriness  with  which  villeins  and  ten- 
ants in  villenage  rendered  their  due  services;  and  the  exi- 
gencies of  government  led  to  the  fatal  poll-tax  of  a  groat, 
which  was  the  proximate  cause  of  the  insurrection.  By  the 
demands  of  these  rioters  we  perceive  that  territorial  servi- 
tude was  far  from  extinct ;  but  it  should  not  be  hastily  con- 
cluded that  they  were  all  personal  villeins,  for  a  large  pro- 
portion were  Kentishmen,  to  whom  that  condition  could  not 

83  NoTK  II..  "  Popular  Poetry." 


English  Const.       MANUMISSION  OF  VILLEINS.  533 

have  applied ;  it  being  a  good  bar  to  a  writ  de  nativitate 
probanda  that  the  party's  father  was  born  in  the  county  of 
Kent. 

After  this  tremendous  rebellion  it  might  be  expected  that 
the  legislature  would  use  little  indulgence  towards  the  lower 
commons.  Such  unhappy  tumults  are  doubly  mischievous, 
not  more  from  the  immediate  calamities  that  attend  them 
than  from  the  fear  and  hatred  of  the  people  which  they  gen- 
erate in  the  elevated  classes.  The  general  charter  of  manu- 
mission extorted  from  the  king  by  the  rioters  of  Blackheath 
was  annulled  by  proclamation  to  the  sheriffs,  and  this  revo- 
cation approved  by  the  Lords  and  Commons  in  Parliament ; 
who  added,  as  was  very  true,  that  such  enfranchisement 
could  not  be  made  without  their  consent ;  "  which  they  would 
never  give  to  save  themselves  from  perishing  all  together  in 
one  day."  Riots  were  turned  into  treason  by  a  law  of  the 
same  Parliament.  By  a  very  harsh  statute  in  the  12th  of 
Richard  II.  no  servant  or  laborer  could  depart,  even  at  tlie 
expiration  of  his  service,  from  the  hundred  in  which  he  lived 
w^ithout  permission  under  the  king's  seal;  nor  might  any 
who  had  been  bred  to  husbandry  till  twelve  years  old  exer- 
cise any  other  calling.  A  i'ew  years  afterwards  the  Com- 
mons petitioned  that  villeins  might  not  put  their  children  to 
school  in  order  to  advance  them  by  the  Church ;  "  and  this 
for  the  honor  of  all  the  freemen  of  the  kingdom."  In  the 
same  Parliament  they  complained  that  villeins  fly  to  cities 
and  boroughs,  whence  their  masters  can  not  recover  them, 
and,  if  they  attempt  it,  are  hindered  by  the  people ;  and 
prayed  that  the  Lords  might  seize  their  villeins  in  such  places 
without  regard  to  the  franchises  thereof  But  on  both  these 
petitions  the  king  jjut  in  a  negative. 

From  henceforward  we  find  little  notice  taken  of  villenage 
in  Parliamentary  records,  and  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
rajjid  tendency  to  its  entire  abolition. 

§  30.  I  can  not  presume  to  conjecture  in  what  degree  vol- 
untary manumission  is  to  be  reckoned  among  the  means  that 
contributed-  to  the  abolition  of  villenage.  Charters  of  en- 
franchisement were  very  common  upon  the  Continent.  They 
may  perhaps  have  been  less  so  in  England.  Instances,  how- 
ever, occur  from  time  to  time,  and  we  can  not  expect  to  dis- 
cover many.  One  appears  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  year  of 
Henry  III.,  who  grants  to  all  persons  born  or  to  be  born 
within  his  village  of  Contishall,  that  they  shall  be  free  from 
all  villenage  in  body  and  blood,  paying  an  aid  of  twenty 
shillings  to  knight  the  king's  eldest  son,  and  six  shillings  a 


534  KEIGN  OF  HENRY  VI.     Chap.  VIU.  Part  III. 

year  as  a  quitrent.  So  in  the  twelfth  of  Edward  III.  certain 
of  the  king's  villeins  are  enfranchised  on  payment  of  a  fine. 
In  strictness  of  law,  a  fine  from  the  villein  for  the  sake  of  en- 
franchisement was  nugatory,  since  all  he  could  possess  was 
already  at  his  lord's  disposal.  But  custom  and  equity  might 
easily  introduce  different  maxims ;  and  it  was  plainly  for  the 
lord's  interest  to  encourage  his  tenants  in  the  acquisition  of 
money  to  redeem  themselves,  rather  than  to  quench  the  ex- 
ertions of  their  industry  by  availing  himself  of  an  extreme 
right.  Deeds  of  enfranchisement  occur  in  the  reigns  of  Mary 
and  Elizabeth  ;  and  perhaps  a  commission  of  the  latter  prin- 
cess in  1574,  directing  the  enfranchisement  of  her  bondmen 
and  bondwomen  on  certain  manors  upon  payment  of  a  fine, 
is  the  last  unequivocal  testimony  to  the  existence  of  villen- 
age ;  though  it  is  highly  probable  that  it  existed  in  remote 
parts  of  the  country  some  time  longer. 

§  31.  From  this  general  view  of  the  English  constitution, 
as  it  stood  about  the  time  of  Henry  VI.,  we  must  turn  our 
eyes  to  the  political  revolutions  which  clouded  the  latter 
years  of  his  reign.  The  minority  of  this  prince,  notwith- 
standing the  vices  and  dissensions  of  his  court  and  the  in- 
glorious discomfiture  of  our  arms  in  France,  w^as  not  perhaps 
a  calamitous  jjeriod.  The  country  grew  more  wealthy  ;  the 
law  was,  on  the  whole,  better  observed ;  the  power  of  Par- 
liament more  complete  and  effectual  than  in  preceding  times. 
But  Henry's  weakness  of  understanding  becoming  evident 
as  he  reached  manhood,  rendered  his  reign  a  perpetual  mi- 
nority. His  marriage  with  a  princess  of  strong  mind,  but 
ambitious  and  vindictive,  rather  tended  to  weaken  the  gov- 
ernment and  to  accelerate  his  downfall — a  certain  reverence 
that  had  been  paid  to  the  gentleness  of  the  king's  disposition 
being  overcome  by  her  unpopularity.  By  degrees  Henry's 
natural  feebleness  degenerated  almost  into  fatuity;  and  this 
unhappy  condition  seems  to  have  overtaken  him  nearly  about 
the  time  when  it  became  an  arduous  task  to  withstand  the 
assault  in  preparation  against  his  government.  This  may 
properly  introduce  a  great  constitutional  subject,  to  which 
some  peculiar  circumstances  in  the  reign  of  George  HI.  im- 
periously directed  the  consideration  of  Parliament.  Though 
the  proceedings  of  1788  and  1810  are  undoubtedly  prece- 
dents of  far  more  authority  than  any  that  can  be  derived 
from  our  ancient  history,  yet,  as  the  seal  of  the  legislature 
has  not  yet  been  set  upon  this  controversy,  it  is  not  perhaps 
altogether  beyond  the  possibility  of  future  discussion  ;  and 
at  least  it  can  not  be   uninterestino:  to  look  back  on  those 


English  Const.  HISTORICAL  INSTANCES.  635 

parallel  or  analogous  cases  by  which  the  deliberations  of  Par- 
liament upon  the  question  of  regency  were  guided. 

§  32.  While  the  kings  of  England  retained  their  continent- 
al dominions,  and  were  engaged  in  the  wars  to  which  those 
gave  birth,  they  were  of  course  frequently  absent  from  this 
country.  Upon  such  occasions  the  administration  seems  at 
first  to  have  devolved  officially  on  tlie  justiciary,  as  chief 
servant  of  the  crown.  But  Henry  III.  began  the  practice  of 
appointing  lieutenants,  or  guardians  of  the  realm  (custodes 
regni),  as  they  were  more  usually  termed,  by  way  of  tem- 
porary substitutes.  They  were  usually  nominated  by  the 
king  without  consent  of  Parliament;  and  their  office  carried 
with  it  the  right  of  exercising  all  the  prerogatives  of  the 
crown.  The  most  remarkable  circumstance  attending  those 
lieutenancies  was  that  they  were  sometimes  conferred  on  the 
heir-apparent  during  his  infancy.  The  Black  Prince,  then 
duke  of  Cornwall,  was  left  guardian  of  the  realm  in  1339, 
when  he  was  but  ten  years  old  ;  and  Richard  his  son,  when 
still  younger,  in  1372,  during  Edward  III.'s  last  expedition 
into  France. 

These  do  not,  however,  bear  a  very  close  analogy  to  re- 
gencies in  the  stricter  sense,  or  substitutions  during  the  nat- 
ural incapacity  of  the  sovereign.  Of  such  there  had  been 
several  instances  before  it  became  necessary  to  supply  the 
deficiency  arising  from  Henry's  derangement.  1.  At  the 
death  of  John,  William,  earl  of  Pembroke,  assumed  the  title 
of  rector  regis  et  regni,  with  the  consent  of  the  loyal  barons 
who  had  just  proclaimed  the  young  king,  and  probably  con- 
ducted the  government  in  a  great  measure  by  their  advice. 
But  the  circumstances  were  too  critical,  and  the  time  is  too 
remote,  to  give  this  precedent  any  material  weight.  2.  Ed- 
ward I.  being  in  Sicily  at  his  father's  death,  the  nobility  met 
at  the  Temple  Church,  as  we  are  informed  by  a  contempora- 
ry writer,  and,  after  making  a  new  great  seal,  appointed  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  Edward,  earl  of  Cornwall,  and  the  earl 
of  Gloucester,  to  be  ministers  and  guardians  of  the  realm  ; 
who  accordingly  conducted  the  administration  in  the  king's 
name  until  his  return.^*  It  is  here  observable  that  the  Earl 
of  Cornwall,  though  nearest  prince  of  the  blood,  was  not  sup- 
posed to  enjoy  any  superior  title  to  the  regency,  wherein 
lie  was  associated  with  two  other  persons.  But  while  the 
crown  itself  was  hardly  acknowledged  to  be  unquestionably 
hereditary,  it  would  be  strange  if  any  notion  of  such  a  right 
to  the  regency  had  been  entertained.     3.  At  the  accession 

34  Matt.  Westmoiiast.  ap.  Brady's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1. 


636  mSTOKICAL  INSTANCES     Chap.  VIII.  Part  111. 

of  Edward  III.,  then  fourteen  years  old,  the  Parliament, 
which  was  immediately  summoned,  nominated  four  bishops, 
four  earls,  and  six  barons  as  a  standing  council,  at  the  head 
of  which  the  Earl  of  Lancaster  seems  to  have  been  placed,  to 
advise  the  king  in  all  business  of  government.  It  was  an  ar- 
ticle in  the  charge  of  treason,  or,  as  it  w^as  then  styled,  of  ac- 
croaching royal  power,  against  Mortimer,  that  he  intermed- 
dled in  the  king's  household  without  the  assent  of  this  coun- 
cil. They  may  be  deemed,  therefore,  a  sort  of  Parliamenta- 
ry regency,  though  the  duration  of  their  functions  does  not 
seem  to  be  defined.  4.  The  proceedings  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  next  reign  are  more  worthy  of  attention.  Ed- 
ward III.  dying  June  21,  1377,  the  keepers  of  the  great  seal 
next  day,  in  absence  of  the  chancellor  beyond  sea,  gave  it 
into  the  young  king's  hands  before  his  council.  He  imme- 
diately delivered  it  to  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  and  the  duke 
to  Sir  Nicholas  Bode,  for  safe  custody.  Four  days  after- 
wards the  king  in  council  delivered  the  seal  to  the  Bishop 
of  St.  David's,  who  afllixed  it  the  same  day  to  divers  letters 
patent.  Richard  was  at  this  time  ten  years  and  six  months 
old  ;  an  age  certainly  very  unfit  for  the  personal  execution 
of  sovereign  authoi-ity.  Yet  he  was  supposed  capable  of 
reigning  without  the  aid  of  a  regency.  This  might  be  in 
virtue  of  a  sort  of  magic  ascribed  by  lawyers  to  the  great 
seal,  the  possession  of  which  bars  all  further  inquiry,  and 
renders  any  government  legal.  The  practice  of  modern 
times  requiring  the  constant  exercise  of  the  sign-manual  has 
made  a  public  confession  of  incapacity  necessary  in  many 
cases  where  it  might  have  been  concealed  or  overlooked  in 
earlier  periods  of  the  constitution.  But  though  no  one  was 
invested  with  the  office  of  regent,  a  council  of  twelve  Avas 
named  by  the  prelates  and  peers  at  the  king's  coronation, 
July  16, 1377,  without  whose  concurrence  no  public  measure 
was  to  be  carried  into  effect.  I  have  mentioned  in  another 
place  the  modifications  introduced  from  time  to  time  by  Par- 
liament, which  might  itself  be  deemed  a  great  council  of  re- 
gency during  the  first  years  of  Richard.  (See  p.  467.)  5. 
The  next  instance  is  at  the  accession  of  Henry  VI.  This 
prince  was  but  nine  months  old  at  his  father's  death ;  and 
whether  from  a  more  evident  incapacity  for  the  conduct  of 
government  in  his  case  than  in  that  of  Richard  II.,  or  from 
the  progress  of  constitutional  principles  in  the  forty  years 
elapsed  since  the  latter's  accession,  far  more  regularity  and 
deliberation  were  shown  in  supplying  the  defect  in  the  ex- 
ecutive authority.     Upon  the  news  arriving  that  Henry  V. 


English  Const.  OF  REGENCIES.  537 

was  deadj  several  lords  spiritual  and  temporal  assembled, 
on  account  of  the  imminent  necessity,  in  order  to  preserve 
peace,  and  provide  tor  the  exercise  of  offices  appertaining  to 
the  king.  These  peei*s  accordingly  issued  commissions  to 
judges,  sheriffs,  escheators,  and  others,  for  various  purposes, 
and  writs  for  a  new  Parliament.  This  was  opened  by  com- 
mission under  the  great  seal  directed  to  the  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, in  the  usual  form,  and  with  the  king's  teste.  Some  ordi- 
nances were  made  in  this  Parliament  by  the  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter as  commissioner,  and  some  in  the  king's  name.  The 
acts  of  the  peers  who  had  taken  on  themselves  the  adminis- 
tration, and  summoited  Parliament,  were  confirmed.  On  the 
twenty-seventh  day  of  its  session,  it  is  entered  upon  the  roll 
that  the  king,  "  considering  his  tender  age,  and  inability  to 
direct  in  person  the  concerns  of  his  realm,  by  assent  of  Lords 
and  Commons,  appoints  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  or,  in  his  ab- 
sence beyond  sea,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  to  be  protector 
and  defender  of  the  kingdom  and  English  Church,  and  the 
king's  chief  counsellor."  Letters  patent  were  made  out  to 
this  effect,  the  appointment  being,  however,  expressly  during 
the  king's  pleasure.  Sixteen  councillors  were  named  in  Par- 
liament to  assist  the  protector  in  his  administration ;  and 
their  concurrence  was  made  necessary  to  the  removal  and 
appointment  of  officers,  except  some  inferior  patronage  spe- 
cifically reserved  to  the  protector.  This  arrangement  was 
in  contravention  of  the  late  king's  testament,  which  had  con- 
ferred the  regency  on  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  in  exclusion 
of  his  elder  brother.  But  the  nature  and  spirit  of  these  pro- 
ceedings will  be  better  understood  by  a  remarkable  passage 
in  a  roll  of  a  later  Parliament ;  where  the  House  of  Lords,  in 
answer  to  a  request  of  Gloucester  that  he  might  know  what 
authority  he  possessed  as  protector,  remind  him  that  in  the 
first  Parliament  of  the  king — 

"Ye  desii-ed  to  have  had  ye  governaunce  of  yis  land;  affermyng  yat  hit 
belonged  unto  you  of  rygzt,  as  well  by  ye  mene  of  your  birth  as  by  ye  laste 
wylle  of  ye  kyng  yat  was  your  broyer,  whome  God  assoile ;  alleggyng  for 
you  such  groundes  and  motyves  as  it  was  yought  to  your  discretion  made 
for  your  intent ;  whereupon,  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal  assembled 
there  in  Parliament,  among  which  were  there  my  lordes  your  uncles,  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  that  now  liveth,  and  the  Duke  of  Exeter,  and  your 
cousin  the  Earl  of  March  that  be  gone  to  God,  and  of  Wanvick,  and  other 
in  great  number  that  now  live,  had  great  and  long  deliberation  and  advice, 
searched  precedents  of  the  governail  of  the  land  in  time  and  case  semblable, 
when  kings  of  this  land  have  been  tender  of  age,  took  also  information  of  the 
laws  of  the  land,  of  such  persons  as  be  notably  learned  therein,  and  finally 
found  your  said  desire  not  caused  nor  grounded  in  precedent,  nor  in  the  law 
of  the  land  ;  the  which  the  king  that  dead  is,  in  his  life  nor  might  by  his  last 

23* 


538  HISTORICAL  REGENCIES.     Chap.  VIII.  Fait  III. 

will  nor  otherwise  altre,  change,  nor  abroge,  without  the  assent  of  the  three 
estates,  nor  commit  or  grant  to  any  person  governance  or  rule  of  this  land 
longer  than  he  lived ;  but  on  that  other  behalf,  the  said  lords  found  your 
said  desire  not  according  with  the  laws  of  this  land,  and  against  the  right 
and  fredome  of  the  estates  of  the  same  land.  Howe  were  it  tliat  it  be  not 
thought  that  any  such  thing  wittingly  proceeded  of  your  intent ;  and  never- 
theless to  keep  peace  and  tranquillity,  and  to  the  intent  to  ease  and  appease 
you,  it  was  advised  and  aj^ointed  by  authority  of  the  king,  assenting  the 
three  estates  of  this  land,  that  ye,  in  absence  of  my  lord  your  bi-other  of  Bed- 
ford, should  be  chief  of  the  king's  council,  and  devised  unto  you  a  name  dif- 
ferent from  other  counsellors,  not  the  name  of  tutor,  lieutenant,  governor, 
nor  of  regent,  nor  no  name  that  should  impoit  authority  of  governance  of  the 
land,  but  the  name  of  protector  and  defensor,  Avhich  importeth  a  personal 
duty  of  attendance  to  the  actual  defense  of  the  land,  as  well  against  enemies 
outward,  if  case  required,  as  against  rebels  inward,  if  any  were,  that  God  for- 
bid; granting  you  therewith  certain  power,  the  which  is  specified  and  con- 
tained in  an  act  of  the  said  Parliament,  to  endure  as  long  as  it  liked  the  king. 
In  the  which,  if  the  intent  of  the  said  estates  had  been  that  ye  more  power 
and  authority  should  have  had,  more  should  have  been  expressed  therein ; 
to  the  which  appointment,  ordinance,  and  act,  ye  then  agreed  you  as  for  your 
person,  making  nevertheless  protestation  that  it  was  not  your  intent  in  any 
wise  to  deroge  or  do  prejudice  unto  my  lord  your  brother  of  Bedford  by  your 
said  agreement,  as  toward  any  right  that  he  would  pretend  or  claim  in  the 
governance  of  this  land ;  and  as  toward  any  pre-eminence  that  you  might 
have  or  belong  unto  you  as  chief  of  council,  it  is  plainly  declared  in  the  said 
act  and  articles,  subscribed  by  my  said  lord  of  Bedford,  by  yourself,  and  the 
other  lords  of  the  council.  But  as  in  Parliament  to  which  ye  be  called  upon 
your  faith  and  ligeance  as  Duke  of  Glocester,  as  other  lords  be,  and  not  oth- 
erwise, we  know  no  power  nor  authority  that  ye  have,  other  than  ye  as  Duke 
of  Glocester  should  have,  the  king  being  in  Parliament,  at  years  of  most 
discretion :  We  man'ailing  with  all  our  hearts  that,  considering  the  open 
declaiation  of  the  authority  and  power  belonging  to  my  lord  of  Bedford  and 
to  you  in  his  absence,  and  also  to  the  king's  council  subscribed  purely  and 
simply  by  my  said  lord  of  Bedford  and  by  you,  that  you  should  in  any  wise 
be  stirred  or  moved  not  to  content  you  therewith  or  to  pretend  you  any  oth- 
er :  Namely,  considering  that  the  king,  blessed  be  our  Lord,  is,  sith  the  time 
of  the  said  power  granted  unto  you,  far  gone  and  grown  in  person,  in  wit, 
and  understanding,  and  like  with  the  grace  of  God  to  occupy  his  own  royal 
power  within  few  years :  and  forasmuch  considering  the  things  and  causes 
abovesaid,  and  other  many  that  long  were  to  write.  We  lords  aforesaid  pray, 
exhort,  and  require  you  to  content  you  with  the  power  abovesaid  and  de- 
clared, of  the  which  my  lord  your  brother  of  Bedford,  the  king's  eldest  uncle, 
contented  him :  and  that  ye  none  larger  power  desire,  will,  nor  use ;  giving 
you  this  that  is  aboven  written  for  our  answer  to  your  foresaid  demand,  the 
which  we  will  dwell  and  abide  with,  withouten  variance  or  changing.  Over 
this  beseeching  and  praying  you  in  our  most  humble  and  lowly  wise,  and  also 
requiring  you  in  the  king's  name,  that  ye,  according  to  the  king's  command- 
ment, contained  in  his  writ  sent  unto  you  in  that  behalf,  come  to  this  his 
present  Parliament,  and  intend  to  the  good  effect  and  speed  of  matters  to 
be  demesned  and  treted  in  the  same,  like  as  of  right  ye  owe  to  do." — Rot. 
Pari.,  6  Henry  VI.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  326. 

It  is  evident  that  this  plain,  or  rather  rude,  address  to  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester  was  dictated  by  the  prevalence  of  Car- 
dinal Beaufort's  party  in  council  and  Parliament.     But  the 


English  Const.      DUKE  OF  YORK  PROTECTOR.  539 

transactions  in  the  former  Parliament  are  not  unfairly  rep- 
resented ;  and,  comparing  them  with  the  passage  extracted 
above,  we  may  perhaps  be  entitled  to  infer  :  ].  That  the  king 
does  not  possess  any  constitutional  prerogative  of  appoint- 
ing a  regent  during  the  minority  of  his  successor;  and  2. 
That  neither  the  heir  presumptive,  nor  any  other  person,  is 
entitled  to  exercise  the  royal  prerogative  during  the  king's 
infancy  (or,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  his  infirmity),  nor  to  any 
title  that  conveys  them ;  the  sole  right  of  determining  the 
persons  by  whom,  and  fixing  the  limitations  under  which, 
the  executive  government  shall  be  conducted  in  the  king's 
name  and  behalf,  devolving  upon  the  great  council  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

In  two  years  the  party  hostile  to  Gloucester's  influence 
had  gained  ground  enough  to  abrogate  his  office  of  protect- 
or, leaving  only  the  lionorary  title  of  chief  counsellor.  For 
this  the  king's  coronation,  at  eight  years  of  age,  was  thought 
a  fair  pretense.  The  government  was  conducted  as  before 
by  a  selfish  and  disunited  council ;  but  the  king's  name  was 
sufficient  to  legalize  their  measures,  nor  does  any  objection 
appear  to  have  been  made  in  Parliament  to  such  a  mockery 
of  the  name  of  monarchy.  In  the  year  1454,  the  thirty-sec- 
ond of  Henry's  reign,  his  unhappy  malady,  transmitted  per- 
haps from  liis  maternal  grandfather,  assumed  so  decided  a 
character  of  derangement  or  imbecility,  that  Parliament 
could  no  longer  conceal  from  itself  the  necessity  of  a  more 
efficient  ruler.  An  act  was  passed  accordingly,  constituting 
the  Duke  of  York  protector  of  the  Church  and  kingdom,  and 
chief  counsellor  of  the  king,  during  the  latter's  pleasure ;  or 
until  the  Prince  of  Wales  should  attain  years  of  discretion, 
on  whom  the  said  dignity  was  immediately  to  devolve. 

It  may  be  conjectured  by  the  provision  made  in  favor  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  then  only  two  years  old,  that  the  king's 
condition  was  supposed  to  be  beyond  hope  of  restoration. 
But  in  about  nine  months  he  recovered  sufficient  speech  and 
recollection  to  supersede  the  Duke  of  York's  protectorate. 
The  succeeding  transactions  are  matter  of  familiar,  though 
not,  perhaps,  very  perspicuous  history.  The  king  was  a  pris- 
oner in  his  enemies'  hands  after  the  affair  at  St.  Albans,  when 
Parliament  met,  in  July,  1455.  In  this  session  little  was 
done  except  renewing  the  strongest  oaths  of  allegiance  to 
Henry  and  his  family.  But  the  tw^o  houses  meeting  again 
after  a  prorogation  to  November  12,  during  which  time  the 
Duke  of  York  had  strengthened  his  party,  he  was  reappoint- 
ed to  his  charge  of  protector.     It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  in 


540  YORK'S  CLAIM  TO  THE  CROWN.     Chap.  VIII.  Part  III 

this  transaction  the  House  of  Peers  assumed  an  exclusive 
right  of  choosing  the  protector,  though,  in  the  act  passed 
to  ratify  their  election,  the  Commons'  assent,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  is  introduced.  The  last  year's  precedent  was  fol- 
lowed in  the  present  instance,  excepting  a  remarkable  devia- 
tion ;  instead  of  the  words  "  during  the  king's  pleasure,"  the 
duke  was  to  hold  his  office  "  until  he  should  be  discharged 
of  it  by  the  Lords  in  Parliament." 

This  extraordinary  clause,  and  the  slight  allegations  on 
which  it  was  thought  lit  to  substitute  a  vicegerent  for  the 
reigning  monarch,  are  sufficient  to  prove,  even  if  the  common 
historians  were  silent,  that  whatever  passed  as  to  this  sec- 
ond protectorate  of  the  Duke  of  York  w^as  altogether  of  a 
revolutionary  complexion.  In  the  actual  circumstances  of 
civil  blood  already  spilled,  and  the  king  in  captivity,  we  may 
justly  wonder  that  so  much  regard  was  shown  to  the  regular 
forms  and  precedents  of  the  constitution.  But  the  duke's 
natural  moderation  will  account  for  part  of  this,  and  the 
temper  of  the  Lords  for  much  more.  That  assembly  appears 
for  the  most  part  to  have  been  faithfully  attached  to  the 
house  of  Lancaster.  The  partisans  of  Richard  were  found  in 
the  Commons  and  among  the  populace.  Several  months 
elapsed  after  the  victory  of  St.  Albans  before  an  attempt 
was  thus  made  to  set  aside  a  sovereign,  not  laboring,  so  far 
as  we  know,  under  any  more  notorious  infirmity  than  before. 
It  then  originated  in  the  Commons,  and  seems  to  have  re- 
ceived but  an  unwilling  consent  from  the  upper  house.  Even 
in  constituting  the  Duke  of  York  protector  over  the  head  of 
Henry,  whom  all  men  despaired  of  ever  seeing  in  a  state  to 
face  the  dangers  of  such  a  season,  the  Lords  did  not  forget 
the  rights  of  his  son.  By  this  latter  instrument,  as  well  as 
by  that  of  the  preceding  year,  the  duke's  office  was  to  cease 
upon  the  Prince  of  Wales  arriving  at  the  age  of  discretion. 

§  33.  But  what  had  long  been  propagated  in  secret  soon 
became  familiar  to  the  public  ear — that  the  Duke  of  York 
laid  claim  to  the  throne.  He  was  unquestionably  heir  gen- 
eral of  the  royal  line,  through  his  mother,  Anne,  daughter  of 
Roger  Mortimer,  earl  of  March,  son  of  Philippa,  daughter  of 
Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  third  son  of  Edward  III.  Roger 
Mortimer's  eldest  son,  Edmund,  had  been  declared  heir  pre- 
sumptive by  Richard  II. ;  but  his  infancy  during  the  revolu- 
tion that  placed  Henry  IV.  on  the  throne  had  caused  his  pre- 
tensions to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  The  new  king,  how- 
ever, was  induced,  by  a  jealousy  natural  to  his  situation,  to 
detain  the  Earl  of  March  in  custody.     Henry  V.  restored  his 


English  Const.    YORK'S  CLAIM  TO  THE  CROWN.  541 

liberty  ;  and,  though  he  had  certainly  connived  for  a  while 
at  the  conspiracy  planned  by  his  brother-in-law,  the  Earl  of 
Cambridge,  and  Lord  Scrope  of  Mashani,  to  place  the  crown 
on  his  head,  that  magnanimous  prince  gave  him  a  free  par- 
don, and  never  testified  any  displeasure.  The  present  Duke 
of  York  was  honored  by  Henry  VI.  with  the  highest  trusts 
in  France  and  Ireland,  such  as  Beaufort  and  Gloucester 
could  never  have  dreamed  of  conferring  on  him  if  his  title  to 
the  crown  had  not  been  reckoned  obsolete.  It  has  been  very 
pertinently  remarked  that  the  crime  perpetrated  by  Marga- 
ret and  her  counsellors  in  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter was  the  destruction  of  the  house  of  Lancaster.  From 
this  time  the  Duke  of  York,  next  heir  in  presumption  while 
the  king  was  childless,  might  innocently  contemplate  the 
prospect  of  royalty;  and  when  such  ideas  had  long  been 
passing  through  his  mind,  w,e  may  judge  how  reluctantly  the 
birth  of  Prince  Edward,  nine  years  after  Henry's  marriage, 
would  be  admitted  to  disturb  them.  The  queen's  adminis- 
tration unpopular,  careless  of  national  interests,  and  partial 
to  his  inveterate  enemy,  the  Duke  of  Somerset;  the  king  in- 
capable of  exciting  fear  or  respect,  himself  conscious  of  pow- 
erful alliances  and  universal  favor — all  these  cii'cumstances 
combined  could  hardly  fail  to  nourish  those  opinions  of  he- 
reditary right  which  he  must  have  imbibed  from  his  infancy. 
The  Duke  of  York  preserved  through  the  critical  season 
of  rebellion  such  moderation  and  humanity  that  we  may  par- 
don him  that  bias  in  favor  of  his  own  pretensions  to  which 
he  became  himself  a  victim.  Margaret,  perhaps,  by  her  san- 
guinary violence  in  the  Coventry  Parliament  of  1460,  where 
the  duke  and  all  his  adherents  were  attainted,  left  him  not  the 
choice  of  remaining  a  subject  with  impunity.  But  with  us, 
who  are  to  weigh  these  ancient  factions  in  the  balance  of 
wisdom  and  justice,  there  should  be  no  hesitation  in  decid- 
ing that  the  house  of  Lancaster  were  lawful  sovereigns  of 
England.  I  am,  indeed,  astonished  that  not  only  such  histo- 
rians as  Carte,  who  wrote  undisguisedly  upon  a  Jacobite  sys- 
tem, but  even  men  of  juster  principles,  have  been  inadvert- 
ent enough  to  mention  the  right  of  the  house  of  York.  If 
the  original  consent  of  the  nation,  if  three  descents  of  the 
crown,  if  repeated  acts  of  Parliament,  if  oaths  of  allegiance 
from  the  whole  kingdom,  and  more  particularly  from  those 
who  now  advanced  a  contrary  pretension,  if  undisturbed, 
unquestioned  possession  during  sixty  years,  could  not  secure 
the  reigning  family  against  a  mere  defect  in  their  genealogy, 
when  were  the  people  to  expect  tranquillity?     No  prejudice 


542  WAR  OF  THE  ROSES.      Chap.  VIII.  Part  UL 

has  less  in  its  favor,  and  none  has  been  more  fatal  to  the 
peace  of  mankind,  than  that  which  regards  a  nation  of  sub- 
jects as  a  family's  private  inheritance.  The  law  of  England 
has  been  held  to  annex  the  subject's  fidelity  to  the  reigning 
monarch,  by  whatever  title  he  may  have  ascended  the  throne, 
and  whoever  else  may  be  its  claimant. ^^  But  the  statute  of 
the  11th  of  Henry  VII.,  c.  1,  has  furnished  an  unequivocal 
commentary  upon  this  principle,  when,  alluding  to  the  con- 
demnations and  forfeitures  by  which  those  alternate  successes 
of  the  white  and  red  roses  had  almost  exhausted  the  noble 
blood  of  England,  it  enacts  that  "  no  man  for  doing  true  and 
faithful  service  to  the  king  for  the  time  being  be  convict  or 
attaint  of  high  treason,  nor  of  other  offenses,  by  act  of  Par- 
liament or  otherwise." 

Though  all  classes  of  men  and  all  parts  of  England  were  di- 
vided into  factions  by  this  unhappy  contest,  yet  the  strength 
of  the  Yorkists  lay  in  London  and  the  neighboring  counties, 
and  generally  among  the  middling  and  lower  people.  And 
this  is  what  might  naturally  be  expected.  For  notions  of 
hereditary  right  take  easy  hold  of  the  populace,  who  feel  an 
honest  sympathy  for  those  whom  they  consider  as  injured; 
while  men  of  noble  birth  and  high  station  have  a  keener 
sense  of  personal  duty  to  their  sovereign,  and  of  the  baseness 
of  desertinor  their  allesriance.  Notwithstandhio:  the  wide- 
spreading  influence  of  the  Nevils,  most  of  the  nobility  were 
well  affected  to  the  reigning  dynasty.  They  acquiesced  re- 
luctantly in  the  second  protectorate  of  the  Duke  of  York  af- 
ter the  battle  of  St.  Albans.  Thirty-two  temporal  peers  took 
an  oath  of  fealty  to  Henry  and  his  issue  in  the  Coventry  Par- 
liament of  1460,  which  attainted  the  Duke  of  York  and  the 
earls  of  Warwick  and  Salisbury.  And  in  the  memorable 
circumstances  of  the  duke's  claim  personally  made  in  Parlia- 
ment, it  seems  manifest  that  the  Lords  complied  not  only 
with  hesitation  but  unwillingness,  and  in  fact  testified  their 
respect  and  duty  for  Henry  by  confirming  the  crown  to  him 
during  his  life.  The  rose  of  Lancaster  blushed  upon  the  ban- 
ners of  the  Staffords,  the  Percies,  the  Veres,  the  Hollands,  and 
the  Courtneys.  All  these  illustrious  families  lay  crushed  for 
a  time  under  the  ruins  of  their  party.  But  the  course  of  for- 
tune, which  has  too  great  a  mastery  over  crowns  and  scep- 
tres to  be  controlled  by  men's  affection,  invested  Edward  IV. 
with  a  possession  which  the  general  consent  of  the  nation 
both  sanctioned  and  secured.  This  was  effected  in  no  slight 
degree  by  the  furious  spirit  of  Margaret,  who  began  a  system 

35  Hale's  Pleas  of  the  Crown,  vol.  i.,  pp.  Gl,  101  (edit.  1T36). 


English  Const.  EDWARD  IV.  543 

of  extermination  by  acts  of  attainder  and  execution  of  pris- 
oners that  created  abhorrence,  though  it  did  not  prevent  im- 
itation. And  the  barbarities  of  her  Northern  army,  whom 
she  led  towards  London  after  the  battle  of  Wakefield,  lost 
the  Lancastrian  cause  its  former  friends,  and  might  justly 
convince  reflecting  men  that  it  were  better  to  risk  the 
chances  of  a  new  dynasty  than  trust  the  kingdom  to  an  ex- 
asperated faction. 

§  34.  A  period  of  obscurity  and  confusion  ensues,  during 
which  we  have  as  little  insight  into  constitutional  as  general 
nistory.  The/e  are  no  contemporary  chroniclers  of  any  value, 
and  the  rolls  of  Parliament,  by  whose  light  we  have  hitberto 
Bteered,  become  mere  registers  of  private  bills,,  or  of  petitions 
relating  to  commerce.  The  reign  of  Edward  IV.  is  the  first 
during  which  no  »tatute  was  passed  for  the  redress  of  griev- 
ances or  maintenance  of  the  subject's  liberty.  Nor  is  there, 
if  I  am  correct,  a  single  petition  of  this  nature  upon  the  roll. 
The  reign  of  Edward  IV.  was  a  reign  of  terror.  One  half 
of  the  noble  families  had  been  thinned  by  proscription  ;  and 
though  generally  restored  in  blood  by  the  reversal  of  their 
attainders — a  measure  certainly  deserving  of  much  approba- 
tion— were  still  under  the  eyes  of  vigilant  and  inveterate  en- 
emies. Besides  the  severe  proceedings  against  the  Lancas- 
trian party,  which  might  be  extenuated  by  the  common  pre- 
tenses—  retaliation  of  similar  proscriptions,  security  for  the 
actual  government,  or  just  punishment  of  rebellion  against 
a  legitimate  heir — there  are  several  reputed  instances  of  vio- 
lence and  barbarity  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  which  have 
not  such  plausible  excuses.  Every  one  knows  the  common 
stories  of  the  citizen  who  was  attainted  of  treason  for  an  idle 
speech  that  he  would  make  his  son  heir  to  the  crown,  the 
house  where  he  dwelt ;  and  of  Thomas  Burdett,  who  wished 
the  horns  of  his  stag  in  the  belly  of  him  who  had  advised  the 
king  to  shoot  it.  Of  the  former  I  can  assert  nothing,  though 
I  do  not  believe  it  to  be  accurately  reported.  But  certainly 
the  accusation  against  Burdett,  however  iniquitous,  was  not 
confined  to  these  frivolous  words ;  which,  indeed,  do  not  ap- 
pear in  his  indictment,  or  in  a  passage  relative  to  his  convic- 
tion in  the  roll  of  Parliament.  Burdett  was  a  servant  and 
friend  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  sacrificed  as  a  prelimin- 
ary victim.  It  was  an  article  of  charge  against  Clarence  that 
he  had  attempted  to  persuade  the  people  that  "  Thomas  Bur- 
dett, his  servant,  which  was  lawfully  and  truly  attainted  of 
treason,  was  wrongfully  put  to  death."  There  could,  indeed, 
be  no  more  oppressive  usage  inflicted  upon  meaner  persons 


644  EDWARD  IV.  Chap.  VIII.  Part  IIL 

than  this  attainder  of  the  Dnke  of  Clarence — an  act  for  which 
a  brother  could  not  be  pardoned,  had  he  been  guilty,  and 
which  deepens  the  shadow  of  a  tyrannical  age,  if,  as  it  seems, 
his  offense  towards  Edward  was  but  levity  and  rashness. 

But  whatever  acts  of  injustice  we  may  attribute,  from  au- 
thority or  conjecture,  to  Edward's  government,  it  was  very 
far  from  being  unpopular.  His  love  of  pleasure,  his  affability, 
his  courage  and  beauty,  gave  him  a  credit  with  his  subjects 
which  he  had  no  real  virtue  to  challenge.  This  restored  him 
to  the  throne,  even  against  the  prodigious  influence  of  War- 
wick, and  compelled  Henry  VII.  to  treat  his  memory  witli 
respect,  and  acknowledge  him  as  a  lawful  king.  The  latter 
years  of  his  reign  were  passed  in  repose  at  home  after  scenes 
of  unparalleled  convulsions,  and  in  peace  abroad  after  more 
than  a  century  of  expensive  warfare.  He  was  the  first  who 
practised  a  new  method  of  taking  his  subjects'  money  with- 
out consent  of  Parliament,  under  the  plausible  name  of  be- 
nevolences. These  came  in  place  of  the  still  more  plausible 
loans  of  former  monarchs,  and  were  principally  levied  on  the 
wealthy  traders.  Though  no  complaint  appears  in  the  Par- 
liamentary records  of  his  reign,  which,  as  has  been  observed, 
complain  of  nothing,  the  illegality  was  undoubtedly  felt  and 
resented.  In  Richard  III.'s  only  Parliament  an  act  was  passed 
which,  after  reciting  in  the  strongest  terms  the  grievances 
lately  endured,  abrogates  and  annuls  forever  all  exactions  un- 
der the  name  of  benevolence.  The  liberties  of  this  country 
were  at  least  not  directly  impaired  by  the  usurpation  of  Rich- 
ard ;  but  from  an  act  so  deeply  tainted  with  moral  guilt,  as 
well  as  so  violent  in  all  its  circumstances,  no  substantial  ben- 
efit was  likely  to  spring.  Whatever  difiiculty  there  may  be  in 
deciding  upon  the  fate  of  Richard's  nephews  after  they  were 
immured  in  the  Tower,  the  more  public  parts  of  the  transac- 
tion bear  unequivocal  testimony  to  his  ambitious  usurpation.^" 
It  would,  therefore,  be  foreign  to  the  purpose  of  this  chapter 
to  dwell  upon  his  assumption  of  the  regency,  or  upon  the  sort 
of  election,  however  curious  and  remarkable,  which  gave  a 
pretended  authority  to  his  usurpation  of  the  throne.  Neither 
of  these  has  ever  been  alleged  by  any  party  in  the  way  of 
constitutional  precedent. 

§  35.  At  this  epoch  I  terminate  these  inquiries  into  the 

>•  The  long-debated  question  as  to  the  murder  of  Edward  and  his  brother  seems  to 
toe  more  probably  solved  on  the  common  supposition  that  it  was  really  perpetrated 
by  the  orders  of  Richard,  than  on  that  of  Walpole,  Carte,  Henry,  and  Laing:,  who 
maintain  that  the  Duke  of  York,  at  least,  was  in  some  way  released  from  the  Tower, 
and  reappeared  as  Perkin  Warbeck.  But  a  very  strong  conviction  either  way  is  not 
readily  attainable. 


English  Const.  CONCLUSION.  545 

English  constitution.  From  the  accession  of  the  house  of 
Tudor  a  new  period  is  to  be  dated  in  our  history,  far  more 
prosperous  in  the  diffusion  of  opulence  and  the  preservation 
of  general  order  than  the  preceding,  but  less  distinguished  by 
the  spirit  of  freedom  and  jealousy  of  tyrannical  power.  We 
have  seen,  through  the  twilight  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  records, 
a  form  of  civil  policy  established  by  our  ancestors,  marked, 
like  the  kindred  governments  of  the  Continent,  with  aborig- 
inal Teutonic  features;  barbarous  indeed,  and  insufficient  for 
the  great  ends  of  society,  but  capable  and  worthy  of  the  im- 
provement it  has  received,  because  actuated  by  a  sound  and 
vital  spirit,  the  love  of  freedom  and  of  justice.  From  these 
principles  arose  that  venerable  institution,  which  none  but  a 
free  and  simple  people  could  have  conceived,  trial  by  peers — 
an  institution  common  in  some  degree  to  other  nations,  but 
which,  more  widely  extended,  more  strictly  retained,  and 
better  modified  among  ourselves,  has  become  perhaps  the 
first,  certainly  among  tlie  first,  of  our  securities  against  arbi- 
trary government.  We  have  seen  a  foreign  conqueror  and 
his  descendants  trample  almost  alike  upon  the  prostrate 
nation  and  upon  those  who  had  been  companions  of  their 
victory,  introduce  the  servitudes  of  feudal  law  with  more 
than  their  usual  rigor,  and  establish  a  large  revenue  by  con- 
tinual precedents  upon  a  system  of  universal  and  prescrip- 
tive extortion.  But  the  Norman  and  English  races,  each 
unfit  to  endure  oppression,  forgetting  their  animosities  in  a 
common  interest,  enforce  by  arms  the  concession  of  a  great 
charter  of  liberties.  Privileges  wrested  from  one  faithless 
monarch  are  preserved  with  continual  vigilance  against  the 
machinations  of  another;  the  rights  of  the  people  become 
more  precise,  and  their  spirit  more  magnanimous,  during  the 
long  reign  of  Henry  III.  With  greater  ambition,  and  great- 
er abilities  than  his  father,  Edward  I.  attempts  in  vain  to 
govern  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  and  has  the  mortification 
of  seeing  his  prerogative  fettered  by  still  more  important 
limitations.  The  great  council  of  the  nation  is  opened  to 
the  representatives  of  the  Commons.  They  proceed  by  slow 
and  cautious  steps  to  remonstrate  against  public  grievances, 
to  check  the  abuses  of  administration,  and  sometimes  to 
chastise  public  delinquency  in  the  officers  of  the  crown.  A 
number  of  remedial  provisions  are  added  to  the  statutes ;  ev- 
ery Englishman  learns  to  remember  that  he  is  the  citizen  of 
a  free  state,  and  to  claim  the  common  law  as  his  birthright, 
even  though  the  violence  of  power  should  interrupt  its  enjoy- 
ment.    It  were  a  strange  misrepresentation  of  history  to  as- 


546 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


Part  III. 


sert  that  the  constitution  had  attained  any  thing  like  a  per- 
fect state  in  the  fifteenth  century;  but  I  know  not  whether 
there  are  any  essential  privileges  of  our  countrymen,  any 
fundamental  securities  against  arbitrary  power,  so  far  as  they 
depend  upon  positive  institution,  which  may  not  be  traced  to 
the  time  when  the  house  of  Plantagenet  filled  the  English 
throne. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII.— Part  III. 


I.  MUNICIPAL  RIGHTS  OF  LONDON. 

London  was,  from  a  very  early  period, 
divided  into  wards,  answering  to  hun- 
dreds in  the  county ;  each  having  its  own 
ward-mote,  or  leet,  under  its  elected  alder- 
man. "  The  city  of  London,  as  well  with- 
in the  walls  as  its  liberties  without  the 
walls,  has  been  divided  from  time  im- 
memorial into  wards,  bearing  nearly  the 
same  relation  to  the  city  that  the  hundred 
anciently  did  to  the  shire.  Each  ward  is, 
for  certain  purposes,  a  distinct  jurisdic- 
tion. The  organization  of  the  existing 
municipal  constitution  of  the  city  is,  and 
always  has  been,  as  far  as  can  be  traced, 
entirely  founded  upon  the  ward  system." 
(Introduction  to  the  French  Chronicle  of 
London.— Camden  Society,  1S44.)  But  the 
portreeve  of  London,  their  principal  mag- 
istrate, appears  to  have  been  appointed  by 
the  crown.  It  was  not  till  118S,  the  year 
before  the  death  of  Henry  II.,  that  Henry 
Fitzalwyn,  ancestor  of  the  present  Lord 
Beaumont,*  became  the  first  mayor  of 
London.  But  he  also  was  nominated  by 
the  crown,  and  remained  twenty -four 
years  in  office.  In  the  same  year  the  first 
sheriffs  are  said  to  have  been  made  {fac.~ 
if).  But  John,  immediately  after  his  ac- 
cession in  1199,  granted  the  citizens  leave 
to  choose  their  own  sheriffs.  And  his 
charter  of  1215  permits  them  to  elect  an- 
nually their  mayor.  (Maitland's  Hist,  of 
London,  pp.  74,  76.)  We  read,  however, 
under  the  year  1200,  in  the  ancient  chron- 
icle previously  quoted,  that  twenty-five  of 
the  most  discreet  men  of  the  city  were 
chosen  and  sworn  to  advise  for  the  city, 
together  with  the  mayor.  These  were  ev- 
idently different  from  the  aldermen,  and 


*'  This  pedigree  is  elaborately  traced  by  Mr.  Staple- 
ton,  in  his  excellent  introduction  to  the  old  chronicle 
of  London,  already  quoted.  The  name  Alwyn  appears 
rather  Saxon  than  Norman,  so  that  we  may  presume 
the  first  mayor  to  have  been  of  English  descent ;  but 
whether  he  were  a  merchant,  or  a  land-owner  living  in 
the  city,  must  be  undecided. 


are  the  original  common  council  of  the 
city.  They  were  perhaps  meant  in  a  later 
entry  (1229) :  "  Omnes  aldermauni  et  mag- 
nates civitatis  per  assensum  universorum 
civium,"  who  are  said  to  have  agreed  nev- 
er to  permit  a  sheriff'  to  remain  in  office 
during  two  consecutive  years. 

The  city  and  liberties  of  London  were 
not  wholly  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
several  ward-motes  and  their  aldermen. 
Land-holders,  secular  and  ecclesiastical, 
possessed  their  exclusive  sokes,  or  juris- 
dictions, in  parts  of  both.  One  of  these 
has  left  its  name  to  the  ward  of  Portso- 
ken.  The  prior  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  in 
right  of  this  district,  ranked  as  an  alder- 
man, and  held  a  regular  ward -mote. 
The  wards  of  Farringdon  are  denomi- 
nated from  a  family  of  that  name,  who 
held  a  part  of  them  by  hereditary  right 
as  their  territorial  franchise.  These  sokes 
gave  way  so  gradually  before  the  power 
of  the  citizens,  with  whom,  as  may  be 
supposed,  a  perpetual  conflict  was  main- 
tained, that  there  were  nearly  thirty  of 
them  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  and  upward  of  twenty  in  that 
of  Edward  I.  With  the  exception  of  Port- 
soken,  they  were  not  commensurate  with 
the  city  wards,  and  we  find  the  juries  of 
the  wards,  in  the  third  of  Edward  I.,  pre- 
senting the  sokes  as  liberties  enjoyed  by 
private  persons  or  ecclesiastical  corpora- 
tions, to  the  detriment  of  the  croAvn.  But, 
though  the  lords  of  these  sokes  trenched 
materially  on  the  exclusive  privileges  of 
the  city,  it  is  remarkable  that,  no  condi- 
tion but  inhabitancy  being  required  in 
the  thirteenth  centnry  for  civic  franchises, 
both  they  and  their  tenants  were  citizens, 
having  individually  a  voice  in  municipal 
affairs,  though  exempt  from  municipal  ju- 
risdiction. I  have  taken  most  of  this  par- 
agraph from  a  valuable  though  short  no- 
tice of  the  state  of  London  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  published  in  the  fourth  vol- 
ume of  the  Archaeological  Journal  (p.  273). 


English  Const. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


547 


The  inference  which  suggests  itself  from  ! 
these  facts  is  that  London,  for  more  than 
two  centuries  after  the  Conquest,  was  not 
BO  exclusively  a  city  of  traders,  a  demo- 
cratic municipality,  as  we  have  been  wont 
to  conceive.  And  as  this  evidently  ex- 
tends back  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  period,  it 
both  lessens  the  improbability  that  the 
citizens  bore  at  times  a  part  in  political 
affairs,  and  exhibits  them  in  a  new  light, 
as  lords  and  tenants  of  lords,  as  well  as, 
what  of  course  they  were  in  part,  engaged 
in  foreign  and  domestic  commerce.  It  will 
strike  every  one,  in  running  over  the  list  of 
mayors  and  sheriffs  in  the  thirteenth  ceu- 
tnry,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  names 
are  French  ;  indicating,  perhaps,  that  the 
territorial  proprietors  whose  sokes  were 
intermingled  with  the  city  had  influence 
enough,  through  birth  and  wealth,  to  ob- 
tain an  election.  The  general  polity,  Sax- 
on and  Norman,  was  aristocratic ;  whatev- 
er infusion  there  might  be  of  a  more  pop- 
ular scheme  of  government,  and  much  cer- 
tainly there  was,  could  not  resist,  even  if 
resistance  had  been  always  the  people's  de- 
sire, the  joint  predominance  of  rank,  rich- 
es, military  habits,  and  common  alliance, 
which  the  great  baronage  of  the  realm 
enjoyed.  London,  nevertheless,  from  its 
populousness,  and  the  usual  character  of 
cities,  was  the  centre  of  a  democratic  pow- 
er, which,  bursting  at  times  into  precipi- 
tate and  needless  tumult  easily  repressed 
by  force,  kept  on  its  silent  course  till,  near 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  rights 
of  the  citizens  and  burgesses  in  the  legisla- 
ture were  constitutionally  established. 

II.  POPULAR  POETRY. 

The  public  history  of  Europe  in  the 
Middle  Ages  inadequately  represents  the 
popular  sentiment,  or  only  when  it  is  ex- 
pressed too  loudly  to  escape  the  regard  of 
writers  intent  sometimes  on  less  important 
subjects.  But  when  we  descend  below  the 
surface,  a  sullen  murmur  of  discontent 
meets  the  ear,  and  we  perceive  that  man- 
kind was  not  more  insensible  to  wrongs 
and  sufferings  than  at  present.  Besides 
the  various  outbreakings  of  the  people  in 
several  counties,  and  their  complaints  in 
Parliament,  after  the  Commons  obtained 
a  representation,  we  gain  a  conclusive  in- 
sight into  the  spirit  of  the  times  by  their 
popular  poetry.  Two  very  interestins:  col- 
lections of  this  kind  have  been  published 
by  the  Camden  Society:  one,  the  poems 
attributed  to  Walter  Mapes  ;  the  other,  the 
Political  Songs  of  England,  from  John  to 
Edward  II. 

Mapes  lived  under  Henry  II.,  and  has 
'long  been  knovrn  as  the  reputed  author 


of  humorous  Latin  verses ;  but  it  seems 
much  more  probable  that  the  far  greater 
part  of  the  collection  lately  printed  is  not 
from  his  hand.  They  may  pass,  not  for 
the  production  of  a  single  person,  but 
rather  of  a  class,  during  many  years,  or, 
in  general  words,  a  century,  ending  with 
the  death  of  Henry  III.  in  12T2.  Many  of 
them  are  professedly  written  by  an  imag- 
inary Golias. 

"They  are  not  the  expressions  of  hos- 
tility of  one  man  against  an  order  of 
monks,  but  of  the  indignant  patriotism 
of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  English 
nation  against  the  encroachments  of  civ- 
il and  ecclesiastical  tyranny."— (Introduc- 
tion to  Poems  ascribed  t6  Walter  Mapes, 
p.  21.)  The  poems  in  this  collection  reflect 
almost  entirely  on  the  pope  and  the  high- 
er clergy.  They  are  all  in  rhyming  Latin, 
and  chiefly,  though  with  exceptions,  in  the 
loose  trochaic  metre  called  Leonine.  The 
authors,  therefore,  must  have  been  clerks, 
actuated  by  the  spirit  which,  in  a  Church 
of  great  inequality  in  its  endowments,  and 
with  a  very  numerous  body  of  poor  clergy, 
is  apt  to  gain  strength,  but  certainly,  as  ec- 
clesiastical history  bears  witness,  not  one 
of  mere  envious  malignity  towards  the 
prelates  and  the  court  of  Rome.  These 
deserved  nothing  better,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  than  biting  satire  and  indignant 
reproof;  and  the  poets  were  willing  enough 
to  bestow  both. 

But  this  popular  poetry  of  the  Middle 
Ages  did  not  confine  itself  to  the  Church. 
In  the  collection  eut'tled  "Political Songs" 
we  have  some  reflecting  on  Henry  III., 
some  on  the  general  administration.  The 
famous  song  on  the  battle  of  Lewes,  in  1264, 
is  the  earliest  in  English ;  but  in  the  reign 
ofEdward  I.  several  occur  in  thatlanguage. 
Others  are  in  French  or  in  Latin  ;  one  com- 
plaining of  the  taxes  is  in  an  odd  mixture 
of  these  two  languages ;  which,  indeed,  is 
not  Avithout  other  examples  in  mediaeval 
poetry.  These  Latin  songs  could  not,  of 
course,  have  been  generally  understood. 
But  what  the  priests  sung  in  Latin,  they 
said  in  English;  the  lower  clergy  fanned 
the  flame,  and  gave  utterance  to  what  oth- 
ers felt.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  remarked, 
as  a  proof  of  general  sympathy  with  the 
democratic  spirit  which  was  then  ferment- 
ing, that  we  have  a  song  of  exultation  on 
the  great  defeat  which  Philip  IV.  had  just 
sustained  at  Courtrai,  in  1.302,  by  the  bur- 
gesses of  the  Flemish  cities,  (m  whose 
I  liberties  he  had  attempted  to  trample  (p. 
I  187).  It  is  true  that  Edward  I.  was  on  ill 
I  terms  with  France,  bnt  the  political  inter- 
I  ests  of  the  king  would  not,  i)erhaps,  hav» 
1  dictated  the  popular  bal'.ad. 


548 


NOTES  TO  CHAFTEK  VIII. 


Part  III. 


Some  of  the  political  songs  are  written 
in  France,  though  relating  to  our  kings 
John  and  Henry  III.  Deducting  these, 
we  have  two  in  Latin  for  the  forn^er 
reign;  seven  in  Latin,  three  in  French 
(or  what  the  editor  calls  Anglo-Norman, 
which  is  really  the  same  thing),  one  in  a 
mixture  of  the  two,  and  one  in  English, 
for  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  In  the  reigns 
of  Edward  I.  and  Edward  II.  we  have 
eight  in  Latin,  three  in  French,  nine  in 
English,  and  four  in  mixed  languages— a 
style  employed  probably  for  amusement. 
It  must  be  observed  that  a  large  propor- 
tion of  these  songs  contain  panegyric  and 
exultation  on  victory  rather  than  satire ; 
and  that  of  the  satire  much  is  general, 
and  much  falls  on  the  Church ;  so  that  the 
animadversions  on  the  king  and  the  no- 
bility are  not  very  frequent,  though  with 
considerable  boldness ;  but  this  is  more 
shown  in  the  Latin  than  the  English 
poems. 


ORIGINAL  DOCUMENTS. 

I.  CHARTER  OF  LIBERTIES  OF  HENRY  I. 

Anno  Incai'natiouis  Dominicae  M°C°I''. 
Henkious  filius  Willelmi  kegis  post 
obitum  fralris  sui  Willelmi,  Dei  gratia 
rex  Anglorum,  omnibus  fldelibus  salu- 
tem. 

1.  Sciatis  me  Dei  misericordia  et  com- 
muni  consilio  baronum  totius  rcgni  An- 
gliae  cjusdera  regni  legem  coronatnm 
esse;  et  quia  rcgnum  oppressum  erat  iu- 
justis  exactionibus,  ego,  Dei  respectu  et 
amore  quern  erga  vos  habeo,  sauctam  Dei 
ecclesiam  imprimis  liberam  facio,  ita  quod 
nee  vendam  nee  ad  firmam  ponam,  nee 
mortuo  archiepiscopo  sive  episcopo  sive 
abbafe  aliqnid  accipiam  de  clominico  ec- 
clesiae  vel  de  hominibus  ejus  donee  suc- 
cessor in  earn  ingrediatur.  Et  omnes  ma- 
las  consuetudines  qnibus  regnum  Angliae 
injuste  opprimebatur  inde  aufero  quas  ma- 
las  consuetudines  ex  parte  hie  pono : 

2.  Si  quis  baronum,  comitum  meoram 
sive  aliorum  qui  de  me  tenent,  mortuus 
fuerit,  haeres  suns  non  redimet  terram 
suam  sicut  faciebat  tempore  fratris  mei, 
sed  justa  et  legitima  relevatione  relevabit 
earn.  Similiter  et  homines  baronum  me- 
orum  justa  et  legitima  relevatione  releva- 
bunt  teiTas  suas  de  dominis  suis. 

3.  Et  si  quis  baronum  vel  aliorum  ho- 
minum  meorum  filiam  suam  nuptum  tra- 
dere  voluerit  sive  sororem  sive  neptim 
3ive  cognatam,  mecum  inde  loqnatur ;  sed 
neque  ego  illiquid  de  suo  pro  hac  licentia 
accipiam  neque  defendam  ei  qnin  earn  det. 


excepto  si  cam  velletjungere  inimico  meo. 
Et  si  mortuo  barone  sive  alio  homine  meo 
filia  haeres  remanserit,  illam  dabo  consi- 
lio baronum  meorum  cum  terra  sua.  Et 
si  mortuo  viro  uxor  ejus  remanserit  et 
sine  liberis  fuerit,  dotem  suam  et  marita- 
tionem  habebit,  et  eam  non  dabo  marito 
nisi  secundum  velle  suura. 

4.  Si  vero  uxor  cum  liberis  remanserit, 
dotem  quidem  et  maritationem  habebit, 
dum  corpus  suum  legitime  servaverit,  et 
eam  non  dabo  nisi  secundum  velle  suum. 
Et  terrae  et  liberorum  custos  erit  sive  uxor 
sive  alius  propinquorum  qui  justius  esse 
debeat.  Et  praecipio  quod  barones  mei 
similiter  se  contineant  erga  Alios  et  Alias 
vel  uxores  hominura  suorum. 

5.  Monetagium  commune  quod  capie- 
batur  per  civitates  et  comitatus  quod  non 
fuit  tempore  regis  Edwardi,  hoc  ne  amt)do 
fiat  omnino  detendo.  Si  quis  captus  fue- 
rit sive  monetarius  sive  alius  cum  falsa 
moueta,  justitia  recta  inde  fiat. 

6.  Omnia  placita  et  omnia  debita  quae 
fratri  meo  debebantur  condono,  exceptis 
rectis  firmis  meis  et  exceptis  illis  quae 
pacta  erant  pro  aliorum  haereditatibus 
vel  pro  eis  rebus  quae  justius  aliis  contin- 
gebant.  Et  si  quis  pro  haereditate  sua 
aliquid  pepigerat,  illud  condono,  et  omnes 
relevationes  quae  pro  rectis  haereditatibus 
pactae  fueraut. 

7.  Et  si  quis  baronum  vel  hominum 
meorum  infirmabitnr,  sicut  ipse  dabit  vel 
dare  disponet  pecuniam  suam,  ita  datam 
esse  concedo.  Quod  si  ipse  praeventus 
arniis  vel  infirmitate,  pecuniam  suam  non 
dederit  vel  dare  disposnerit,  uxor  sua  sive 
liberi  aut  parentes,  et  legitimi  homines 
ejus  eam  pro  anima  ejus  dividant,  sicut 
eis  melius  visum  fuerit. 

8.  Si  quis  baronum  sive  hominum  me- 
orum forisfecerit,  non  dabit  vadium  in 
misericordia  pecuniae,  sicut  faciebat  tem- 
pore patris  mei  vel  fratris  mei,  sed  secun- 
dum modum  forisfacti,  ita  emendabit  sicut 
emendasset  retro  a  tempore  patris  mei,  in 
tempore  aliorum  antecessorum  meorum. 
Quod  si  perfidiae  vel  sceleris  convictus 
fuerit,  sicut  justum  fuerit,  sic  emendet. 

9.  Murdra  etiam  retro  ab  ilia  die  qua  in 
regem  coronatus  fui  omnia  condono :  et  ea 
quae  amodo  facta  fuerint,  juste  emenden- 
tnr  secundum  lagam  regis  Edwardi. 

10.  Forestas  communi  consensu  baro- 
num meorum  in  manu  mea  retinui,  sicut 
pater  mens  eas  habnit. 

11.  Militibus  qui  per  loricas  terras  suas 
defendunt,  terras  dominicarum  carruca- 
rum  suarum  quietas  ab  omnibus  gildis,  et 
omni  opere,  proj^rio  dono  meo  concedo, 
nt  sicut  tarn  niagno  allevamine  alleviati 
sint,  ita  se  equis  et  armis  bene  instruant 


English  Const. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


549 


ad  servitium  meum  et  ad  defensiouem  |  te  Ganfredo  de  Mandevilla,  Hugone  comite 
rcj^ni  mei.  i  Cestriae,  Willelmo  comite  de  Arundel,  co* 

12.  Pacem  flrmam  in  toto  regno  raeo  i  mite  Patricio,  Willelmo  comite  de  Ferra- 
pono  et  teneri  amodo  praecipio.  riis,  Ricardo  tie  Luci,  Eeginaldo  de  Sane- 

13.  Lagam  Edwardi  regis  vobis  reddo  '  to  Walerico,  Rogero  Bigot,  Reginaldo  de 
cnm  illis   emeudationibus   qnibus    pater    Warenuia,Richero  deAqnila,  Willelmo  de 


mens  earn  emendavit  cousilio  baroiium 
suoriim. 

14.  Si  quis  aliquid  de  rebus  meis  vel  de 
rebus  alicnjns  post  obitum  Willelmi  regis 
fratris  mei  ceperit,  totum  cito  sine  emen 


Braiosa,  Ricardo  de  Camvilla,  Nigello  de 
Moubrai,  Simone  de  Bello  Campo,  Hnm- 
frido  de  Bonn,  Malthaeo  de  Herefordia, 
Waltero  de  Meduana,  Manassero  Biseth 
dapifero,  Willelmo    Malet,  Willelmo    de 


datioue  reddatur,  et  si  quis  inde  aliquid  j  Curci,  Roberto  de  Dunstanvilla,  Jocelino 


retiuuerit,  ille  super  quem  iuveutura  fue- 
rit  mihi  graviter  emendabit. 

Testibus  Matiricio  Luudouiae  episcopo 
et  Giiudulfo  episcopo  et  Willelmo  electo 
episcopo  et  Henrico  comite  et  Simone  co- 
mit-e  et  Waltero  Giffardo  et  Rodberto  de 
Monfort  et  Rogero  Bigoto  et  Henrico  de 
Portu,  apud  Lundoniam  qnando  fui  coro- 
natus. — ("Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes," 
p.  215.) 

II.  CONSTITUTIONS  OF  CLARENDON. 

Anno  ab  lucarnatione  Domini 
M^CoLX^IV",  papains  Alexandri  anno 
IV'",  illustrissimi  regis  Anglornni  Henrici 


de  Baillolio,  Willelmo  de  Lanvalis,  Wil- 
lelmo de  Caisneto,  Ganfrido  de  Ver,  Wil- 
lelmo de  Hastiuges,  Hngone  de  Morevilla, 
Alano  de  Nevilla,  Simone  filio  Petri,  Wil- 
lelmo Malduit  camerario,  Johanne  Maldii- 
it,  Johanne  Mariscallo,  Petro  de  Mara,  et 
multis  aliis  proceribns  et  nobilibus  regni, 
tam  clericis  quam  laicis. 

Consuetndinnm  vero  et  dignatatum  reg- 
ni recognitarum  quaedam  pars  praesenti 
pcripto  continetur.    Cnjns  partis  capitula 
haec  sunt : 
I     Cap.  i.  De  advocationeetpraesentatione 
j  ecclesiarum  si  controversia  emerserit  inter 
j  laicos,  vel  inter  laicos  ct  clericos,  vel  inter 
secuudi  anno  decimo,  in  praesentia  ejus-  (  clericos,  in  curia  domini  regis  tractetur  vel 
dem  regis,  facta  est  ista  recordatio  vel  re-  j  terminetnr. 

cognitio  cujusdam  partis  consuetndinnm  |     Cap.  ii.  Ecclesiae  de  feudo  domini  regis 
et  libertatnm  et  dignitatnm  antecessornm  I  non  possunt  in  pei-petuum  dari  absque 
suorura,  videlicet  regis  Henrici  avi  sui,  et  j  assensu  et  concessione  ipsius. 
aliorum  quae  observari  et  teneri  debent  in       Cap.  iii.  Clerici  rectati  et  accusati  de 
regno.    Et  propter  dissensiones  et  discor-    qnacunque  re,  summoniti  a  Justitia  regis 


dias  quae  emerserant  inter  clerum  et  Jus- 
titias  domini  regis  et  baroncs  regni  de  con- 
snetndinibus  et  diguitatibns,  facta  est  ista 
recognitio  coram  archiepiscopis  et  episco- 
pis  et  clero  et  comitibus  et  baronilms  et 
proceribus  regni.  Et  easdem  consuetudi- 
nes  recognitas  per  archiepiscopos  et  epi«?- 
copos  et  comites  et  barones  et  per  nobili- 
ores  et  antiqulores  regni,  Thomas  Cantu- 
ariensis  archiepiscopus,  et  Rogerus  Ebora- 
censis  archiepiscopus,  et  Gillebertns  Lon- 
doniensis  episcopus,  et  Henricus  Wiltoni- 
ensis  episcopus,  et  Nigellus  Eliensis  epis- 
copns,  et  Willelmus  Norwicensis  episco- 
pus, et  Robertus  Lincolniensis  episcopus, 
et  Hilarius  Cicestrensis  episcopus,  et  Jo- 
celinus  Sarisberiensis  episcopus,  et  Ricar- 
dus  Cestrensis  episcopus,  et  Bartholomae- 
us  Exoniensis  episcopus,  et  Robertas  He- 
refordensis  episcopus,  et  David  Meneven- 
sis  episcopus,  et  Rogerus  Wigorneusis 
electus,  concesserunt,  et  in  Verbo  Verita- 
tis  viva  voce  firmiter  i)romiserunt  tenan- 
das  et  observandas,  domino  regi  et  haere- 


veuient  in  curiam  ipsius,  responsuri  ibi* 
dem  de  hoc  nude  vidobitur  curiae  regis 
quod  ibidem  sit  respondendum ;  et  in  cu- 
ria ecclesiastica,  uude  videbitur  quod  ibi- 
dem sit  respondendum  ;  ita  quod  Justitia 
regis  mittet  in  curiam  sanctae  ecclesia  ad 
videndum  qua  ratione  res  ibi  tractabitur. 
Et  si  clericus  couvictus  vel  confessus  fue- 
rit,  non  debet  de  cetero  eum  ecclesia  tueri. 

Cap.  iv.  Archiepiscopis,  episcopis,  et  per- 
sonis  regni,  non  licet  exire  de  regno  absque 
licentia  domini  regis.  Et  ei  exierint,  si 
domino  regi  placuerit,  assecnrabunt,  quod 
nee  ineuudo,  nee  in  moram  faciendo,  nee 
in  redeundo,  perquirent  malum  vel  dam- 
num regi  vel  regno. 

Cap.  V.  Excommuuicati  non  debent  dare 
vadium  ad  remanens,  nee  praestare  jura- 
mentnm,  sed  tantum  vadium  et  plegium 
standi  judicio  ecclesiae  ut  absolvantur. 

Cap.  vi.  Laici  non  debent  accusari  nisi 
per  certos  et  legales  accusatores  et  testes 
in  praesentia  episcopi,  ita  quod  archidia- 
conus  non   perdat  jns  suum  ;    nee  quic- 


dibus  suis,  bona  fide  et  absque  malo  inge- !  quam  quod  inde  habere  debeat.  Et  si  ta- 
nio,  praesentibus  istis:  Roberto  comite  \  les  fuerint  qui  culpantur,  quod  non  velit 
Leghestriae,  Reginaldo  comite  Cornubiae,  vel  non  andeat  aliquis  eos  accusare,  vice- 
ConaHO  comite  Britauniae,  Johanne  com--  !  comes  requisitus  ab  episcopo  faciet  jurare 
te  de  Augo,  Rogero  comite  de  Clara,  comi- '  duodecim  legales  homines  de  vicineto.  sen 


550 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


Part  HI. 


de  villa,  coram  episcopo,  quod  inde  veri- 
tatem  secundum  conscientiam  suam  ma- 
iiifestabuut. 

Cap.  vii.  Nnllus  qui  de  rege  tenet  in 
capite,  nee  aliquis  dominicoium  miuis- 
trorum  ejus,  excommuuicetur,  uec  terrae 
alicujus  illorum  sub  interdicto  ponantur, 
uisi  prius  dominus  rex,  si  in  terra  fuerit, 
conveniatur,  vel  Justitia  ejus,  si  fuerit  ex- 
tra regnum,  nt  rectum  de  ipso  faciat :  et 
ita  ut  quod  pertinebit  ad  curiam  regiam 
ibidem  terminetur,  et  de  eo  quod  specta- 
bit  ad  ecclesiasticam  curiam,  ad  eandem 
mittatur  ut  ibidem  tractetur. 

Cap.  viii.  De  appellatiouibus  si  emerse- 
rint,  ab  archidiacono  debent  procedere  ad 
episcopum,  ab  episcopo  ad  archiepisco- 
pum.  Et  si  archiepiscopus  defecerit  in 
justitia  exhibeuda,  ad  dorainura  regem 
IKjrvcuiendum  est  postremo,  ut  praecepto 
ipsius  in  curia  archiepiscopi  controversia 
terminetur,  ita  quod  uon  debet  ulterius 
procedere  absque  asseusu  domini  regis. 

Cap.  ix.  Si  calumnia  emerserit  inter 
clericum  et  laicum,  vel  inter  laicum  et 
clericum,  de  ullo  tenemento  quod  clericus 
slA  eleemosinam  velit  attrahere,  laicus  vero 
ad  laicum  feudum,  recoguitione  duodecim 
legalium  hominum,  per  capitalis  Justitiae  j 
regis  considerationem  termiuabitur,  utrum 
teuementum  sit  pertinens  ad  eleemosinam 
sive  ad  laicum  feudum  coram  ipso  Justitia 
regis.  Et  si  rccognitura  fuerit  ad  eleemo- 
sinam pertiuere,  placitum  erit  in  curia  ec- 
clesiastica,  si  vero  ad  laicum  feudum,  uisi 
ambo  de  eodem  episcopo  vel  barone  ad- 
vocaveriut,  erit  placitum  iu  curia  regia. 
Sed  si  uterque  advocaverit  de  feudo  illo 
ante  eundem  episcopum  vel  baronem,  erit 
placitum  in  curia  ipsius  ;  ita  quod  propter 
factam  recoguitionem  seisinam  non  amit- 
tat,  qui  prior  seisitus  fuerat,  donee  per 
placitum  dirationatum  fuerit. 

Cap.  X.  Qui  de  civitate,  vel  burgo,  vel 
domiuico  manerio  domini  regis  fuerit,  si 
ab  archidiacono  vel  episcopo  super  aliquo 
delicto  citatus  fuerit,  unde  debeat  eisdem 
respondere  et  ad  citationes  eorum  satis- 
facere  noluerit,  bene  licet  eum  sub  inter- 
dicto ponere,  sed  non  debet  excommuui- 
cari  priusquam  capitalis  minister  domini 
regis  villae  illius  conveniatur,  et  justiciet 
eum  ad  satisfactiouem  venire.  Et  si  mi- 
nister regis  inde  defecerit,  ipse  erit  in 
misericordia  domini  regis,  et  exinde  pote- 
rit  episcopus  ipsum  accusatum  ecclesias- 
tica  justitia  cohibere. 

Cap.  xi.  Archiepiscopi,  episcopi,  et  uni- 
versae  personae  regni,  qui  de  rege  tenent 
iu  capite,  habent  possessiones  suas  de 
domino  rege  sicut  baroniam,  et  inde  re- 
spondent Justitiis  et  ministris  regis,  et 
sequuutur  et  faciunt  omnes  rectitudines 


et  consuetudines  regias,  et  s\cut  barones 
ceteri,  debent  interesse  judiciis  curiae  do- 
mini regis  cum  baronibus,  usque  dum  per- 
veniatur  in  judicio  ad  dimiuutionem  mem- 
brorum  vel  mortem. 

Cap.  xii.  Cum  vacaverit  archiepiscopa- 
tus,  vel  episcopatus,  vel  abbatia,  vel  prio- 
ratus  de  dominio  regis,  debet  esse  in  manu 
ipsius,  et  inde  percipiet  omnes  reditus  et 
exitus  sicut  dominicos.  Et  cum  ventum 
fuerit  ad  consulendum  ecclesiae,  debet 
dominus  rex  mandare  potiores  personas 
ecclesiae,  et  in  capella  ipsius  domini  regis 
debet  fieri  electio  assensn  domini  regis  et 
consilio  personarum  regni,  quas  ad  hoc 
faciendum  vocaverit.  Et  ibidem  faciet 
electus  homagium  et  fidelitatem  domino 
regi  sicut  ligio  domino,  de  vita  sua  et  de 
membris  et  de  honore  suo  terreno,  salvo 
ordine  suo,  priusquam  sit  consecratus. 

Cap.  xiii.  Si  quisquam  de  proceribus 
regni  defortiaverit  archiepiscopo,  vel  epis- 
copo, vel  archidiacono,  de  se  vel  de  suis 
justitiam  exhiberc,  dominus  rex  debet  eos 
justiciare.  Et  si  forte  aliquis  defortiaverit 
domino  regi  rectitudinem  suam,  archiepis- 
copi et  episcopi  et  archidiaconi  debent 
eum  justiciare  ut  domino  regi  satisfaciat. 

Cap.  xiv.  Catalla  eorum  qui  sunt  iu 
forisfacto  regis  non  detiueat  ecclesia  vel 
cimiterium  contra  justitiam  regis,  quia 
ipsius  regis  sunt,  sivc  in  ecclesiis  sive 
extra  fueriut  inventa. 

Cap.  XV.  Placita  de  debitis,  quae  fide  in- 
terposita  debentur,  vel  absque  interposi- 
tione  fidei,  sint  in  justitia  regis. 

Cap.  xvi.  Filii  rusticorum  non  debent 
ordinari  absque  assensn  domini  de  cujus 
terra  nati  diguoscuntur. 

Facta  est  autem  praedictarum  consuetn- 
dinum  et  dignitatum  recordatio  regiarum 
a  praefatis  archiepiscopis  et  episcopis  et 
comitibus  et  baronibus,  et  nobilioribus,  et 
antiquioribus  regni,  apud  Clarendonara 
quarto  die  ante  Purificationem  Beatae 
Mariae  perpetuae  Virginis,  domino  Hen- 
rico cum  patre  suo  domino  rege  ibidem 
praesente.  Sunt  autem  et  aliae  multae  et 
magnae  consuetudines  et  dignitates  sanc- 
tae  matris  ecclesiae  et  domini  regis  et  ba- 
ronum  regni,  quae  in  hoc  scripto  non  con- 
tinentur.  Quae  saWae  sint  sanctae  eccle- 
siae et  domino  regi  et  haeredibus  suis  et 
baronibus  regni,  et  in  perpetuum  inviola- 
biliter  observentur. — (Lyttelton's  "Life  of 
Henry  II.,"  vol.  iv.,  pp.  182-185,  from  MS. 
Cotton,  Claudius  B.  2.) 

HI.   ASSIZE  OF  CLARENDON. 
Incipit  Asaisa  de  Clarenduna  facta  a  rege 
Henrico,  scilicet  secundo,  de  asaensu  arch^ 
iepiscopornm,  episcoporum,  abbatum,  co- 
mitum,  haronum,  totius  Angliac. 


English  Const. 


NOTES  TO  CHArTEK  Vlll. 


651 


1.  luprimis  statuit  praedictus  rex  Henri- 
ciis  de  consilio  omnium  barounm  suorum, 
pro  pace  servanda  et  justitia  teneuda,  quod 
per  singulos  cumitatns  inquiratur,  et  per 
gingulos  huudredos  per  xii.  legaliores  ho- 
mines de  hundredo,  et  per  iv.  legaliores 
homines  de  qualibet  villata,  per  sacramen- 
tum  quod  illi  verum  dicent :  si  in  hundre- 
do suo  vel  villata  sua  sit  aliquis  homo  qui 
sit  rettatus  vel  publicatus  quod  ipse  sit 
robator  vel  raurdrator  vel  latro  vel  aliquis 
qui  sit  receptor  robatorum  vel  murdrato- 
rnm  vel  latronum,  postquam  dominus  rex 
fuit  rex.  Et  hoc  inquiraut  Justitiae  coram 
se,  et  vicecomites  coram  se. 

2.  Et  qui  iuvenietur  per  sacramentum 
praedictorum  rettatus  vel  publicatus  quod 
fuerit  robator  vel  murdrator  vel  latro  vel 
receptor  eorum,  postquam  dominus  rex 
fuit  rex,  capiatur  et  eat  ad  juisara  aquae, 
et  juret  quod  ipse  uon  fuit  robator  vel 
murdrator  vel  latro  vel  receptor  eorum 
postquam  dominus  rex  fuit  rex,  de  valen- 
tia  V.  solidorum  quod  sciat. 

3.  Et  si  dominus  ejus  qui  captus  fuerit 
vel  dapifer  ejus  vel  homines  ejus  requisi- 
erint  eum  per  plegium  infra  tertium  diem 
postquam  captus  fuerit,  replegiatur  ipse  ct 
catalla  ejus  donee  ipse  faciat  legem  suam. 

4.  Et  quando  robator  vel  murdrator  vel 
latro  vel  receptores  eorum  capti  fuerint 
per  praedictum  sacramentum,  si  Justitiae 
uon  fuerint  tam  cito  venturae  in  ilium 
comitatum  ubi  capti  fuerint,  vicecomites 
mandent  propinijuori  Justitiae  per  ali- 
quem  intelligentem  hominem,  quod  tales 
homines  ceperint;  et  Justitiae  remanda- 
bunt  vicecomitibus  ubi  voluerint  quod  illi 
ducantur  ante  illos:  et  vicecomites  illos 
ducant  ante  Justitias  ;  et  cum  illis  ducant 
de  hundredo  et  de  villata  ubi  capti  fuerint, 
duos  legales  homines  ad  portandum  recor- 
dationem  comitatus  et  hundredi,  quare 
capti  fuerint,  et  ibi  ante  Justitiam  facieut 
legem  suam. 

5.  Et  de  illis  qui  capti  fuerint  per  prae- 
dictum sacramentum  hujus  Assisae,  nullus 
habeat  curiam  vel  justitiam  uec  catalla, 
nisi  dominus  rex  in  curia  sua  coram  Jus- 
titiis  ejus,  et  dominus  rex  habebit  omnia 
catalla  eorum.  De  illis  vero  qui  capti  fu- 
erint aliter  quam  per  hoc  sacramentum, 
sit  sicut  esse  solet  ei  debet. 

6.  Et  vicecomites  qui  cos  ceperint  du- 
cant eos  ante  Justitiam  sine  alia  sumrao- 
nitione  quam  inde  habeant.  Et  cum  roba- 
tores  vel  raurdratores  vel  latrones  et  re- 
ceptores eorum,  qui  capti  fuerint  per  sa- 
cramentum vel  aliter,  tradantur  vicecomi- 
tibus, et  ipsi  recipiant  eos  statim  sine  di- 
latione. 

7.  Et  in  singulis  comitatibus  ubi  non 
sunt  gaiolac,  llaut  in   burgo  vel  aliquo 


castello  regis  de  denariis  regi  set  bosco 
ejus  si  prope  fuerit,  vel  de  alio  bosco  pro- 
piuquo,  per  visum  servientium  regis,  ad 
hoc  ut  vicecomites  in  illis  possiut  illos  qui 
capti  fuerint  per  ministros  qui  hoc  facere 
Solent  et  per  servientes  suos,  custodire. 

8.  Vult  etiam  dominus  rex  quod  omnes 
veniant  ad  comitatus  ad  hoc  sacramentum 
faciendum,  ita  quod  nullus  remaueat  pro 
libertale  aliqua  quam  habeat,  vel  curia  vel 
soca  quam  habuerit,  quin  veniant  ad  hoc 
sacramentum  faciendum. 

9.  Et  non  sit  aliquis  infra  castellum  vel 
extra  castellum,  nee  etiam  in  honore  de 
Walingeford,  qui  vetet  vicecomites  intrare 
in  curiam  vel  terram  suam  ad  videndos 
francos  plegios,  et  quod  omnes  sint  sub 
plegiis :  et  ante  vicecomites  mittautur  sub 
libero  plegio. 

10.  Et  in  civitatibus  vel  burgis  nullus 
habeat  homines  vel  recipiat  in  domo  sua 
vel  terra  sua  vel  soca  sua,  quos  uon  in 
manu  capiat  quod  eos  habebit  coram  Jus- 
titia si  requisiti  fuerint,  vel  sint  sub  fran- 
coplegio. 

11.  Et  nulli  sint  in  civitate  vel  burgo 
vel  castello  vel  extra,  nee  in  honore  etiam 
de  Walingeford,  qui  vetent  vicecomites 
intrare  in  terram  suam  vel  socam  suam, 
ad  capiendum  illos  qui  rettati  fuerint  vel 
publicati  quod  sint  robatores  vel  murdra- 
tores  vel  latrones  vel  receptores  eorum, 
vel  utlagati  vel  rettati  deforesta;  sed  prae- 
cipit  quod  juvent  illos  ad  capiendum  eos. 

12.  Et  si  aliquis  fuerit  captus  qui  fuerit 
saisiatus  de  roberia  vel  latrocinio,  si  ipse 
fuerit  diffamatus  et  habeat  malum  testi- 
monium de  publicamento,  et  non  habeat 
warantum,  non  habeat  legem.  Et  si  non 
fuerit  publicatus  pro  saisina  quam  habet, 
eat  ad  aquam. 

13.  Et  si  aliquis  fuerit  recognoscens  co- 
ram legalibus  hominibus  vel  hundredis 
de  roberia  vel  murdro  vel  latrocinio  vel 
de  receptione  eorum,  et  postea  uegare 
voluerit,  uon  habeat  legem. 

14.  Vult  etiam  dominus  rex  quod  ipsi 
qui  facient  legem  suam  et  mundi  erant  per 
legem,  si  ipsi  fuerint  de  pessimo  testimo- 
nio,  et  publice  et  turpiter  diffamati  testi- 
monio  multorum  et  legalium  hominum, 
foras  jurent  terras  regis,  ita  quod  infra 
viii.  dies  mare  transibunt,  nisi  aura  eos 
detinuerit ;  et  cum  prima  aura  quam  ha- 
bebunt  postea  mare  transibunt,  et  ultra  in 
Angliam  non  revertentur  nisi  per  miseri- 
cordiam  domini  regis:  et  ibi  sint  utlagati 
et  si  redierent ;  et  si  redieriut  capiantur 
sicut  utlagati. 

15.  Et  prohibet  dominus  rex  ne  aliquis 
vaivua,  id  est  vagus  vel  ignotus,  hospite- 
tur  alicubi  nisi  in  burgo,  et  ibi  non  ho- 
epitetur  nisi  una  nocte,  nisi  ibi  infirraetur, 


552 


NOTES  TO  CHAFTER  Vlll. 


P..Kr  III. 


vel  equus  ejus,  ita  quod  monstrare  possit 
monptrabile  essonium. 

16.  Et  si  ibi  fuerit  plusquam  una  nocte, 
capiatni-  ille  et  teueatur  donee  dominus 
ejus  veuerit  ad  earn  plegiandum,  vel  do- 
nee ipse  habeat  salvos  plegios  ;  et  ille  si- 
militer capiatur  qui  hospitatiis  fuerit. 

17.  Et  si  aliquis  vicecomes  mandaverit 
alii  vieeeoiniti  quod  homines  fiigeriut  de 
comitatu  suo  iu  alium  eomitatum  pro  ro- 
beria  vel  pro  murdro  vel  latrocinio  vel  re- 
ceptione  eorum,  vel  pro  utlagia  vel  pro 
retta  forestae  regis,  ille  capiat  eos:  et 
etiara  si  per  se  vel  per  alios  sciat  quod  ta- 
les homines  fugerint  in  eomitatum  sunm, 
capiat  eos  et  custodiat  douec  de  eis  habeat 
salvos  plegios. 

18.  Et  omnes  vicecoraites  faciant  inbre- 
viari  omnes  fugitivos,  qui  fugerint  de  suis 
comitatibus;  et  hoe  faciant  coram  comi- 
tatibus,  et  illornm  uomina  scripta  porta- 
bunt  ante  Justitias  cum  primo  ad  illos 
venerint,  ut  illi  quaerantur  per  totam  An- 
gliam,  et  eorum  catalla  capiautur  ad  opus 
regis. 

19.  Et  vult  dominus  rex  quod  ex  quo 
vieecomites  suseeperint  summon itioues 
Justitiarum  errautium,  ut  ipsi  cum  comi- 
tatibus suis  siut  ante  illos,  ipsi  congrcga- 
bunt  comitatus  suos  et  inquirent  omnes 
qui  de  novo  venerint  in  suos  comitatus 
post  banc  assisam;  et  illos  mittent  per 
plegios,  qnod  erunt  coram  Justitias,  vel 
illos  cnstodient,  donee  Jnstitiae  ad  eos 
venerint,  et  tunc  habebnnt  coram  Justi- 
tias. 

20.  Prohibet  etiam  dominus  rex  ne  mo- 
naehl  vel  canouici  vel  aliqua  domus  reli- 
gionum  recipiant  aliquem  de  populo  mi- 
uuto  in  monachum  vel  canonicum  vel  fra- 
trem,  donee  sciatur  de  quali  testimonio 
ipse  fuerit,  nisi  ipse  fuerit  infirmus  ad 
mortem. 

21.  Prohibet  etiam  dominus  rex,  quod 
nullus  in  tota  Anglia  receptet  in  terra  sna 
vel  soca  sua  vel  domo  sub  se,  aliquem  de 
secta  illornm  renegatorum  qui  excommu- 
nieati  et  signati  fuerunt  apud  Oxeneforde. 
Et  si  quis  eos  reeeperit,  ipse  erit  in  miseri- 
cordia  domini  regis :  et  domus,  in  qi^a  illi 
fuerint  portetur  extra  villam  et  combura- 
tur,  Et  hoc  jurabit  unusquisque  viceco- 
mes quod  hoc  tenebit,  et  hoc  jurare  faciet 
omnes  ministros  suos,  et  dapiferos  baro- 
num,  et  omnes  milites  et  franco  tenentes 
de  comitatibus. 

22.  Et  vult  dominus  rex  quod  baec  assisa 
teneatur  in  regno  suo  quamdiu  ei  plaenerit. 
--("M.S.  Bodl.  Rawlinson,"  C.  641.) 

IV.  MAGNA  CUARTA. 

•Tohannes  Dei  gratia  rex  Angliae,  do- 
Boinus   Hyberoiae,  dux   Normauniae    et 


Aquitanniae,  comes  Audegaviae,  archie- 
piscopis,  episcopis,  abbatibus,  comitibus, 
baronibus,  justiciariis,  forestariis,  viceco- 
mitibns,  praepositis,  ministris  et  omnibus 
ballivis  et  lidelibus  suis  salutem.  Sciatis 
nos  intuitu  Dei  et  pro  salute  animae  nos- 
trae  et  omnium  antecessornm  et  haeredum 
nostrorum,  ad  honorem  Dei  et  exaltatio- 
nem  sanctae  ecelesiae,  et  emendationem 
regni  nostri,  per  concilium  venerabilium 
patrum  nostrorum,  Stephani  Cantuarien- 
sis  arehiepiscopi  totius  Angliae  primatis 
et  sanctae  Romanae  ecelesiae  cardinalis, 
Henriei  Dnblinensis  arehiepiscopi,  Willel- 
mi  Loudouiensis,  Petri  Wintoniensis,  Jo- 
scelini  Bathoniensis  et  Glastoniensis,  Hu- 
gonis  Lincolnieusis,  Walteri  Wygornen- 
sis,  Willelmi  Coveutreusis,  et  Benedict! 
Roflfensis  episcoporum  ;  magistri  Pandulfl 
domini  papae  subdiaconi  et  familiaris, 
fratris  Eymerici  magistri  milit'ae  templl 
in  Anglia ;  et  nobilium  virorum  Willelmi 
Marisealli  comitis  Pembrok,  Willelmi  co- 
mitis  Saresberiae,  Willelmi  comitis  Wa- 
renniae,  Willelmi  comitis  Arnndelliae, 
Alani  de  Galweya  constabularii  Scottiae, 
Warini  filii  Gerokli,  Petri  tilii  Hereberti, 
Huberti  de  Burgo  senescalli  Pictaviae, 
Hngonis  de  Nevilla,  Mathei  filii  Hereber- 
ti, Thomae  Basset,  Alani  Basset,  Philippi 
de  Albiuiaco,  Roberti  de  Roppelay,  Jo- 
hannis  Marisealli,  Jobaunis  filii  Hugonis 
et  aliorum  fldelium  nostrorum ; 

1.  In  primis  concessisse  Deo  et  hac  prae- 
seuti  carta  nostra  eonfirmasse,  pro  nobis 
et  haeredibus  nostris  in  perpetuum,  quod 
Anglieana  ecelesia  libera  sit,  et  habeat  jura 
sua  Integra,  et  libertates  suas  illaesas ;  et 
ita  volnmus  observari ;  quod  apparet  ex  eo 
quod  libertatem  electiouum,  quae  maxima 
et  magis  necessaria  reputatur  ecelesiae 
Anglicanae,  mera  et  spontanea  voluntate, 
ante  discordiam  inter  nos  et  barones  nos- 
tros  motam,  concessimus  et  carta  nostra 
eonfirmavimus,  et  eam  optiuuimus  a  do- 
mino papa  Innoeeutio  tertio  confirmari; 
quam  et  nos  observabimus  et  ab  haeredi- 
bus nostris  in  perpetuum  bona  fide  voln- 
mus observari.  Concessimus  etiam  omni- 
bus liberis  hominibus  regni  nostri,  pro 
nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris  in  perpetuum, 
omnes  libertates  subscriptas,  habendas  et 
tenendas,  eis  et  haeredibus  suis,  de  nobis 
et  haeredibus  nostris ; 

2.  Si  quis  comitum  vel  baronnm  nos- 
trorum, sive  aliorum  tenentium  de  nobis 
in  capite  per  servitium  militare,  mortuus 
fuerit,  etcum  deeesserithaeres  suus  plenae 
aetatis  fuerit  et  relevium  debeat,  habeat 
haeredita  tern  suam  per  antiquum  relevium; 
scilicet  haeres  vel  haeredes  comitis,  de 
baronia  comitis  integra  per  centum  libras ; 
haeres  vel  haeredes  baronis,  de  baronia  in- 


English  Const. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  Vlll. 


553 


tegra  per  centum  libras  ;  haeres  vel  haere- 
des  militis,  de  feodo  railitis  iutegro  per  cen- 
tum solidos  ad  plus ;  et  qui  minus  debue- 
rit  miuus  det  secundum  antiquam  consne- 
tudinem  feodorum. 

3.  Si  autem  tiaeres  alicujus  talium  fuerit 
infra  aetatem  et  fuerit  in  custodia,  cum  ad 
aetatem  pervenerit,  habeat  haereditatera 
suam  gine  relevio  et  sine  tine. 

4.  Custos  terrae  iiiijusmodi  haeredis  qui 
Infra  aetatem  fuerit,  uon  capiat  de  terra 
haeredis  nisirationabiles  exitus,  et  rationa- 
biles  consuetudine?,  et  rationabilia  servi- 
tia,  et  hoc  sine  destructicme  et  vasto  homi- 
num  vel  rerum ;  et  si  nos  commiserimus 
custodiam  alicujus  talis  terrae  vicecomiti 
vel  alicui  alii  qui  de  exitibns,  illius  nobis 
respondere  debeat,  et  ille  destructionem  de 
custodia  fecerit  vel  vastum,  nos  ab  illo 
capiemus  emendam,  et  terra  committatur 
duobus  legalibus  et  discretis  hominibus 
de  feodo  illo,  qui  de  cxitibus  respondeant 
nobis  vel  ei  cui  eos  assignaverimus  ;  et  si 
dederimus  vel  vendiderirans  alicui  costo- 
diam  alicujus  talis  terrae,  et  ille  destruc- 
tionem inde  fecerit  vel  vastum,  amittat  ip- 
sam  custodian!  et  tradatnr  duobus  legali- 
bus et  discretis  hominibus  de  feodo  illo  qui 
similiter  nobis  respondeant  sicut  prae- 
dictura  est. 

5.  Custos  autem,  quaradiu  custodiam 
rerrae  habuerit,  susteutet  doraos,  parcos, 
vivaria,  stagna,  molendina,  et  cetera  ad 
terram  illam  ])ertinentia,  de  exitibus  terrae 
ejnsdem ;  et  reddat  haeredi,  cum  ad  ple- 
nam  aetatem  pervenerit,  terram  suam  to- 
tam  instauratam  de  carrucis  et  wainnagiis 
secundum  quod  tempus  wainnagii  exiget 
et  exitus  terrae  rationabiliter  poteruut  sus- 
tincre. 

6.  Haeredes  maritentur  absque  dispara- 
gatione,  ita  tamen  quod,  antequam  contra- 
hatur  matrimonium,  ostendatur  propin- 
quis  de  consanguiuitate  ipsius  haeredis. 

7.  Vidua  post  mortem  mariti  sui  statim 
et  sine  diflScultate  habeat  maritagium  et 
haereditatem  suam,  nee  aliquid  det  pro 
dote  sua,  vel  pro  maritagio  suo,  vel  haere- 
ditate  sua  quam  haereditatem  maritus  suus 
et  ipsa  teuuerint  die  obitus  ipsius  mariti, 
et  maneat  in  domo  rnariti  sui  per  quadra- 
ginta  dies  post  mortem  ipsius  infra  quos 
assign  etur  ei  dos  sua. 

8.  Nulla  vidua  distringatur  ad  se  mari- 
tandum  dum  voluerit  vivere  sine  marito, 
ita  tamen  quod  secnritatem  faciat  quod  se 
nou  maritabit  sine  assensu  nostro,  si  de 
nobis  tenuerit,  vel  sine  assensu  domini 
Bui  de  quo  tenuerit,  si  de  alio  tenuerit. 

9.  Nee  nos  nee  ballivi  nostri  seisiemus 
lerram  aliquam  uec  redditum  pro  debito 
iliquo,  quamdiu  catalladebitoris  sufflciunt 
lb  deb:tum  reddendum    nee  pleggii  ipsius 

24 


debitoris  distringantur  quamdiu  ipse  capi- 
talis  debitor  sufficit  ad  solutionem  debiti ; 
et  si  capitalis  debitor  defecerit  in'solutione 
debiti,  non  habens  unde  solvat,  pleggii 
respondeant  de  debito;  et,  si  voluerint, 
habeant  terras  et  redditus  debitoris  donee 
sit  eis  satisfactum  de  debito  quod  ante  pro 
eo  solveriut,  nisi  capitalis  debitor  monstra- 
verit  se  esse  quietum  inde  versus  eosdem 
pleggios. 

10.  Si  quis  mutuo  ceperit  aliquid  a  Ju- 
daei8,plus  vel  minu8,et  moriatur  antequam 
debilura  ilium  solvatur,  debitumnou  usu- 
ret  quamdiu  haeres  fuerit  infra  aetatem, 
de  quocumque  teneat ;  et  si  debitum  illud 
inciderit  in  manus  nostras,  nos  non  capie- 
mus nisi  catallum  contentum  in  carta. 

11.  Et  si  quis  moriatur,  et  debitum  de- 
beat  Judaeis,  uxor  ejus  habeat  dotem  su- 
am, et  nihil  reddat  de  debito  illo  ;  et  si  li- 
beri  ipsius  defuncti  qui  fuerint  infra  aeta- 
tem remanseriut,  provideantur  eis  neces- 
saria  secundum  tenementum  quod  fuerit 
defuncti,  et  de  residuo  solvatur  debitum, 
salvo  servitio  dominornm ;  simili  modo 
tiat  de  debitis  quae  debentur  aliis  quam 
Judaeis. 

12.  Nullum  scutagium  vel  auxilium  po- 
natur  in  regno  nostro,  nisi  per  commune 
consilium  regni  nostri,  nisi  ad  corpus  nos- 
trum redimendum,  et  primogenitum  filium 
nostrum  railitem  faciendum,  et  ad  liliam 
uostram  primogenitam  semel  maritaudam, 
et  ad  haec  uon  fiat  nisi  rationabile  auxili- 
um :  simili  raodo  flat  de  auxiliis  de  civi- 
tate  Londoniarum. 

13.  Et  civitas  Londoniarum  habeat  om- 
nes  autiquas  libertates  et  liberas  consue- 
tudiues  suas,  tarn  per  terras,  quam  per 
aquas.  Praeterea  volumus  et  concedimus 
quod  omnes  aliae  civitates,  et  burgi,  et 
villae,  et  portus,  habeant  omnes  libertates 
et  libera*"  consuetiidines  suas. 

14.  Et  ad  habendum  commune  consiliam 
regni,  de  auxilio  assidendo  aliter  quam  in 
tribus  casibus  praedictis,  vel  de  scutagio 
assidendo,  summoneri  faciemus  archie- 
piscopos,  episcopos,  abbates,  comites,  et 
majores  barones,  sigillatim  per  litteras 
nostras ;  et  praeterea  faciemus  summoneri 
in  generali,  per  vicecomites  et  ballivos 
nostros,  omnes  illos  qui  de  nobis  tenent 
in  capite  ;  ad  certum  d^em,  scilicet  ad  ter- 
minum  qnadraginta  dierem  ad  minus,  et 
ad  certum  locum ;  et  in  omnibus  litteris 
illius  summonitionis  causam  summouiti- 
onis  exprimemus ;  et  sic  facta  summoni- 
tione  uegotinm  ad  diem  assignatum  pro- 
cedat  secundum  consilium  illorum  qui 
praesentes  fuerint,  quamvis  non  omnes 
snmmoniti  venerint. 

15.  Nos  non  concedemus  de  cetero  alicui 
quod  capiat  auxilium  de  liberis  homini- 


554 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VHI. 


Part  IIL 


bus  Buis,  nisi  ad  corpus  suum  redimendum, 
et  ad  facieudum  priiuogeuitum  filium  suum 
militem,  et  ad  primogeuitara  filiam  suain 
semel  maritandam,  et  ad  haec  nou  fiat  nisi 
rationabile  auxiliurn, 

16.  Nullus  distringatur  ad  faciendum 
majus  servitium  de  feodo  militis,  nee  de 
alio  libero  tenemento,  quam  iude  debetur. 

17.  Communia  placita  non  sequautur 
curiam  nostram  sed  teneantur  in  aliquo 
loco  certo. 

18.  Recognitiones  de  nova  dissaisina,  de 
morte  antecessoris,  et  de  ultima  praesen- 
tatione,  non  capiautur  nisi  in  suis  comi- 
tatibus  et  hoc  modo  ;  nos,  vel  si  extra  reg- 
num  fnerimus,  capitals  jnsticiariusnoster, 
mittemus  duos  justiciar;  o&  per  uimmquem- 
que  comitatura  per  quataor  vices  iu  anno, 
qui,  cum  quatuor  miiitibus  cnjuslibet  comi- 
tatus  electis  per  comitatum.  cipiaut  iu  ' 
comitatu  et  in  die  et  loco  comitatus  assisas 
praedictas. 

19.  Et  si  in  die  comitatus  assisae  prae- 
dictae  capi  non  possint,  tot  milites  et  libere 
tenentes  remaneant  de  illis  qui  interfuerint 
comitatui  die  alio,  per  quos  possint  judicia 
sufficienter  fieri,  secundum  quod  negotium 
fuerit  majus  vel  minus. 

20.  Liber  homo  nou  amercietur  pro 
parvo  delicto,  nisi  secundum  modum  de- 
licti ;  et  pro  magno  delicto  amercietur  se- 
cundum magnitudinem  delicti,  salvo  con- 
tenemento  suo ;  et  mercator  eodem  modo 
salva  mercandisa  sua ;  et  villanus  eodem 
modo  amercietur  salvo  wainuagio  suo,  si 
inciderint  in  misericordiam  nostram  ;  et 
nulla  praedictarum  misericordiarnm  poua- 
tur,  nisi  per  sacrameutum  proborum  ho- 
minum  de  visneto. 

21.  Comites  et  barones  non  amercientur 
nisi  per  pares  snos,  et  nou  nisi  secundum 
modum  delicti. 

22.  Nullus  clericus  amercietur  de  laico 
tenemento  suo,  nisi  secundum  modum 
aliorum  praedictorum,  et  nou  secundum 
quantitatem  beneflcii  sui  ecclesiastici. 

23.  Nee  villa  nee  homo  distringatur  fa- 
cere  pontes  ad  riparias,  nisi  qui  ab  anti- 
quo  et  de  jure  facere  debent. 

24.  Nullus  vicecomes,  constabularius, 
coronatores,  vel  alii  ballivi  nostri,  teneant 
placita  coronae  nostrae. 

25.  Omnes  comitatus,  hundredi,  wapen- 
takii,  et  trethingii,  sint  ad  antiquas  firmas 
absque  uUo  incremento,  exceptis  domini- 
cis  maneriis  nostris. 

26.  Si  aliquis  tenens  de  nobis  laicum 
feodum  moriatur,  et  vicecomes  vel  ballivus 
noster  ostendat  litteras  nostras  patentes 
de  summonitione  nostra  de  debito  quod 
defunctus  nobis  debuit,  liceat  vicecomiti 
vel  ballivo  nostro  attachiare  et  inbreviare 
catalla  defuncti  inventa  in  laico  feodo.  ad 


valentiam  illius  debiti,  per  visum  legalium 
homiuum,  ita  tamen  quod  nihil  inde  amo- 
veatur,  donee  persolvatur  nobis  debitum 
quod  clarum  fuerit ;  et  residuum  reliuqna- 
tur  executoribus  ad  faciendum  testamen- 
tum  defuncti ;  et,  si  nihil  nobis  debeatur 
ab  ipso,  omuia  catalla  cedaut  defuncto, 
salvis  uxori  ipsius  et  pueris  rationabilibus 
partibus  suis. 

27.  Si  aliquis  liber  homo  intestatus  de- 
cesserit,  catalla  sua  per  manus  propinquo- 
rnm  pareutum  et  amicorum  suorum,  per 
visuDd  ecclesiae  distribuautur,  salvis  uui- 
cuique  debitis  quae  defunctus  ei  debebat. 

28.  Nullus  constabularius,  vel  alius  bal- 
livus noster,  capiat  blada  vel  alia  catalla 
alicujus,  nisi  statim  inde  reddat  denarios, 
aut  respectum  inde  habere  possit  de  volun- 
tate  venditoris. 

29.  Nullus  constabularius  distringat  ali- 
qu^m  militem  ad  daudum  denarios  pro 
custodia  castri,  si  facere  voluerit  custodiam 
illam  in  propria  persona  sua,  vel  per  aliura 
probum  hominem,  si  ipse  cam  facere  non 
possit  propter  rationabilem  causam  ;  et  si 
nos  duxerimus  vel  raiserimus  eum  iu  ex- 
ercitum,  erit  quietus  de  custodia,  secun- 
dum quantitatem  temporis  quo  per  nos 
fuerit  in  exercitu. 

30.  Nullus  vicecomes,  vel  ballivus  nos- 
ter, vel  aliquis  alias,  capiat  equos  vel  ca- 
reta  alicujus  libcri  hominis  pro  cariagio 
faciendo,  nisi  de  voluntate  ipsius  liberi 
hominis. 

31.  Nee  nos  nee  ballivi  nostri  capiemus 
alieuum  boscum  ad  ca^tra,  vel  alia  agenda 
nostra,  nisi  per  voluntatem  ipsius  cujus 
boscus  ille  fuerit. 

82.  Nos  non  tenebirans  terras  illoi-utn 
qui  convict!  fueriut  de  felonia,  nisi  per 
nnum  annum  et  nnnra  diem,  et  tunc  red- 
dantur  terrae  dominis  feodorum. 

33.  Omnes  kydelli  de  cetero  deponantur 
penitus  de  Thamisia,  et  de  Medewaye,  et 
per  totam  Angliam,  nisi  per  costeram  ma- 
ris. 

34.  Breve  quod  vocatnr  Praecijje  de  ce- 
tero non  flat  alien  de  aliquo  tenemento 
unde  liber  homo  amittere  possit  curiam 
suam. 

35.  Una  mensura  vini  sit  per  totnro 
regnum  nostrum,  et  una  mensura  cer^ 
visiae,  et  una  mensura  bladi  scilicet  quar- 
terium  Londoniense,  et  una  latitndo  i)an- 
norum  tinctorum,  et  russettorum,  et  hal- 
bergettorum,  scilicet  duae  ulnae  infra  lis- 
tas ;  de  ponderibus  autem  sit  nt  de  men- 
suris. 

36.  Nihil  detua  vel  capiatur  de  cetero 
pro  bievi  inquisitionis  de  vita  vei  mem- 
bris,  sed  gratis  concedatnr  ct  non  negetur. 

37.  Si  aliquis  teneat  de  nobis  per  feodi- 
flrmam,  vel  per  eokagium,  vel  per  burgac 


English  Const. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


555 


gium,  et  de  alio  terrara  teneat  per  servitl- 
iiin  militare,  nos  non  habebimus  custodi- 
ara  haeredis  uec  terrae  suae  quae  est  de 
feodo  alterius,  occasioue  illius  feodifirmae, 
vel  eokagii,  vel  burgagii ;  uec  habebimus 
cnstodiam  Illius  feodilirmae,  vel  sokagii, 
vel  burgagii,  iiiai  ipsa  feoditirraa  debeat 
eervitium  militare.  Nos  non  habebimus 
custodiam  haeredis  vel  terrae  alicnjus, 
quam  tenet  de  alio  per  servitium  militare, 
occasione  alicujus  parvae  sergenteriae 
quam  tenet  de  nobis  per  servitium  red- 
dendi  nobis  cultellos,  vel  sagittas,  vel  hu- 
jusmodi. 

38.  Nullus  ballivus  ponat  de  cetero  ali- 
quem  ad  legem  simplici  loquela  sua,  sine 
testibus  fldelibus  ad  hoc  inductis. 

39.  Nullus  liber  homo  capiatur,  vel  im- 
prisouetur,  aut  dissaisiatur,  aut  utlagetur, 
aut  exuleter,  aut  aliquo  modo  destruatur, 
nee  super  eum  ibimus,  nee  super  eum  mit- 
temus,  nisi  per  legale  judicium  parium 
euorum,  vel  per  legem  terrae. 

40.  Nulli  venderaus,  nulli  negabimus, 
aut  differemus,  rectum  aut  justiciam. 

41.  Omnes  mercatores  habeant  salvum 
et  securum  exire  de  Anglia,  et  venire  in 
Angliam,  et  morari  et  ire  per  Angliam, 
tam  per  terram  quam  per  aqnam,  ad 
emendum  et  vendendum,  sine  omnibus 
mails  toltis,  per  antiquas  et  rectas  consue- 
tudines,  praeterquam  in  tempore  gwerrae, 
et  si  sint  de  terra  contra  nos  gwerriua ;  et 
gi  tales  inveuiantur  in  terra  nostra  in  prin- 
cipio  gw&rrae,  attachientur  sine  dampno 
corporum  et  rerum,  donee  sciatur  a  nobis 
vel  capital!  justiciario  nostro,  quoraodo 
mercatores  terrae  nostrae  tractentur,  qui 
tunc  invenientur  in  terra  contra  nos  gwer- 
riua; et  si  nostri  salvi  sint  ibi,  alii  salvi 
sint  in  terra  nostra. 

42.  Liceat  unicuiqne  de  cetero  exire  de 
regno  nostro,  et  redire,  salvo  et  secure,  per 
terram  et  per  aquam,  salva  fide  nostra,  nisi 
tempore  gwerrae  per  aliquod  breve  tem- 
pus,  propter  communem  utilitatem  regni, 
exceptis  imprisonatis  et  utlagatis  secun- 
dum legem  regni,  et  gente  de  terra  contra 
nos  gwerrina,  et  mercatoribus  de  quibus 
flat  sicut  praedictnm  est. 

43.  Si  quis  tenuerit  de  aliqua  escaeta, 
sicut  de  honore  Walingeford,  Notingeham, 
Bononiae,  Lainkastriae,  vel  de  aliis  eskae- 
tis,  quae  sunt  in  manu  nostra,  et  sunt  ba- 
roniae,  et  obierit,  haeres  ejus  non  det  aliud 
relevium,  nee  faciat  nobis  alind  servitium 
quam  faceret  baroni  si  baronia  ilia  esset 
in  manu  baronis ;  et  nos  eodem  modo  eam 
tenebimus  quo  baro  eam  tenuit. 

44.  Homines  qui  manent  extra  forestam 
non  veniant  de  cetero  coram  justiciariis 
nostris  de  foresta  per  communes  summoni- 
lioues,  nisi  sint  in  placito,  vel  ploggii  ali- 


cujus vel  aliquorura,  qui  attachiati  sint  pro 
foresta. 

45.  Nos  non  faciemus  justiciarios,  con- 
stabularios,  vicecomites,  vel  ballivos,  nisi 
de  talibus  qui  sciant  legem  regni  et  eam 
bene  velint  observare. 

46.  Omnes  barones  qui  fundaverunt  ab- 
batias,  unde  habent  cartas  regum  Angliae, 
vel  antiquam  tenuram,  habeant  earum 
custodiam  cum  vacaverint,  sicut  habere 
debent. 

47.  Omnes  forestae  quae  aforestatae  sunt 
tempore  nostro,  statim  deafForestentur ;  et 
ita  flat  de  ripariis  quae  per  nos  tempore 
nostro  positae  sunt  in  defense. 

48.  Omnes  malae  consuetudines  de  fo- 
restis  et  warennis,  et  de  forestariis  et  wa- 
rennariis,  vicecomitibus  et  eorum  raiui- 
stris,  ripariis  et  earum  custodibus,  statim 
inquirantur  in  quolibet  comitatu  per  duo- 
decim  milites  juratos  de  eodem  comitatu, 
qui  debent  eligi  per  probos  homines  ejus- 
dem  comitatus,  et  infra  quadraginta  dies 
post  inquisitionem  factam,  peuitus,  ita 
quod  nunquam  revocentur,  deleantur  per 
eosdem,  ita  quod  nos  hoc  sciamus  prius, 
vel  jnsticiarius  noster,  si  in  Anglia  non 
fuerimus. 

49.  Omnes  obsides  et  cartas  statim  red- 
demus  quae  liberatae  fuerunt  nobis  ab 
Anglicis  in  securitatem  pacis  vel  fidelis 
servitii. 

50.  Nos  amovebimus  penitus  de  balliis 
parentes  Gerardi  de  Athyes,  quod  de  cetero 
nullam  habeant  balliam  in  Anglia ;  Enge- 
lardum  de  Cygoniis,  Audream,  Petrum  et 
Gyonem  de  Cancellis,  Gyonemde  Cygoniis, 
Galfridum  de  Martyni  et  fratres  ejus,  Phi- 
lippum  Mark  et  fratres  ejus,  et  Galfridum 
nepotem  ejus,  et  totam  sequelam  eorum- 
dem. 

51.  Et  statim  post  pacis  reformationem 
amovebimus  de  regno  omnes  alienigenas 
milites,  balistarios,  servientes,  stipendia- 
rios,  qui  veneriut  cum  equis  et  armis  ad 
nocumentum  regni. 

52.  Si  quis  fuerit  disseisitus  vel  elon- 
gatus  per  nos  sine  legali  judicio  parium 
suorum,  de  terris,  castallls,  libertatibus, 
vel  jure  suo,  statim  ea  ei  restituemus ;  et 
si  contentio  super  hoc  orta  fuerit,  tunc 
inde  flat  per  judicium  viginti  quinque  ba- 
ronum,  de  quibus  flt  mentio  inferius  in  se- 
curitate  pacis :  de  omnibus  autem  illis  de 
quibus  aliquis  disseisitus  fuerit  vel  elouga- 
tus  sine  legali  judicio  parium  suorum,  per 
Henricum  regem  patrem  nostrum  vel  per 
Ricardum  regem  fratrem  nostrum,  quae  in 
manu  nostra  habemus,  vel  quae  alii  tenent, 
quae  nos  oporteat  warantizare,  respectum 
habebimus  usque  ad  communem  terrainum 
crncesignatorum  ;  exceptis  illis  de  quibus 
placitum  motnm  fuit  vel  inquisitiq  facta 


556 


^OTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


Fakt  IIL 


per  praeceptum  nostrnm,  ante  susceptio- 
uem  crucis  nostrae:  cum  autem  redieri- 
mus  de  peregrinatione  nostra,  vel  si  forte 
remanserimus  a  peregrinatione  nostra,  sta- 
tira  inde  plenam  jnsticiam  exhibebimus. 

53.  Euudem  autem  respectura  habebi- 
mus,  ei  eodem  modo,  de  justicia  exhiben- 
da  de  forestis  deafforestandis  vel  reniansu- 
ris  forestis,  quas  Henricus  pater  noster  vel 
Ricardus  frater  uoster  aftbreslaveruut,  et 
de  custodiis  terrarum  quae  sunt  de  alieuo 
feodo,  cnjasmodi  custodias  hucusque  ha- 
buimus  occasione  feodi  quod  aliquis  de 
nobis  tenuit  per  servitium  militare,  et  de 
abbatiis  quae  fiindatae  fuerint  in  feodo 
alterins  quam  uostro,  in  quibus  dominus 
feodi  dixerit  se  jus  habere ;  et  cum  redieri- 
mus,  vel  si  remanserimus  a  peregrinatione 
nostra,  super  fails  conquereutibus  plenam 
justiciam  statim  exhibebimus. 

54.  NuUus  capiatur  nee  imprisonetur 
propter  appellum  foemiuae  de  morte  al- 
terius  quam  viri  sui. 

55.  Omnes  fines  qui  injuste  et  contra 
legem  terrae  facti  sunt  nobiscum,  et  omnia 
amerciamenta  facta  iujuste  et  contra  legem 
terrae,  omnino  condonentur,  vel  fiat  inde 
per  judicium  viginti  quiuque  baronum  de 
quibus  fit  meutio  inferius  in  securitate 
pacis,  vel  per  judicium  majoris  partis 
eonimdeni,  una  cum  praedicto  Stephano 
Cantuarieusi  archiepiscopo,  si  inieresi-e  po- 
terit,  et  aliis  quos  secum  ad  hoc  vocare 
voluerit ;  et  si  interesse  non  poterit,  nihi- 
iominns  procedat  negotium  sine  eo,  ita 
quod,  si  aliquis  vel  aliqui  de  praedictis 
viginti  qninque  baronibus  fuerint  in  si- 
mili  querela,  amoveantur  quantum  ad  hoc 
judicium,  et  alii  loco  illorum  per  residuos 
de  eisdem  viginti  quinque,  tantum  ad  hoc 
faciendum  electi  et  jurati  substituantur. 

56.  Si  uos  dissaisivimus  vel  elongavimns 
Walenses  de  terris  vel  libertatibus  vel 
rebus  aliis,  sine  legali  judicio  parium 
suorum,  in  Anglia  vel  in  Wallia,  eis  statim 
reddantur;  et  si  coiitentio  super  hoc  orta 
fuerit,  tunc  iude  fiat  in  marchia  per  judi- 
cium parium  siiornm,  de  teuementis  An- 
gliae  secundum  legem  Angliae,  de  tene- 
raentis  Walliae  secundum  legem  Walliae, 
de  tenementis  marchiae  secundum  legem 
marchiae.  Idem  facient  Walenses  nobis 
et  nostris. 

57.  De  omnibus  au'.um  illis  de  quibus 
aliquis  Walensium  dissaisitus  fuerit  vel 
elongatus  sine  legali  judicio  parium  suo- 
rum, per  Uenricum  regem  patrem  nostrum 
vel  Kicardum  regem  fratrem  nostrum, 
quae  nos  in  manu  nostra  habemus,  vel 
quae  alii  tenent  quae  nos  oporteat  wa- 
rantizare,  respectum  habebimus  usque  ad 
commnnem  terminum  crucesignatorum, 
illis  exceptitf  de  quibus  placitum  motum 


fuit  vel  inquisitio  facta  per  praeceptum 
nostrum  ante  susceptioneni  crucis  nostrae : 
cum  autem  redierimus,  vel  si  forte  reman- 
serimus a  peregrinatione  nostra,  statim 
eis  inde  plenam  justiciam  exhibebimus, 
secundein  lc;j;es  Walensium  et  partes  prae- 
dictas. 

53.  NosreddemusfiliumLewelini  tatira, 
et  omnes  obsides  de  Wallia,  et  cartas  quae 
nobis  liberatae  fuerunt  in  securitatem  pa- 
cis. 

59.  Nos  faciemus  Allexandro  regi  Scot- 
torum  de  sororibus  suis,  et  obtidibus  red 
dendis,  et  libertatibus  suis,  et  jure  suo, 
secundum  formam  in  qua  faciemus  aliis 
baronibus  nostris  Angliae,  nisi  aliter  esse 
debeat  per  cartas  quas  kabemns  de  Willel- 
mo  patre  ipsius,  quondam  rege  Scottorum ; 
et  hoc  erit  per  judicium  parium  suorum  in-^ 
curia  nostra. 

60.  Omnes  autem  istas  consuetudines 
praedictas  et  libertates  quas  nos  concessi- 
raus  in  regno  nostro  teuendas  quantum  ad 
nospertinet  erga  nostros,  omnes  de  regno 
nostro,  tarn  clerici  quam  laici,  observeut 
quantum  ad  se  pertiuet  erga  suos. 

61.  Cum  autem  pro  Deo,  et  ad  emenda- 
tionem  regni  nostri,  et  ad  melius  sopien- 
dum  discordiam  inter  nus  et  barones  nos- 
tros ortam,  haec  omnia  praedicta  conces- 
serimns,  vulentes  ea  Integra  et  firma  sta- 
bilitate  gaudere  in  perpetuum,  faciemus  et 
concedimus  eis  securitatem  subscriptam  ; 
videlicet  quod  barones  eligant  viginti  quin- 
que barones  de  regno  quos  voluerint,  qui 
debeant  pro  totis  viribus  suis  observare, 
tenere,  et  facere  observari,  pacem  et  liber- 
tates quas  eis  concessimns,  et  hac  prae- 
senti  carta  nostra  confirma  vim  us,  ita  scili- 
cet quod,  si  nos,  vel  justiciarius  noster,  vel 
ballivi  nostri,  vel  aliquis  de  ministris  nos- 
tris, in  aliquo  erga  aliquem  deliquerimus, 
vel  aliquem  articulorum  pacis  aut  securi- 
tatis  transgressi  fuerimus,  et  delictum  os- 
tensum  fuerit  quatuor  baronibus  de  prae- 
dictis viginti  quinque  baronibus,  illi  qua- 
tuor barones  accedant  ad  nos  vel  ad  jus- 
ticiarium  nostrum,  si  fuerimus  extra  reg- 
num,  proponentes  nobis  excessum :  petent 
ut  excessum  ilium  sine  dilatione  faciamus 
emendari.  Et  si  uos  excessum  non  emen- 
daverimns,  vel,  si  fuerimus  extra  regnum, 
justiciarius  noster  non  emendaverit  infra 
terapus  quadraginta  dierum  computan- 
dum  a  tempore  quo  monstratum  fuerit  no- 
bis vel  justiciario  nostro  si  extra  regnum 
fuerimus,  praedicti  quatuor  barones  refe- 
rant  causam  illam  ad  residuos  de  viginti 
quinque  baronibus,  et  illi  viginti  quinque 
barones  eum  communa  totius  lerrae  dis- 
tringent  et  gravabunt  nos  modis  omnibus 
quibus  poternnt,  scilicet  per  captionemcas- 
trorum,  terrarum,  possessrtonum,  et  aliis 


English  Const. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


657 


modis  quibuspotei-unt,  donee  fuerit  emen- 
datum  secundum  arbitrium  eorum,  salva 
persona  nostra  et  rc<2;iuae  nostrae  et  liber- 
orum  nostrorum ;  et  cum  fuerit  emeuda- 
tum  iutendent  nobis  sicut  prius  fecerunl. 
Et  quicumque  voluerit  de  terra  juret  quod 
ad  praedicta  omnia  exsequenda  parebit 
mandatis  praedictorum  vigiuti  quinque  ba- 
rouum,  et  quod  gravabit  nos  pro  posise  suo 
cum  ipsis,  et  nos  publico  et  libere  damns 
licentiam  juraudi  cuilibet  qui  jurare  volu- 
eriL,  et  null!  umquam  jurare  prohibebiinus. 
Omnes  autem  illos  de  terra  qui  per  se  et  } 
eponte  sua  uohieriut  jurare  vigiuti  quiuque  | 
barouibus,  de  distriiigeudo  et  gravando  | 
nos  cum  eis,  faciemus  jurare  eosdem  de  I 
mandato  uostro,  t<icut  praedictum  est.  Et 
si  aliquisde  vigiuti  quinque  barouibus  de-  | 
cesserit,  vel  a  terra  recesserit,  vel  aliquo  i 
alio  modo  inipeditus  fuerit,  quo  minus  ista 
praedicta  pohteut  exsequi,  qui  residui  fue- 
rint  de  praedictis  vigiuti  quinque  baroui- 
bus eligant  alium  loco  ipsius,  pro  arbitrio 
suo,  qui  simili  modo  erit  juratus  quo  et 
ceteri.  In  omnibus  autem  quae  istis  vi- 
giuti quinque  barouibus  committuntur 
exsequenda,  si  forte  ipsi  vigiuti  quinque 
praeseutes  fueriut,  et  inter  ee  super  re  ali- 
qua  discordaverint,  vel  aliqui  ex  eis  sum- 
mouiti  noliut  vel  nequeaut  interesse,  ra- 
tum  habeatur  et  firmum  quod  major  pars 
eorum  qui  praeseutes  fuerint  providerit, 
vel  praeceperit,  ac  si  omues  viginti  quiuqu^ 
in  hoc  conseusisseut ;  et  praedicti  viginti 
quinque  jureut  quod  omnia  antedicta  fide- 
liter  obgervabunt,  et  pro  toto  posse  suo 
facieut  observari,  Et  nos  nihil  impetra- 
bimus  ab  aliquo,  per  nos  nee  per  alium, 
per  quod  aliqua  istarum  coucessionura  et 
libertatum  revocetur  vel  minuatur ;  et,  si 
aliquid  tale  impetratum  fuerit,  irritum  sit 
et  inane  et  numquam  eo  utemur  per  nos 
nee  i)er  alium. 

62.  Et  omues  malas  voluntates,  indig- 
natioues,  et  rancores,  ortos  inter  nos  et 
homines  nostros,  clerieos  et  laicos,  a  tem- 
pore discordiae,  plene  omnibus  remisimus 
et  condonavimus.  Practerea  omnes  trans- 
gressiones  factas  occasione  ejusdem  dis- 
cordiae, a  Pascha  anno  regni  nostri  sexto- 
decimo usque  ad  pacem  reformatam,  plene 
remisimus  omnibus,  clericis  et  laieis,  et 
quantum  ad  nos  pertinet  plene  condonavi- 
mus. Et  insuper  fecimus  eis  fieri  litteras 
testimoniales  patentes  domini  Stephani 
Cantuariensis  archiepiscopi,  domini  Hen- 
rici  DublineusiV^rchlepiscopi,  et  episco- 
porum  praedictorum,  et  magistri  Pandulfi, 
super  securitate  ista  et  cencessiouibus 
praefatis. 

6S.  Quare  volumus  et  firmiter  praecipi- 
mus  quod  Aiiglicana  ecclesia  libera  sit  et 
quod  homines  in  regno  nostro  habeant  et 


teneant  omnes  praefatas  libertates,  jura, 
et  concessiones,  bene  et  in  pace,  libere  et 
quiete,  plene  et  integre,  sibi  et  haeredibus 
suis,  de  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris,  in 
omnibus  rebus  et  locis,  in  perpetuum,  sicut 
praedictum  est.  Juratum  est  autem  tarn 
ex  parte  nostra  quam  ex  parte  boranum ; 
quod  haee  omnia  supradicta  bona  tide  et 
siue  malo  ingenio  observabuntur.  Testi- 
bus  supradictis  et  multls  aliis.  Data  per 
manum  nostram  in  prato  quod  vocatur 
Ruuiugmede,  inter  Windelesoriim.  et 
Stanes,  quinto  decimo  die  Junii,  anno 
regni  nostri  septirao  decimo. 

V.  CONnRMATION  OF  THE  CHARTERS. 

(Tra^islation.) 

I.  Edward,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of 
England,  Lord  of  Ireland,  and  Duke  of 
Guyan,  to  all  those  that  these  present  let- 
ters shall  hear  or  see,  greeting.    Know  ye 
that  we  to  the  honor  of  God  and  of  holy 
Church,  and  to  the  profit  of  our  realm, 
have  granted  for  us  and  our  heirs,  that  the 
Charter  of  Liberties  and  the  Charter  of  the 
Forest,  which  were  made  by  common  as- 
pent  of  all  the  realm,  in  the  time  of  King 
I  Henry  our  father,  shall  be  kept  in  every 
I  point  without  breach.     And  we  will  that 
!  the  same  charters  shall  be  sent  under  our 
i  seal  as  well  to  our  justices  of  the  forest  as 
to  others,  and  to  all  sheriffs  of  shires,  and 
I  to  all  our  other  officers,  and  to  all  our  cities 
I  throughout  the  realm,  together  with  our 
writs  iu  the  which  it  shall  be  contained, 
that  they  cause  the  foresaid  charters  to  be 
published,  and  to  declare  to  the  people 
that  we  have  confirmed  them  in  all  points, 
and  that  our  justices,  sheriffs,  mayors,  and 
other  ministers  which  under  us  have  the 
laws  of  our  land  to  guide,  shall  allow  the 
t  aid  charters  pleaded  before  them  in  judg-' 
r.ient  in  all  their  points  ;  that  is,  to  wit,  the 
Great  Charter  as  the  common  law  and  the 
Charter  of  the  Forest  according  to  the  As- 
size of  the  Forest,  for  tlio  wealth  of  our 
realm. 
II.  And  we  will  that  if  any  judgment  be 


given  from  henceforth,  contrai'y  to  the 
points  of  the  charters  aforesaid,  by  the 
justices  or  by  any  other  our  ministers 
that  hold  plea  bef)re  them  against  the 
points  of  the  charters,  it  shall  be  undone 
and  holden  for  nouirht. 

III.  And  we  will  that  the  same  charters 
shnll  be  sent  under  our  seal  to  cathedral 
churches  throufrhout  our  realm,  there  to 
remain,  and  shall  be  read  before  the  peo- 
ple two  times  by  the  j^ear. 

IV.  And  that  all  archbishops  and  bishops 
shall  pronounce  the  sentence  of  great  ex- 
communication against  all  those  that  by 
word,  or  deed,  or  counsel  do  contrary  ty 


558 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


Part  III. 


the  foresaid  charters,  or  that  in  any  point 
break  or  undo  them.  And  that  the  said 
curses  be  twice  a  year  denounced  and  pub- 
lished by  the  prelates  aforesaid.  And  if 
the  same  prelates  or  any  of  them  be  remiss 
in  the  denunciation  of  the  said  sentences, 
the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York 
for  the  time  being,  as  is  fitting,  shall  com- 
pel and  distrain  them  to  make  that  denun- 
ciation in  form  aforesaid. 

V.  And  for  so  much  as  divers  people  of 
our  realm  are  in  fear  that  the  aids  and 
tasks  which  they  have  given  to  us  before- 
time  towards  our  wars  and  other  business, 
of  their  own  grant  and  good-will,  howso- 
ever they  were  made,  might  turn  to  a  bond- 
age to  them  and  their  heirs,  because  they 
might  be  at  another  time  found  in  the 
rolls,  and  so  likewise  the  prizes  taken 
throughout  the  realm  by  our  ministers ; 
we  have  granted  for  us  and  our  heirs, 
that  we  shall  not  draw  such  aids,  tasks, 
nor  prizes  into  a  custom,  for  any  thing  that 
hath  been  done  heretofore  or  that  may  be 
found  by  roll  or  in  any  other  manner. 

VI.  Moreover,  we  have  granted  for  us 
and  our  heirs,  as  well  to  archbishops, 
bishops,  abbots,  priors,  and  other  folk  of 
holy  Church,  as  also  to  earls,  barons,  and 
to  all  the  commonalty  of  the  land,  that  for 
no  business  from  henceforth  will  we  take 
such  manner  of  aids,  tasks,  nor  prizes,  but 
by  the  common  assent  of  the  realm,  and  for 
the  common  profit  thereof,  saving  the  an- 
cient aids  and  prizes  due  and  accustomed. 

VII.  And  for  so  much  as  the  more  part 
of  the  commonalty  of  the  re-aim  find  them- 
selves sore  grieved  with  the  maletote  of 
wools ;  that  is,  to  wit,  a  toll  of  fortv  shil- 


lings for  every  sack  of  wool,  and  have 
made  petition  to  us  to  release  the  same ; 
we,  at  their  requests,  have  clearly  released 
it,  and  have  granted  for  us  and  our  heirs 
that  we  shall  not  take  such  thing  nor  any 
other  without  their  common  assent  and 
good-will ;  saving  to  us  and  our  heirs  the 
custom  of  wools,  skins,  and  leather  grant- 
ed before  by  the  commonalty  aforesaid. 
In  witness  of  which  things  we  have  caused 
these  our  letters  to  be  made  patent.  Wit- 
ness Edward  our  son  at  London,  the  10th 
day  of  October,  the  five  and  twentieth  year 
of  our  reign. 

And  be  it  remembered  that  this  same 
charter  in  the  same  terms,  word  for  word, 
was  sealed  in  Flanders  under  the  king's 
great  seal,  that  is  to  say,  at  Ghent,  the  5th 
day  of  November,  in  the  25th  year  of  the 
reign  of  our  aforesaid  lord  the  king,  and 
sent  into  England. —  ("  Statutes  of  the 
Realm,"  i.,  124, 125.) 

VI.  SUMMONS  TO  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1268. 

Item  mandatum  est  singulis  vicecomiti- 
bus  per  Angliam  quod  venire  faciant  duos 
milites  de  legalioribus,  probioribus  et  dis- 
cretioribus  militibus  siugulorum  coraita- 
tuum  ad  regem  Londoniis  in  octavis  prae- 
dictis  in  forma  supradicta. 

Item  in  forma  praedicta  scribitur  civibus 
Eboraci,  civibus  Lincolniae,  et  ceteris  bur- 
gis  Angliae,  quod  mittant  in  forma  prae- 
dicta duos  de  discretioribus,  legalioribus  et 
probioribustamcivibusquamburgensibus. 

Item  in  forma  praedicta  mandatum  est 
baronibus  et  probis  hominibus  Quinqne 
Portnum.  .  .  .  —("  Report  on  the  Dignity 
of  a  Peer,"  App.  i.,  p.  33.) 


State  or  Society.  INTRODUCTION.  569 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ON    THE    STATE    OF    SOCIETY   IN   EUROPE    DURING   THE    MIDDLE 

AGES. 

PART    I. 

§  1.  Introduction.  §2.  Declineof  Literature  in  the  latter  period  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
§  3.  Its  Causes.  §  4.  Corruption  of  the  Latin  Language :  Means  by  which  it  was 
effected.  §  5.  Formation  of  new  Languages.  §  0.  General  Ignorance  of  the  Dark 
Ages.  §  7.  Causes  that  prevented  the  total  Extinction  of  Learning.  5  8.  Preva- 
lence of  Superstition  and  Fanaticism.  §  9.  Enthusiastic  Risings.  §  10.  Pretended 
Miracles.  5  11.  General  Corruption  of  Religion.  §12.  Monasteries:  their  effects. 
§  13.  Penances,  Pilgrimages,  §  14.  Want  of  Law,  and  Degradation  of  Morals. 
§  15.  Love  of  Field  Sports.  §  16.  State  of  Agriculture.  §  17.  Of  Internal  and  For- 
eign Trade  down  to  the  End  of  the  Eleventh  Century.  §  18.  Improvement  of  Eu- 
rope dated  from  that  Age. 

§  1.  The  Middle  Ages,  according  to  the  division  I  have 
adopted,  comprise  about  one  thousand  years,  from  the  inva- 
sion of  France  by  Clovis  to  that  of  Naples  by  Charles  VIII, 
This  period,  considered  as  to  the  state  of  society,  has  been 
esteemed  dark  throus^h  i<?norance,  and  barbarous  throusfh 
poverty  and  want  of  refinement.  And  although  this  charac- 
ter is  much  less  applicable  to  the  last  two  centuries  of  the 
period  than  to  those  which  preceded  its  commencement,  yet 
we  can  not  expect  to  feel,  in  respect  of  ages  at  best  imper- 
fectly civilized  and  slowly  progressive,  that  interest  which 
attends  a  more  perfect  development  of  human  capacities,  and 
more  brilliant  advances  in  improvement.  The  first  moiety, 
indeed,  of  these  ten  ages  is  almost  absolutely  barren,  and  pre- 
sents little  but  a  catalogue  of  evils.  The  subversion  of  the 
Roman  Empire  and  devastation  of  its  provinces  by  barba- 
rous nations,  either  immediately  preceded,  or  were  coincident 
with,  the  commencement  of  the  middle  period.  We  begin 
in  darkness  and  calamity;  and  though  the  shadows  grow 
fainter  as  wo  advance,  yet  we  are  to  break  off  our  pursuit  as 
the  morning  breathes  upon  us  and  the  twilight  reddens  into 
the  lustre  of  day. 

§  2.  No  circumstance  is  so  prominent,  on  the  first  survey 
of  society  during  the  earlier  centuries  of  this  period,  as  the 
depth  of  ignorance  in  which  it  was  immersed ;  and  as  from 
this,  more  than  any  single  cause,  the  moral  and  social  evils 
which  those  ages  experienced  appear  to  have  been  derived 


560  DECLINE  OF  LEAENIXG       Chap.  IX.  Part  I, 

and  perpetuated,  it  deserves  to  occupy  the  first  place  in  the 
arrangement  of  our  present  subject.  We  must  not  altogether 
ascribe  the  ruin  of  literature  to  the  barbarian  destroyers  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  So  gradual  and,  apparently,  so  irre- 
trievable a  decay  had  long  before  spread  over  all  liberal 
studies,  that  it  is  impossible  to  pronounce  whether  they 
would  not  have  been  almost  equally  extinguished  if  the  au- 
gust throne  of  the  Caesars  had  been  left  to  moulder  by  its  in- 
trinsic weakness.  Under  the  paternal  sovereignty  of  Marcus 
Aurelius  the  approaching  declension  of  learning  might  be 
scarcely  perceptible  to  an  incurious  observer.  There  was 
much,  indeed,  to  distinguish  his  times  from  those  of  Augustus ; 
much  lost  in  originality  of  genius,  in  correctness  of  taste,  in 
the  masterly  conception  and  consummate  finish  of  art,  in 
purity  of  the  Latin,  and  even  of  the  Greek  language.  But 
there  were  men  who  made  the  age  famous — grave  lawyers, 
judicious  historians,  wise  philosophers;  the  name  of  learning 
was  honorable,  its  professors  were  encouraged  ;  and  along  the 
vast  surface  of  the  Roman  Empire  there  was  perliaps  a  great- 
er number  whose  minds  were  cultivated  by  intellectual  dis- 
cipline than  under  the  more  brilliant  reign  of  the  first  em- 
peror. 

§  3.  It  is  not,  I  think,  very  easy  to  give  a  perfectly  satis- 
factory solution  of  the  rapid  downfall  of  literature  between 
the  ages  of  Antonine  and  of  Diocletian.  Perhaps  the  pros- 
perous condition  of  the  empire  from  Trajan  to  Marcus  Aure- 
lius, and  the  patronage  which  those  good  princes  bestowed 
on  letters,  gave  an  artificial  health  to  them  for  a  moment, 
and  suspended  the  operation  of  a  disease  which  had  already 
begun  to  undermine  their  vigor.  Perhaps  the  intellectual 
energies  of  mankind  can  never  remain  stationary;  and  a  na- 
tion that  ceases  to  produce  original  and  inventive  minds,  born 
to  advance  the  landmarks  of  knowledge  or  skill,  will  recede 
from  step  to  step,  till  it  loses  even  the  secondary  merits  of 
imitation  and  industry.  During  the  third  century,  not  only 
there  were  no  great  writers,  but  even  few  names  of  indiffer- 
ent writers  have  been  recovered  by  the  diligence  of  modern 
inquiry.  Law  neglected,  philosophy  perverted  till  it  became 
contemptible,  history  nearly  silent,  the  Latin  tongue  growing 
rapidly  barbarous,  poetry  rarely  and  feebly  attempted,  art 
more  and  more  vitiated ;  such  were  the  symptoms  by  which 
the  age  previous  to  Constantino  announced  the  decline  of 
human  intellect.  If  we  can  not  fully  account  for  this  un- 
happy change,  as  I  have  observed,  we  must,  however,  assign 
much  weight  to  the  degradation  of  Rome  and  Italy  in  the 


State  of  Society.       IN  THE  KOMAN  EMPIRE.  5G1 

system  of  Severus  and  his  successors,  to  the  admission  of 
barbarians  into  the  military  and  even  civil  dignities  of  the 
empire,  to  tlie  discouraging  influence  of  provincial  and  illit- 
erate sovereigns,  and  to  the  calamities  which  followed  for 
half  a  century  the  first  invasion  of  the  Goths  and  the  defeat 
of  Decius.  To  this  sickly  condition  of  literature  the  fourth 
century  supplied  no  permanent  remedy.  If  under  the  house 
of  Constautine  the  Roman  world  suftered  rather  less  from 
civil  warfare  or  barbarous  invasions  than  in  the  preceding 
age,  yet  every  other  cause  of  decline  just  enumerated  pre- 
vailed with  aggravated  force ;  and  the  fourth  century  set  in 
storms,  sufiiciently  destructive  in  themselves,  and  ominous 
of  those  calamities  which  humbled  the  majesty  of  Rome  at 
the  commencement  of  the  ensuing  period,  and  overwhelmed 
the  Western  Empire  in  absolute  and  final  ruin  before  its 
termination. 

The  diffusion  of  literature  is  perfectly  distinguishable  from 
its  advancement ;  and  whatever  the  obscurity  we  may  find 
in  explaining  the  variations  of  the  one,  there  are  a  few  sim- 
ple causes  which  seem  to  account  for  the  other.  Knowledge 
will  be  spread  over  the  surface  of  a  nation  in  proportion  to 
the  facilities  of  education  ;  to  the  free  circulation  of  books  ; 
to  the  emoluments  and  distinctions  which  literary  attain- 
ments are  found  to  produce  ;  and  still  more  to  the  reward 
which  they  meet  in  the  general  respect  and  applause  of  soci- 
ety. This  cheering  incitement,  the  genial  sunshine  of  appro- 
bation, has  at  all  times  promoted  the  cultivation  of  literature 
in  small  republics  rather  than  large  empires,  and  in  cities 
compared  with  the  country.  If  these  are  the  sources  which 
nourish  literature,  we  should  naturally  expect  that  they  must 
have  become  scanty  or  dry  when  learning  languishes  or  ex- 
pires. Accordingly,  in  the  later  ages  of  the  Roman  Empire 
a  general  indifference  towards  the  cultivation  of  letters  be- 
came the  characteristic  of  its  inhabitants.  Laws  were,  in- 
deed, enacted  by  Constantine,  Julian,  Theodosius,  and  other 
emperors,  for  the  encouragement  of  learned  men  and  the  pro- 
motion of  liberal  education.  But  these  laws,  which  would 
not,  perhaps,  have  been  thought  necessary  in  better  times, 
w^ere  unavailing  to  counteract  the  lethargy  of  ignorance  in 
which  even  the  native  citizens  of  the  empire  were  contented 
to  repose.  This  alienation  of  men  from  their  national  litera- 
ture may  doubtless  be  imputed  in  some  measure  to  its  own 
demerits.  A  jargon  of  mystical  philosophy,  half  fanaticism 
and  half  imposture,  a  barren  and  inflated  eloquence,  a  frivo- 
lous philology,  were  not  among  those  charms  of  wisdom  by 

24* 


562  DECLINE  OF  LEARNING      Chap.  IX.  Part  ). 

which  man  is  to  be  diverted  from  pleasure  or  aroused  from 
indolence. 

In  this  temper  of  the  public  mind  there  was  little  probabil- 
ity that  new  compositions  of  excellence  would  be  produced, 
and  much  doubt  whether  the  old  would  be  preserved.  Since 
the  invention  of  printing,  the  absolute  extinction  of  any  con- 
siderable work  seems  a  danger  too  improbable  for  apprehen 
eion.  The  press  pours  forth  in  a  few  days  a  thousand  vol- 
umes, which,  scattered  like  seeds  in  the  air  over  the  republic 
of  Europe,  could  hardly  be  destroyed  without  the  extirpation 
of  its  inhabitants.  But  in  the  times  of  antiquity  manuscripts 
were  copied  with  cost,  labor,  and  delay  ;  and  if  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge  be  measured  by  the  multiplication  of  books — 
no  unfair  standard — the  most  golden  ages  of  ancient  learning 
could  never  bear  the  least  comparison  with  the  three  last 
centuries.  The  destruction  of  a  few  libraries  by  accidental 
fire,  the  desolation  of  a  few  provinces  by  unsparing  and  illit- 
erate barbarians,  might  annihilate  every  vestige  of  an  author, 
or  leave  a  i'ew  scattered  copies,  which,  from  the  public  indif- 
ference, there  was  no  inducement  to  multiply,  exposed  to  sim- 
ilar casualties  in  succeeding  times. 

We  are  warranted  by  good  authorities  to  assign  as  a  col- 
lateral cause  of  this  irretrievable  revolution  the  neglect  of 
heathen  literature  by  the  Christian  Church.  I  am  not  versed 
enough  in  ecclesiastical  writers  to  estimate  the  degree  of  this 
neglect ;  nor  am  I  disposed  to  deny  that  the  mischief  was 
beyond  recovery  before  the  accession  of  Constantine.  From 
the  primitive  ages,  however,  it  seems  that  a  dislike  of  pagan 
learning  was  pretty  general  among  Christians.  Many  of  the 
fathers  undoubtedly  were  accomplished  in  liberal  studies, 
and  we  are  indebted  to  them  for  valuable  fragments  of  au- 
thors whom  we  have  lost.  But  the  literary  character  of  the 
Church  is  not  to  be  measured  by  that  of  its  more  illustrious 
leaders.  Proscribed  and  persecuted,  the  early  Christians  had 
not,  perhaps,  access  to  the  public  schools,  nor  inclination  to 
studies  which  seemed,  very  excusably,  uncongenial  to  the 
character  of  their  profession.  Their  prejudices,  however,  sur- 
vived the  establishment  of  Christianity.  The  Fourth  Coun- 
cil of  Carthage,  in  398,  prohibited  the  reading  of  secular 
books  by  bishops.  Jerome  plainly  condemns  the  study  of 
them  except  for  pious  ends.  All  physical  science  especially 
was  held  in  avowed  contempt,  as  inconsistent  with  revealed 
truths.  Nor  do  there  appear  to  have  been  any  canons  made 
in  favor  of  learning,  or  any  restriction  on  the  ordination  of 
persons  absolutely  illiterate.     There  was,  indeed,  abundance 


State  of  Society.      IN  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.  563 

of  what  is  called  theological  learning  displayed  in  the  con- 
troversies  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries;  and  those  who 
admire  such  disputations  may  consider  the  principal  cham- 
pions in  them  as  contributing  to  the  glory,  or,  at  least,  retard- 
ing the  decline,  of  literature.  But  I  believe  rather  that  po- 
lemical disputes  will  be  found  not  only  to  corrupt  the  genuine 
spirit  of  religion,  but  to  degrade  and  contract  the  faculties. 
What  keenness  and  subtlety  these  may  sometimes  acquire  by 
such  exercise  is  more  like  that  worldly  shrewdness  we  see  in 
men  whose  trade  it  is  to  outwit  their  neighbors  than  the  clear 
and  calm  discrimination  of  philosophy.  However  this  may 
be,  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  controversies  agitated  in 
the  Church  during  these  two  centuries  must  have  diverted 
studious  minds  from  profane  literature,  and  narrowed  more 
and  more  the  circle  of  that  knowledge  which  tliey  were  de- 
sirous to  attain.  ^ 

The  torrent  of  irrational  superstitions  w^hich  carried  all 
before  it  in  the  fifth  century,  and  the  progress  of  ascetic 
enthusiasm,  had  an  influence  still  more  decidedly  inimical  to 
learning.  I  can  not,  indeed,  conceive  any  state  of  society  more 
adverse  to  the  intellectual  improvement  of  mankind  than  one 
which  admitted  of  no  middle  line  between  gross  dissolute- 
ness and  fanatical  mortification.  An  equable  tone  of  public 
morals,  social  and  humane,  verging  neither  to  voluptuousness 
nor  austerity,  seems  the  most  adapted  to  genius,  or  at  least 
to  letters,  as  it  is  to  individual  comfort  and  national  prosper- 
ity. After  the  introduction  of  monkery,  and  its  unsocial  the- 
ory of  duties,  the  serious  and  reflecting  part  of  mankind,  on 
whom  science  most  relies,  were  turned  to  habits  which,  in 
the  most  favorable  view%  could  not  quicken  the  intellectual 
energies;  and  it  might  be  a  difficult  question  whether  the 
cultivators  and  admirers  of  useful  literature  were  less  like- 
ly to  be  found  among  the  profligate  citizens  of  Rome  and 
their  barbarian  conquerors,  or  the  melancholy  recluses  of  the 
wilderness. 

Such,  therefore,  was  the  state  of  learning  before  the  sub 
version  of  the  Western  Empire.  And  we  may  form  some 
notion  how  little  probability  there  was  of  its  producing  any 
excellent  fruits,  even  if  that  revolution  had  never  occurred, 
by  considering  what  took  place  in  Greece  during  the  subse- 
quent ages ;  where,  although  there  was  some  attention  shown 
to  preserve  the  best  monuments  of  antiquity,  and  diligence 
in  compiling  from  them,  yet  no  one  original  writer  of  any 
superior  merit  arose,  and  learning,  though  plunged  but  for  a 
short  period  into  mere  darkness,  may  be  said  to  have  languish- 


564  CORRUPTION  OF  LATIN.       Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

ed  in  the  middle  region  of  twilight  for  the  greater  part  of  a 
tliousand  years. 

But  not  to  delay  ourselves  in  this  speculation,  the  final  set- 
tlement of  barbarous  nations  in  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Italy  con- 
summated the  ruin  of  litei-ature.  Their  first  irruptions  were 
uniformly  attended  with  devastation ;  and  if  some  of  the 
Gothic  kings,  after  their  establishment,  proved  humane  and 
civilized  sovereigns,  yet  the  nation  gloried  in  its  original  rude- 
ness, and  viewed  with  no  unreasonable  disdain  arts  which 
had  neither  preserved  their  cultivators  from  corruption  nor 
raised  them  from  servitude.  Theodoric,  the  most  famous  of 
the  Ostrogoth  kings  in  Italy,  could  not  write  his  name,  and 
is  said  to  have  restrained  his  countrymen  from  attending 
those  schools  of  learning  by  which  he,  or  rather  perhaps  his 
minister,  Cassiodorus,  endeavored  to  revive  the  studies  of  his 
Italian  subjects.  Scarcely  one  of  the  barbarians,  so  long  as 
they  continued  unconfused  with  the  native  inhabitants,  ac- 
quired the  slightest  tincture  of  letters;  and  the  ])raise  of 
equal  ignorance  was  soon  aspired  to  and  attained  by  the  en- 
tire mass  of  the  Roman  laity.  They,  however,  could  hardly 
have  divested  themselves  so  completely  of  all  acquaintance 
with  even  the  elements  of  learning,  if  the  language  in  w^hich 
books  were  written  had  not  ceased  to  be  their  natural  dialect. 
This  remarkable  change  in  the  speech  of  France,  Spain,  and 
Italy,  is  most  intimately  connected  with  the  extinction  of 
learning ;  and  there  is  enough  of  obscurity  as  well  as  of  inter- 
est in  th^  subject  to  deserve  some  discussion. 

§  4.  It  is  obvious,  on  the  most  cursoiy  view  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  languages,  that  they,  as  well  as  the  Italian,  are 
derived  from  one  common  source,  the  Latin.  That  must, 
therefore,  have  been  at  some  period,  and  certainly  not  since 
the  establishment  of  the  barbarous  nations  in  Spain  and  Gaul, 
substituted  in  ordinary  use  for  the  original  dialects  of  those 
countries  which  are  generally  supposed  to  have  been  Celtic, 
not  essentially  diflTering  from  those  which  are  spoken  in  Wales 
and  Ireland.  Rome,  says  Augustin,  imposed  not  only  her 
yoke,  but  her  language,  upon  conquered  nations.  The  suc- 
cess of  such  an  attempt  is  indeed  very  remarkable.  Though 
it  is  the  natural  effect  of  conquest,  or  even  of  commercial  in- 
tercourse, to  ingraft  fresh  words  and  foreign  idioms  on  the 
stock  of  the  original  language,  yet  the  entire  disuse  of  the 
latter,  and  adoption  of  one  radically  different,  scarcely  takes 
place  in  the  lapse  of  a  far  longer  period  than  that  of  the 
Roman  dominion  in  Gaul.  Thus, -in  part  of  Brittany  the 
people  speak  a  language  which  has  perhaps  sustained  no  es- 


State  of  Society.     ANCIENT  LATIN  TRONUNCIATION.  565 

sential  alteration  from  the  revolution  of  two  thousand  years ; 
and  we  know  how  steadily  another  Celtic  dialect  has  kept 
its  ground  in  Wales,  notwithstanding  English  laws  and  gov- 
ernment, and  the  long  line  of  contiguous  frontier  which  brings 
the  natives  of  that  principality  into  contact  with  Englishmen. 
Nor  did  the  Romans  ever  establish  their  language  (I  know 
not  whether  they  wished  to  do  so)  in  this  island,  as  we  per- 
ceive by  that  stubborn  British  tongue  which  has  survived 
two  conquests. 

In  Gaul  and  in  Spain,  however,  they  did  succeed,  as  the 
present  state  of  the  French  and  Peninsular  languages  renders 
undeniable,  though  by  gradual  changes,  and  not  by  a  sud- 
den and  arbitrary  innovation.  This  is  neither  possible  in 
itself,  nor  agreeable  to  the  testimony  of  Irenasus,  bishop  of 
Lyons  at  the  end  of  the  second  century,  who  laments  the 
necessity  of  learning  Celtic.  But  although  the  inhabitants 
of  these  provinces  came  at  length  to  make  use  of  Latin  so 
completely  as  their  mother  tongue  that  few  vestiges,  of  their 
original  Celtic  could  perhaps  be  discovered  in  their  common 
speech,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  spoke  with  the  pure  pro- 
nunciation of  Italians,  far  less  with  that  conformity  to  the 
written  sounds  which  we  assume  to  be  essential  to  the  ex- 
pression of  Latin  woi'ds. 

It  appears  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  Romans  pro- 
nounced their  language  as  we  do  at  present,  so  far  at  least 
as  the  enunciation  of  all  the  consonants,  however  we  may  ad- 
mit our  deviations  from  the  classical  standard  in  propriety 
of  sounds  and  in  measure  of  time.  Yet  the  example  of  our 
own  language  and  of  French  might  show  us  that  orthogra- 
phy may  become  a  very  inadequate  representative  of  pro- 
nunciation. It  is,  indeed,  capable  of  proof  that  in  the  purest 
ages  of  Latinity  some  variation  existed  between  these  two. 
Those  numerous  changes  in  spelling  w^hich  distinguish  the 
same  words  in  the  poefry  of  Ennius  and  of  Virgil  are  best  ex- 
plained by  the  supposition  of  their  being  accommodated  to 
the  current  pronunciation.  Harsh  combinations  of  letters, 
softened  down  through  delicacy  of  ear  or  rapidity  of  utter- 
ance, gradually  lost  their  place  in  the  written  language. 
Thus  exfregit  and  adrogavit  assumed  a  form  representing 
their  more  liquid  sound  ;  and  auctor  was  latterly  spelt  alitor, 
which  has  been  followed  ir  French  and  Italian.  Alitor  was 
probably  so  pronounced  at  all  times  ;  and  the  orthography 
was  afterwards  corrected  or  corrupted,  whichever  we  please 
to  say,  according  to  the  sound.  We  have  the  best  authority 
to  assert  that  tl^e  final  ra  was  very  faintly  pronounced,  rather. 


566  CORRUPTION  OF  Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

it  seems,  as  a  rest  and  short  interval  between  two  syllables 
than  an  articulate  letter ;  nor,  indeed,  can  we  conceive  upon 
what  other  ground  it  was  subject  to  elision  before  a  vowal 
in  verse,  since  we  can  not  suppose  that  the  nice  ears  of  Rome 
would  have  submitted  to  a  capricious  rule  of  poetry  for 
which  Greece  presented  no  analogy.^ 

A  decisive  proof,  in  my  opinion,  of  the  deviation  which 
took  place,  through  the  rapidity  of  ordinary  elocution,  from 
the  strict  laws  of  enunciation,  may  be  found  in  the  metre  of 
Terence.  His  verses,  which  are  absolutely  refractory  to  the 
common  laws  of  prosody,  may  be  readily  scanned  by  the  ap- 
plication of  this  principle.* 

The  licenses  mentioned  in  the  note  below  are  in  all  proba- 
bility chiefly  colloquial,  and  would  not  have  been  adopted  in 
public  harangues,  to  w^hich  the  precepts  of  rhetorical  writers 
commonly  relate.  But  if  the  more  elegant  language  of  the 
Romans,  since  such  we  must  suppose  to  have  been  copied  by 
Terence  for  his  higher  characters,  difiered  so  much  in  ordi- 
nary discourse  from  their  orthography,  it  is  probable  that 
the  vulgar  went  into  much  greater  deviations.  The  popular 
pronunciation  errs  generally,  we  might  say  perhaj^s  invaria- 
bly, by  abbreviation  of  words,  and  by  liquefying  consonants, 
as  is  natural  to  the  rapidity  of  colloquial  speech.^  It  is  by 
their  knowledge  of  orthography  and   etymology  that  the 


1  Atque  eadem  ilia  litera,  qnoties  ultima  est,  et  vocalem  verbi  seqnentis  ita  contin- 
git,  ut  in  earn  transire  possit,  etiam  si  scribitur,  tameu  paruin  exprimitur,  ut  Multum 
ille,  et  Quantum  erat :  adeo ut  pene  cujusdam  novae  literae  sonum  reddat.  Neque  euim 
eximitur,  sed  obscuratur,  et  tautiim  aliqtia  inter  duos  vocales  velut  nota  est,  ne  ipsae 
coeant— Quintilian,  Institnt.,  1.  ix.,  c.  4,  p.  585,  edit.  Capperonier. 

2  Thus,  in  the  first  act  of  the  "Heautoutiinoruinenos,"  a  part  selected  at  random, 
I  have  found,  I.  Vowels  contracted  or  dropped  so  as  to  shorten  the  word  by  a  sylla- 
ble ;  in  rei,  vid,  diutius,  ei,  solius,  earn,  unius,  suam,  divitias,  senex,  voluptatem,  illius, 
semel :  II.  The  procelensmatic  foot,  or  four  short  syllables,  instead  of  the  dactyl ; 
ecen.  i.,  v.  59,  73,  76,  88, 109  ;  seen,  ii.,  v,  30 :  III.  The  elision  of  «  in  words  ending  with 
tis  or  is  short,  and  sometimes  even  of  the  whole  syllable,  before  the  next  word  begin- 
ning with  a  vowel ;  in  seen,  i.,  v.  30,  81,  98, 101, 116, 119  ;  seen,  ii.,  v.  28:  IV.  The  first 
•syllable  of  ille  is  repeatedly  shorteued,  and  indeed  nothing  is  more  usual  In  Terence 
than  this  license  ;  whence  we  may  collect  how  ready  this  word  was  ^'or  abbreviation 
iuto  the  French  and  Italian  articles :  V.  The  last  letter  ofapud  is  cut  oflf,  seen,  i.,  v.  120; 
and  seen,  ii.,  v.  8:  VI.  Hodie  is  used  as  a  pyrrhichins,  in  seen,  ii.,  v.  11 :  VII.  Lastly, 
there  is  a  clear  instance  of  a  short  syllable,  the  antepenultimate  oiimpulermi,  length- 
ened on  account  of  the  accent  at  the  113th  verse  of  the  first  scene. 

3  The  following  passage  of  Quintilian  is  an  evidence  both  of  the  omission  of  harsh 
or  superfluous  letters  by  the  best  speakers,  and  of  the  corrupt  abbreviations  usual 
with  the  worst.  "  Dilucida  vero  erit  pronunciatio  primum,  si  verba  tota  exegerit, 
quorum  pars  devorari,  pars  destitui  solet,  plerisque  extremas  syllabas  non  profc- 
rentibus,  dum  priorum  sono  indulgent.  Ut  est  autem  necessaria  verborum  expla- 
natio,  ita  omnes  computare  et  velut  adnumerare  literas,  molestum  et  odiosum.  Nam 
et  vocales  frequentissimS  coeunt,  et  consonantium  qnaedam  insequente  vocali  dis- 
Bimulantur;  ntriusque  exemplum  posuimus:  Mnltum  ille  et  terris.  Vitatur  etiam 
duriorum  inter  se  congressus,  unde  pellexit  et  collegit,  et  quje  alio  loco  dicta  sunt."— 
L.ii.,c.  3,  p.  696. 


State  of  Society.      LATIN  PRONUNCIATION.  567 

more  educated  part  of  the  community  is  preserved  from 
these  corrupt  modes  of  pronunciation.  There  is  always, 
therefore,  a  standard  by  Avhich  common  speech  may  be  recti- 
fied, and  in  proportion  to  the  diffusion  of  knowedge  and  po- 
liteness the  deviations  from  it  will  be  more  slight  and  grad- 
ual. But  in  distant  provinces,  and  especially  where  the  lan- 
guage itself  is  but  of  recent  introduction,  many  more  changes 
may  be  expected  to  occur.  Even  in  France  and  England 
there  are  provincial  dialects  which,  if  written  with  all  their 
anomalies  of  pronunciation  as  well  as  idiom,  would  seem 
strangely  out  of  unison  with  the  regular  language ;  and  in 
Italy,  as  is  well  known,  the  varieties  of  dialect  are  still  more 
striking.  Now,  in  an  advancing  state  of  society,  and  es- 
pecially with  such  a  vigorous  political  circulation  as  we 
experience  in  England,  language  will  constantly  approxi- 
mate to  uniformity,  as  provincial  expressions  are  more  and 
more  rejected  for  incorrectness  or  inelegance.  But  where 
literature  is  on  the  decline,  and  public  misfortunes  contract 
the  circle  of  those  who  are  solicitous  about  refinement,  as  in 
the  last  ages  of  the  Roman  Empire,  there  will  be  no  longer 
any  definite  standard  of  living  speech,  nor  any  general  de- 
sire to  conform  to  it  if  one  could  be  found;  and  thus  the 
vicious  corruptions  of  the  vulgar  will  entirely  predominate. 
The  niceties  of  ancient  idiom  will  be  totally  lost,  while  new 
idioms  will  be  formed  out  of  violations  of  grammar  sanc- 
tioned by  usage,  which,  among  a  civilized  people,  would  have 
been  proscribed  at  their  appearance. 

Such  appears  to  have  been  the  progress  of  corruption  in 
the  Latin  language.  The  adoption  of  words  from  the  Teu- 
tonic dialects  of  the  barbarians,  which  took  place  very  freely, 
would  not  of  itself  have  destroyed  the  character  of  that  lan- 
guage, though  it  sullied  its  purity.  The  woi-st  law  Latin  of 
the  Middle  Ages  is  still  Latin,  if  its  barbarous  terms  have 
been  bent  to  the  regular  inflections.  It  is  possible,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  w^rite  whole  pages  of  Italian  wherein  every 
word  shall  be  of  unequivocal  Latin  derivation,  though  the 
character  and  personality,  if  I  may  so  say,  of  the  language 
be  entirely  dissimilar.  But,  as  I  conceive,  the  loss  of  liter- 
ature took  away  the  only  check  upon  arbitrary  pronuncia- 
tion and  upon  erroneous  grammar.  Each  people  innovated 
through  caprice,  imitation  of  their  neighbors,  or  some  of 
those  indescribable  causes  which  dispose  the  organs  of  dif- 
ferent nations  to  different  sounds.  The  French  melted  down 
the  middle  consonants,  the  Italians  omitted  the  final.  Cor- 
ruptions arising  out  of  ignorance  were   mingled  with  those 


568  PRONUNCIATION  NOT  KEGULATED     Chap.  IX.  Pakt  I. 

of  pronunciation.  It  would  have  been  marvellous  if  illiter- 
ate and  semi-barbarous  provincials  had  preserved  that  deli- 
cate precision  in  using  the  inflections  of  tenses  which  our 
best  scholars  do  not  clearly  attain.  The  common  speech  of 
any  people  whose  language  is  highly  complicated  will  be 
full  of  solecisms.  The  French  inflections  are  not  comparable 
in  number  or  delicacy  to  the  Latin,  and  yet  the  vulgar  con- 
fuse their  most  ordinary  forms. 

But,  in  all  probability,  the  variation  of  these  derivative 
languages  from  popular  Latin  has  been  considerably  less 
than  it  appears.  In  the  purest  ages  of  Latinity  the  citizens 
of  Rome  itself  made  use  of  many  terms  which  we  deem  bar- 
barous, and  of  many  idioms  which  we  should  reject  as  mod- 
ern. That  highly  complicated  grammar  which  the  best 
writers  employed  was  too  elliptical  and  obscure,  too  defi- 
cient in  the  connecting  parts  of  speech,  for  general  use.  We 
can  not,  indeed,  ascertain  in  what  degree  the  vulgar  Latin 
differed  from  that  of  Cicero  or  Seneca.  It  would  be  highly 
absurd  to  imagine,  as  some  are  said  to  have  done,  that  mod- 
ern Italian  was  spoken  at  Rome  under  Augustus.  But  I  be- 
lieve it  may  be  asserted  not  only  that  mucii  the  greater  part 
of  those  words  in  the  present  language  of  Italy  which  strike 
us  as  incapable  of  a  Latin  etymology  are  in  fact  derived 
from  those  current  in  the  Augustan  age,  but  that  very  many 
phrases  which  oflfended  nicer  ears  prevailed  in  the  same  ver- 
nacular speech,  and  have  passed  from  thence  into  the  mod- 
ern French  and  Italian.  Such,  for  example,  was  the  frequent 
use  of  prepositions  to  indicate  a  relation  between  two  parts 
of  a  sentence  which  a  classical  writer  would  have  made  to 
depend  on  mere  inflection.* 

From  the  difficulty  of  retaining  a  right  discrimination  of 
tense  seems  to  have  proceeded  the  active  auxiliary  verb. 
It  is  possible  that  this  was  borrowed  from  the  Teutonic  lan- 
guages of  the  barbarians,  and  accommodated  both  by  them 
and  by  the  natives  to  words  of  Latin  origin.  The  passive 
auxiliary  is  obtained  by  a  very  ready  resolution  of  any  tense 
in  that  mood,  and  has  not  been  altogether  dispensed  with 
even  in  Greek,  while  in  Latin  it  is  used  much  more  frequent- 
ly. It  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  perceive  the  propriety  of  the 
active  hdbeo  or  teiieo^  one  or  both  of  which  all  modern  lan- 

<  M.  Bonamy,  in  an  essay  printed  in  Mem.  de  r  Academie  des  Inscriptions,  t.  xxiv., 
has  produced  several  proofs  of  this  from  the  classical  writers  on  agriculture  and  other 
arts,  though  some  of  his  instances  are  not  in  point,  as  any  school-boy  would  have  told 
him.  This  essay  contains  the  best  view  that  I  have  seen  of  the  process  of  transition 
by  which  Latin  was  changed  into  French  and  Italian.  Add,  however,  the  preface  to 
Tiraboschi's  third  volume  and  the  thirty-second  dissertation  of  Muratori. 


State  of  Society.  BY  QUANTITY.  569 

guages  have  adopted  as  their  auxiliaries  in  conjugating  the 
verb.  But  in  some  instances  this  analysis  is  not  improper ; 
and  it  may  be  supposed  that  nations  careless  of  etymology 
or  correctness  applied  the  same  verb  by  rude  analogy  to 
cases  where  it  ought  not  strictly  to  have  been  employed. 

Next  to  the  changes  founded  on  pronunciation  and  to  the 
substitution  of  auxiliary  verbs  for  inflections,  the  usage  of 
the  detinite  and  indefinite  articles  in  nouns  appears  the  most 
considei'able  step  in  the  transmutation  of  Latin  into  its  de- 
rivative languages.  None  but  Latin,  I  believe,  has  ever 
wanted  tliis  part  of  speech;  and  tlie  defect  to  which  custom 
reconciled  the  Romans  would  be  an  insuperable  stumbling- 
block  to  nations  who  were  to  translate  their  original  idiom 
into  that  language.  A  coarse  expedient  of  applying  unus^ 
ipse,  or  ille  to  the  purposes  of  an  article  might  perhaps  be 
no  infrequent  vulgarism  of  the  provincials  ;  and  after  the 
Teutonic  tribes  brought  in  their  own  grammar,  it  was  natu- 
ral that  a  corruption  should  become  universal,  which  in  fact 
supplied  a  real  and  essential  deficiency. 

That  the  quantity  of  Latin  syllables  is  neglected,  or  rath- 
er lost,  in  modern  pronunciation,  seems  to  be  generally  ad- 
mitted. Whether,  indeed,  the  ancient  Romans,  in  their  or- 
dinary speaking,  distinguished  the  measure  of  syllables  with 
such  uniform  musical  accuracy  as  we  imagine,  giving  a  cer- 
tain time  to  those  termed  long,  and  exactly  half  that  dura- 
tion to  the  short,  might  very  reasonably  be  questioned  ; 
though  this  was  probably  done,  or  attempted  to  be  done, 
by  every  reader  of  poetry.  Certainly,  however,  the  laws  of 
quantity  were  forgotten,  and  an  accentual  pronunciation 
came  to  predominate,  before  Latin  had  ceased  to  be  a  living 
language.  A  Christian  writer  named  Commodianus,  who 
lived  before  the  end  of  the  third  century  according  to  some, 
or,  as  others  think,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine,  hits  left  us  a 
philological  curiosity,  in  a  series  of  attacks  on  the  pagan  su- 
perstitions,^ composed  in  what  are  meant  to  be  verses  regu- 

*  No  description  can  jjive  so  adequate  a  notion  of  this  extraordinary  performance 
as  a  short  specimen.  Take  the  introductory  lines,  which  really,  prejudices  of  edu- 
cation apart,  are  by  no  means  inharmonious: 

Prsefatio  nostra  viam  erranti  demonstrat, 

Respectumqne  honum,  cum  venerit  sseculi  meta, 

^ternnm  fieri,  quod  discredunt  inscia  corda. 

Ego  similiter  erravi  tempore  raulto, 

Fana  prosequeudo,  parentibus  insciis  ipsis. 

Abstnli  me  tandem  inde,  legendo  de  lege. 

Testiflcor  Dominnm,  doleo,  proh  I    civica  turba 

Inscia  quod  perdit,  pergens  deos  quaerere  vanos. 

Ob  ea  perdoctus  ignoros  instruo  verum. 
Commodianus  is  published  by  Dawes  at  the  end- of  his  edition  of  Minucius  Felix. 
Some  specimens  are  quoted  in  Harris's  Philological  Inquiries. 


570  TROCHAIC  VERSE.  Chap.  IX.  Part  1 

lated  by  accent  instead  of  quantity,  exactly  as  we  read  Vir- 
gil at  present. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  Comniodianus  may  have  written 
in  Africa,  the  province  in  which  more  than  any  the  purity 
of  Latin  was  debased.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  St. 
Augustin  assailed  his  old  enemies,  the  Donatists,  with  near- 
ly the  same  arms  that  Comniodianus  had  wielded  against 
heathenism.  But  as  the  refined  and  various  music  of  hex- 
ameters was  unlikely  to  be  relished  by  the  vulgar,  he  pru' 
dently  adopted  a  different  measure.®  AH  the  nations  of  Eu- 
rope seem  to  love  the  trochaic  verse.  It  w\as  frequent  on 
the  Greek  and  Roman  stage ;  it  is  more  common  than  any 
other  in  the  popular  poetry  of  modern  languages.  This  pro- 
ceeds from  its  simplicity,  its  liveliness,  and  its  ready  accom- 
modation to  dancing  and  music.  In  St.  Augustin's  poem  he 
united  to  a  trochaic  measure  the  novel  attraction  of  rhyme. 

As  Africa  must  have  lost  all  regard  to  the  rules  of  meas- 
ure in  the  fourth  century,  so  it  appears  that  Gaul  was  not 
more  correct  in  the  next  two  ages.  A  poem  addressed  by 
Auspicius,  bishop  of  Toul,  to  Count  Arbogastes,  of  earlier 
date  probably  than  the  invasion  of  Clovis,  is  written  with 
no  regard  to  quantity.^  The  bishop  by  whom  this  was  com- 
posed is  mentioned  by  his  contemporaries  as  a  man  of  learn- 
ing. Probably  he  did  not  choose  to  perplex  the  barbarian 
to  whom  he  was  writing  (for  Arbogastes  is  plainly  a  barba- 
rous name)  by  legitimate  Roman  metre.  In  the  next  cen- 
tury Gregory  of  Tours  informs  us  that  Chilperic  attempted 
to  write  Latin  verses ;  but  the  lines  could  not  be  reconciled 
to  any  division  of  feet,  his  ignorance  having  confounded 
long  and  short  syllables  together.  Now  Chilperic  must 
have  learned  to  speak  Latin  like  other  kings  of  the  Franks, 
and  was  a  smatterer  in  several  kinds  of  literature.  If  Chil- 
peric, therefore,  were  not   master  of  these  distinctions,  we 

«  Archaeologia,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  188.    The  following  are  the  first  liues : 

Abundantia  peccatorum  solet  fratres  coiiturbare ; 
Propter  hoc  Dominus  uoster  voluit  uos  prseraonere, 
Comparans  regnum  ccElorum  reticulo  misso  in  mare. 
Congregant!  multos  pisces,  onine  genus  hinc  et  inde, 

guos  cum  traxispent  ad  littus,  tunc  coeperunt  separare, 
onos  in  vasa  miseruut,  reliquos  malos  in  mare. 

This  trash  is  much  below  the  level  of  Augustin  ;  but  it  could  not  have  been  later 
than  his  age. 
'  Recueil  des  Historiens,  t.  i.,  p.  814 ;  it  begins  in  the  following  manner: 

Praecelso  expectabili  bis  Arbogasto  comiti 
Auspicius,  qui  diligo,  salutem  dico  plurimam. 
Magnas  coelesti  Domino  repeudo  corde  gratias 
Quod  te  Tnllensi  proxime  magnum  in  urbe  vidiintfa. 
Multis  me  tnis  artibus  laetificabas  antea, 
Sed  nunc  fecisti  maximo  me  exultare  gaudio, 


State  of  Society.     LATIN  BECOMES  ROMANCE.  671 

may  conclude  that  the  bishops  and  other  Romans  with 
whom  he  conversed  did  not  observe  them ;  and  that  his 
blunders  in  versification  arose  from  ignorance  of  rules 
which,  however  fit  to  be  preserved  in  poetry,  were  entirely 
obsolete  in  the  living  Latin  of  his  age.  Indeed,  the  frequen- 
cy of  false  quantities  in  the  poets  even  of  the  fifth,  but  much 
more  of  the  sixth  century,  is  palpable.  Fortunatus  is  quite 
full  of  them.  This  seems  a  decisive  proof  that  the  ancient 
pronunciation  was  lost.  Avitus  tells  us  that  few  preserved 
the  proper  measure  of  syllables  in  singing.  Yet  he  was 
Bishop  of  Vienne,  where  a  purer  pronunciation  might  be  ex- 
pected than  in  the  remoter  parts  of  Gaul. 

§  5.  Defective,  however,  as  it  had  become  in  respect  of 
pronunciation,  Latin  was  still  spoken  in  France  during  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries.  We  have  compositions  of  that 
time,  intended  for  the  people,  in  grammatical  language.  A 
song  is  still  extant  in  rhyme  and  loose  accentual  measure, 
written  upon  a  victory  of  Clotaire  IL  over  the  Saxons  in 
622,  and  obviously  intended  for  circulation  among  the  peo- 
ple. Fortunatus  says,  in  his  life  of  St.  Aubin  of  Angers, 
that  he  should  take  care  not  to  use  any  expression  unintel- 
ligible to  the  people.  Baudemind,  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  century,  declares,  in  his  life  of  St.  Amand,  that  he 
writes  in  a  rustic  and  vulgar  style,  that  the  reader  may  be 
excited  to  imitation.  Not  that  these  legends  were  actually 
perused  by  the  populace,  for  the  very  art  of  reading  was 
confined  to  a  few.  But  they  were  read  publicly  in  the 
churches,  and  probably  with  a  pronunciation  accommodated 
to  the  corruptions  of  ordinary  language.  Still,  the  Latin 
syntax  must  have  been  tolerably  understood  ;  and  we  may 
therefore  say  that  Latin  had  not  ceased  to  be  a  living  lan- 
guage, in  Gaul  at  least,  before  the  latter  part  of  the  seventh 
century.  Faults,  indeed,  against  the  rules  of  grammar,  as 
well  as  unusual  idioms,  perpetually  occur  in  the  best  writers 
of  the  Merovingian  period,  such  as  Gregory  of  Tours ; 
while  charters  drawn  up  by  less  expert  scholars  deviate 
much  farther  from  purity. 

The  corrupt  provincial  idiom  became  gradually  more  and 
more  dissimilar  to  grammatical  Latin ;  and  the  lingua  Ro- 
mana  rustica,  as  the  vulgar  patois  (to  borrow  a  word  that  I 
can  not  well  translate)  had  been  called,  acquired  a  distinct 
character  as  a  new  language  in  the  eighth  century.  Latin 
orthography,  which  had  been  hitherto  pretty  well  maintained 
in  books,  though  not  always  in  charters,  gave  way  to  a  new 
spelling,  conformably  to  the  current  pronunciation.    Thus  we 


672  ITS  CORRUPTION  IN  ITALY.     Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

find  lui  for  illius^  in  the  Formularies  of  Marculfus ;  and  Tu  lo 
juva  in  a  liturgy  of  Charlemagne's  age,  for  Tu  ilium  juva. 
When  this  barrier  was  once  broken  down,  such  a  deluge  of 
innovation  poured  in,  that  all  the  characteristics  of  Latin  were 
effaced  in  writing  as  well  as  speaking,  and  the  existence  of  a 
new  language  became  undeniable.  In  a  council  held  at  Tours 
in  813,  the  bishops  are  ordered  to  have  certain  homilies  of 
the  fathers  translated  into  the  rustic  Roman,  as  well  as  the 
German  tongue.  After  this  it  is  unnecessary  to  multiply 
proofs  of  the  change  which  Latin  had  undergone. 

Li  Italy  the  progressive  corruptions  of  the  Latin  language 
were  analogous  to  those  which  occurred  in  France,  though 
we  do  not  find  in  writings  any  unequivocal  specimens  of  a 
new  formation  at  so  early  a  period.  But  the  old  inscriptions, 
even  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  are  full  of  solecisms  and 
corrupt  orthography.  Li  legal  instruments  under  the  Lom- 
bard kings  the  Latin  inflections  are  indeed  used,  but  witli  so 
little  regard  to  propriety  that  it  is  obvious  the  Avriters  had 
not  the  slightest  tincture  of  grammatical  knowledge.  This 
observation  extends  to  a  very  large  proportion  of  such  docu- 
ments down  to  the  twelfth  century,  and  is  as  applicable  to 
France  and  Spain  as  it  is  to  Italy.  In  these  charters  the  pe- 
culiar characteristics  of  Italian  orthography  and  grammar 
frequently  appear.  Thus  we  find,  in  the  eighth  century,  dive- 
atis  for  debeatis,  da  for  de  in  the  ablative,  avendi  for  hahendl^ 
dava  for  dabat,  cedo  a  deo,  and  ad  ecclesia^  among  many  sim- 
ilar corruptions.  Latin  was  so  changed,  it  is  said  by  a  writer 
of  Charlemagne's  age,  that  scarcely  any  part  of  it  was  popu- 
larly known.  Italy,  indeed,  had  suffered  more  than  France 
itself  by  invasion,  and  was  reduced  to  a  lower  state  of  barba- 
rism, though  probably,  from  the  greater  distinctness  of  pi-o- 
nunciation  habitual  to  the  Italians,  they  lost  less  of  then* 
original  language  than  the  French.  I  do  not  find,  however, 
in  the  writers  who  have  treated  this  subject,  any  express  evi- 
dence of  a  vulgar  language  distinct  from  Latin  earlier  than 
the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  when  it  is  said  in  the  epitaph 
of  Pope  Gregory  V.  (who  died  in  999),  that  he  instructed  the 
people  in  three  dialects — the  Frankish,  or  German,  the  vul- 
gar, and  the  Latin. ^ 

§  6.  When  Latin  had  thus  ceased  to  be  a  living  language, 
the  whole  treasury  of  knowledge  was  locked  up  from  the  eyes 
of  the  people.  The  few  who  might  have  imbibed  a  taste  for 
literature,  if  books  had  been  accessible  to  them,  were  reduced 


®  XJpTis  Francises,  vnlgari,  et  voce  Latio 
lusiituit  populos  elcquio  tiipici. 


State  of  Society.    CONSEQUENT  IGNORANCE.  573 

to  abandon  pursuits  that  could  only  be  cultivated  through  a 
kind  of  education  not  easily  within  their  reach.  Schools, 
confined  to  cathedrals  and  monasteiies,  and  exclusively  de- 
signed for  the  purposes  of  religion,  afforded  no  encourage- 
ment or  opportunities  to  the  laity.  The  worst  effect  was,  that, 
as  the  newly-formed  languages  were  hardly  made  use  of  in 
writing,  Latin  being  still  preserved  in  all  legal  instruments 
and  public  correspondence,  the  very  use  of  letters,  as  well  as 
of  books,  was  forgotten.  For  many  centuries,  to  sum  up  the 
account  of  ignorance  in  a  word,  it  was  rare  for  a  layman,  of 
whatever  rank,  to  know  how  to  sign  his  name!  Their  char- 
ters, till  the  use  of  seals  became  general,  were  subscribed  with 
the  mark  of  the  cross.  Still  more  extraordinary  it  was  to 
find  one  who  had  any  tincture  of  learning.  Even  admitting 
every  indistinct  commendation  of  a  monkish  biographer  (with 
whom  a  knowledge  of  church  music  would  pass  for  literature), 
we  could  make  out  a  very  short  list  of  scholars.  None,  cer- 
tainly, were  more  distinguished  as  such  than  Charlemagne 
and  Alfred ;  but  the  former,  unless  we  reject  a  very  plain  tes- 
timony, was  incapable  of  wanting  ;^  and  Alfred  found  difficul- 
ty in  making  a  translation  from  the  pastoral  instruction  of  St. 
Gregory,  on  account  of  his  imperfect  knowledge  of  Latin. 

Whatever  mention,  therefore,  we  find  of  learning  and  the 
learned  during  these  dark  ages,  must  be  understood  to  relate 
only  to  such  as  were  within  the  pale  of  clergy,  w^hich,  indeed, 
was  pretty  extensive,  and  comprehended  many  who  did  not 
exercise  the  offices  of  religious  ministry.  But  even  the  cler- 
gy were,  for  a  long  period,  not  very  materially  superior,  as  a 
body,  to  the  uninstructed  laity.    A  cloud  of  ignorance  over- 

»  The  passage  in  Eginhard,  which  has  occasioned  so  much  dispute,  speaks  for  it- 
self: Tentabat  et  scribere,  tabulasque  et  codicillos  ad  hoc  in  lecticula  sub  ceryicali- 
bns  circnmferre  solebat,  ut,  cnm  vacuum  tempus  esset,manum  efflgiandis  Uteris  as- 
suefaceret ;  sed  parum  prosperd  successit  labor  prseposterns  ac  sero  iuchoatus. 

Many  are  still  unwilling  to  believe  that  Charlemagne  could  not  write.  M.  Ampere 
observes  that  the  emperor  asserts  himself  to  have  been  the  author  of  the  Libri  Caro- 
lini,  and  is  said  by  some  to  have  composed  verses.  Hist.  Litt.  de  la  France,  iii.,  37. 
But  did  not  Henry  VIII.  claim  a  book  against  Luther,  which  was  not  written  by  him- 
self? Quifarit  per  alium,facit  per  se,  is  in  all  cases  a  royal  prerogative.  Even  if  the 
book  were  Charlemagne's  own,  might  he  not  have  dictated  it  ?  I  have  been  informed 
that  there  is  a  manuscript  at  Vienna  with  autograph  notes  of  Charlemagne  In  the 
margin.  But  is  there  sufficient  evidence  of  their  genuineness?  The  great  difficulty 
is  to  get  over  the  words  which  I  have  quoted  from  Eginhard.  M.  Ampere  ingenious- 
ly conjectures  that  the  passage  does  not  relate  to  simple  common  writing,  but  to  cal- 
ligraphy— the  art  of  delineating  characters  in  a  beautiful  manner,  practised  by  the 
copyists,  and  of  which  a  contemporaneous  specimen  may  be  seen  in  the  well-known 
Bible  of  the  British  Museum.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  Charlemagne's  early 
life  passed  in  the  depths  of  ignorance  ;  and  Eginhard  gives  a  fair  reason  why  he  failed 
in  acquiring  the  art  of  writing,  that  he  began  too  late.  Fingers  of  fifty  are  not  made 
for  a  new  skill.  It  is  not,  of  course,  implied  by  the  words  that  he  could  not  write  his 
own  name ;  but  that  he  did  not  acquire  such  a  facility  as  he  desired. 


574  IGNORANCE  CONSEQUENT  ON     Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

spread  the  whole  face  of  the  Church,  hardly  broken  by  a  few 
glimmering  lights,  who  owe  much  of  their  distinction  to  the 
surrounding  darkness.  In  the  sixth  century  the  best  writers 
in  Latin  were  scarcely  read ;  and  perhaps  from  the  middle  of 
this  age  to  the  eleventh  there  was,  in  a  general  view  of  liter- 
ature, little  difference  to  be  discerned.  If  we  look  more  ac- 
curately, there  will  appear  certain  gradual  shades  of  twilight 
on  each  side  of  the  greatest  obscurity.  France  reached  her 
lowest  point  about  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century ;  but 
England  was  at  that  time  more  respectable,  and  did  not  fall 
into  complete  degradation  till  the  middle  of  the  ninth.  There 
could  be  nothing  more  deplorable  than  the  state  of  letters 
in  Italy  and  in  England  during  the  succeeding  century;  but 
France  can  not  be  denied  to  have  been  uniformly,  though 
very  slowly,  progressive  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 

Of  this  prevailing  ignorance  it  is  easy  to  produce  abun- 
dant testimony.  Contracts  were  made  verbally,  for  want  of 
notaries  capable  of  drawing  up  charters;  and  these,  when 
written,  were  frequently  barbarous  and  ungrammatical  to  an 
incredible  degree.  For  some  considerable  intervals  scarcely 
any  monument  of  literature  has  been  preserved,  except  a  few 
jejune  chronicles,  the  vilest  legends  of  saints,  or  verses  equal- 
ly destitute  of  spirit  and  metre.  In  almost  every  council  the 
ignorance  of  the  clergy  forms  a  subject  for  reproach.  It  is 
asserted  by  one  held  in  992  that  scarcely  a  single  person  was 
to  be  found  in  Rome  itself  who  knew  the  first  elements  of 
letters.  Not  one  priest  of  a  thousand  in  Spain,  about  the 
age  of  Charlemagne,  could  address  a  common  letter  of  salu- 
tation to  another.  In  England,  Alfred  declares  that  he  could 
not  recollect  a  single  priest  south  of  the  Thames  (the  most 
civilized  part  of  England),  at  the  time  of  his  accession,  who 
understood  the  ordinary  prayers,  or  could  translate  Latin 
into  his  mother  tongue.  Nor  was  this  better  in  the  time  of 
Dunstan,  when,  it  is  said,  none  of  the  clergy  knew  how  to 
write  or  translate  a  Latin  letter.  The  homilies  which  they 
preached  were  compiled  for  their  use  by  some  bishops,  from 
former  works  of  the  same  kind,  or  the  writings  of  the  fathers. 

This  universal  ignorance  was  rendered  unavoidable,  among 
other  causes,  by  the  scarcity  of  books,  which  could  only  be 
procured  at  an  immense  price.  From  the  conquest  of  Alex- 
andria by  the  Saracens  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, when  the  Egyptian  papyrus  almost  ceased  to  be  im- 
ported into  Europe,  to  the  close  of  the  eleventh,  about  which 
time  the  art  of  making  paper  from  cotton  rags  seems  to  have 
been  introduced,  there  were  no  materials  for  writing  except 


State  of  Society.       THE  DISUSE  OF  LATIN.  575 

parchment,  a  substance  too  expensive  to  be  readily  spared 
for  mere  purposes  of  literature.  Hence  an  unfortunate  prac- 
tice gained  ground,  of  erasing  a  manuscript  in  order  to  sub- 
stitute another  on  the  same  skin.  This  occasioned  the  loss 
of  many  ancient  authors,  who  have  made  way  for  the  legends 
of  saints,  or  other  ecclesiastical  rubbish. 

If  we  would  listen  to  some  literary  historians,  we  should 
believe  that  the  darkest  ages  contained  many  individuals, 
not  only  distinguished  among  their  contemporaries,  but  pos- 
itively eminent  for  abilities  and  knowledge.  A  proneness  to 
extol  every  monk  of  whose  production  a  few  letters  or  a  de- 
votional treatise  survives,  every  bishop  of  whom  it  is  related 
that  he  composed  homilies,  runs  through  the  laborious  work 
of  "  The  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur,"  "  The  Literary  History 
of  France,"  and,  in  a  less  degree,  is  observable  even  in  Tira- 
boschi,  and  in  most  books  of  this  class.  Bede,  Alcuin,  Hinc- 
mar,  Raban,  and  a  number  of  inferior  names,  become  real 
giants  of  learning  in  their  uncritical  panegyrics.  But  one 
might  justly  say  that  ignorance  is  the  smallest  defect  of  the 
writers  of  these  dark  ages.  Several  of  them  were  tolerably 
acquainted  with  books  ;  but  that  wherein  they  are  uniformly 
deficient  is  original  argument  or  expression.  Almost  every 
one  is  a  compiler  of  scraps  from  the  fathers,  or  from  such 
semi-classical  authors  as  Boethius,  Cassiodorus,  or  Martianus 
Capella.  Indeed  I  am  not  aware  that  there  appeared  more 
than  two  really  considerable  men  in  the  republic  of  letters 
from  the  sixth  to  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century — John, 
surnamed  Scotus  or  Erigena,  a  native  of  Ireland ;  and  Ger- 
bert,  who  became  pope  by  the  name  of  Silvester  II. :'°  the 
first  endowed  with  a  bold  and  acute  metaphysical  genius ; 

»"  John  Scotns,  who,  it  is  almost  needless  to  say,  mnat  not  be  confounded  with  the 
still  more  famous  metaphysician  Dnns  Scot  as,  lived  under  Charles  the  Bald,  in  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  century.  It  admits  of  no  doubt  that  John  Scotus  was,  in  a  litei'- 
ary  and  philosophical  sense,  the  most  remarkable  man  of  the  Dark  Ages ;  no  oue  else 
had  his  boldness,  his  subtlety  in  threading  the  labyrinths  of  metaphysical  specula- 
tions which,  in  the  west  of  Europe,  had  been  utterly  disregarded.  But  it  is  another 
question  whether  he  can  be  reckoned  an  original  writer;  those  who  have  attended 
most  to  his  treatise  De  Divisione  Naturae,  the  most  abstruse  of  his  works,  consider  it 
as  the  development  of  an  Oriental  philosophy,  acquired  during  his  residence  in  Greece, 
and  nearly  coinciding  with  some  of  the  later  Platonism  of  the  Alexandrian  school, 
but  with  a  more  unequivocal  tendency  to  pantheism.  This  manifests  itself  in  some 
extracts  which  have  latterly  been  made  from  the  treatise  De  Divisione  Naturae;  but 
though  Scotus  had  not  the  reputation  of  unblemished  orthodoxy,  the  drift  of  his  phi- 
losophy was  not  understood  in  that  barbarous  period.  He  might,  indeed,  have  ex- 
cited censure  by  his  intrepid  preference  of  reason  to  authority.  "Authority,"  he 
says,  "springs  from  reason,  not  reason  from  authority— true  reason  needs  not  be 
confirmed  by  any  authority." 

Silvester  II.  died  in  1003.  Whether  he  first  brought  the  Arabic  numeration  into 
Europe,  as  has  been  commonly  said,  seems  uncertain ;  it  was  at  least  not  much  prac- 
tised for  some  centuries  after  his  death. 


576  WANT  OF  LITERARY  EMINENCE.     t;iiAP.  IX.  Pabt  I. 

the  second  excellent,  for  the  time  when  he  lived,  in  mathe- 
matical science  and  mechanical  inventions. 

§  7.  If  it  be  demanded  by  what  cause  it  happened  that  a 
few  sparks  of  ancient  learning  survived  throughout  this  long 
winter,  we  can  only  ascribe  their  preservation  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  Christianity.  Religion  alone  made  a  bridge,  as 
it  were,  across  the  chaos,  and  has  linked  the  two  periods  of 
ancient  and  modern  civilization.  Without  this  connecting 
principle,  Europe  might  indeed  have  awakened  to  intellect- 
ual pursuits,  and  the  genius  of  recent  times  needed  not  to  be 
invigorated  by  the  imitation  of  antiquity.  But  the  memory 
of  Greece  and  Rome  would  have  been  feebly  preserved  by 
tradition,  and  the  monuments  of  those  nations  might  have 
excited,  en  the  return  of  civilization,  that  vague  sentiment 
of  speculation  and  wonder  with  which  men  now  contem- 
plate Persepolis  or  the  Pyramids.  It  is  not,  however,  from 
religion  simply  that  we  have  derived  this  advantage, 
but  from  religion  as  it  was  modified  in  the  Dark  Ages. 
Such  is  the  complex  reciprocation  of  good  and  evil  in  the 
dispensations  of  Providence,  that  we  may  assert,  with  only 
an  apparent  paradox, that,  had  religion  been  more  pure,  it 
would  have  been  less  permanent,  and  that  Christianity  has 
been  preserved  by  means  of  its  corruptions.  The  sole  hope 
for  literature  depended  on  tlie  Latin  language ;  and  I  do  not 
see  Avhy  that  should  not  have  been  lost,  if  three  circum- 
stances in  the  prevailing  religious  system,  all  of  which  we  are 
justly  accustomed  to  disapprove,  had  not  conspired  to  main- 
tain it — the  papal  supremacy,  the  monastic  institutions,  and 
the  use  of  a  Latin  liturgy.  1.  A  continual  intercourse  was 
kept  up,  in  consequence  of  the  first,  between  Rome  and  the 
several  nations  of  Europe ;  her  laws  were  received  by  the 
bishops,  her  legates  presided  in  councils ;  so  that  a  common 
language  was  as  necessary  in  the  Church  as  it  is  at  present 
in  the  diplomatic  relations  of  kingdoms.  2.  Throughout  the 
whole  course  of  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  no  learning,  and 
very  little  regularity  of  manners,  among  the  parochial  cler- 
gy. Almost  every  distinguished  man  was  either  the  mem- 
ber of  a  chapter  or  of  a  convent.  The  monasteries  were  sub- 
jected to  strict  rules  of  discipline,  and  held  out,  at  the  worst, 
more  opportunities  for  study  than  the  secular  clergy  pos- 
sessed, and  fewer  for  worldly  dissipations.  But  their  most 
important  service  was  as  secure  repositories  for  books.  All 
our  manuscripts  have  been  preserved  in  this  manner,  and 
could  hardly  have  descended  to  us  by  any  other  channel ;  at 
least  there  were  intervals  when  I  do  not  conceive  that  any 


STATE  OF  Society.     PRESERVATION  OF  LEARNING.  577 

royal  or  private  libraries  existed."  3.  Monasteries,  however, 
would  probably  have  contributed  very  little  towards  the 
preservation  of  learning,  if  the  Scriptures  and  the  liturgy  had 
been  translated  out  of  Latin  when  that  language  ceased  to 
be  intelligible.  Every  rational  principle  of  religious  worship 
called  for  such  a  change ;  but  it  would  have  been  made  at 
the  expense  of  posterity.  Moreover,  the  clergy  did  not  want 
good  pretexts,  on  the  ground  of  convenience,  for  opposing 
innovation.  They  were  habituated  to  the  Latin  words  of 
the  Church  service,  w^hich  had  become,  by  this  association, 
the  readiest  instruments  of  devotion,  and  with  the  majesty 
of  which  the  Romance  jargon  could  bear  no  comparison. 
Their  musical  chants  were  adapted  to  these  sounds,  and  their 
hymns  depended,  for  metrical  effect,  on  the  marked  accents 
and  powerful  rhymes  which  the  Latin  language  affords.  The 
vulgate  Latin  of  the  Bible  was  still  more  venerable.  It  was 
like  a  copy  of  a  lost  original,  and  a  copy  attested  by  one  of 
the  most  eminent  fathers,  and  by  the  general  consent  of  the 
Church.  These  are  certainly  no  adequate  excuses  for  keep- 
ing the  people  in  ignorance  ;  and  the  gross  corruption  of  the 
Middle  Ages  is  in  a  great  degree  assignable  to  this  policy. 
But  learning,  and  consequently  religion,  have  eventually  de- 
rived from  it  the  utmost  advantage. 

§  8.  In  the  shadows  of  this  universal  ignorance  a  thousand 
superstitions,  like  foul  animals  of  night,  were  propagated  and 
nourished.  It  would  be  very  unsatisfactory  to  exhibit  a  few 
specimens  of  this  odious  brood,  when  the  real  character  of 
those  times  is  only  to  be  judged  by  their  accumulated  multi- 
tude. There  are  many  books  from  which  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  instances  may  be  collected  to  show  the  absurdity  and 
ignorance  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  this  respect.  I  shall  only 
mention  two,  as  affording  more  general  evidence  than  any 
local  or  obscure  superstition.  In  the  tenth  century  an  opin- 
ion prevailed  everywhere  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  ap- 
proaching. Many  charters  begin  with  these  words,  "As  the 
world  is  now  drawing  to  its  close."  An  army  marching  un- 
der the  Emperor  Otho  I.  was  so  terrified  by  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun,  which  it  conceived  to  announce  this  consummation,  as  to 
disperse  hastily  on  all  sides.  As  this  notion  seems  to  have 
been  founded  on  some  confused  theory  of  the  millennium,  it 
naturally  died  away  when  the  seasons  proceeded  in  the  elev- 

•*  Charlemagne  had  a  library  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  he  directed  to  be  sold  at 
his  death  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  His  son  Louis  is  said  to  have  collected  some 
books.  But  this  rather  confirms,  on  the  whole,  my  supposition  that,  in  some  periods, 
no  royal  or  private  libraries  existed,  since  there  were  not  always  princes  or  nobles 
w'th  the  spirit  of  Charlemagne,  or  even  Louis  the  Debonair. 

25 


578  SUPERSTITIONS.  Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

enth  century  with  their  usual  regularity.  A  far  more  remark- 
able and  permanent  superstition  was  the  appeal  to  Heaven 
in  judicial  controversies,  whether  through  the  means  of  com- 
bat or  of  ordeal.  The  principle  of  these  was  the  same  ;  but 
in  the  former  it  was  mingled  with  feelings  independent  of 
religion — the  natural  dictates  of  resentment  in  a  brave  man 
unjustly  accused,  and  the  sympathy  of  a  warlike  people  with 
the  display  of  skill  and  intrepidity.  These,  in  course  of  time, 
almost  obliterated  the  primary  character  of  judicial  combat, 
and  ultimately  changed  it  into  the  modern  duel,  in  which  as- 
suredly there  is  no  mixture  of  superstition."  But,  in  the  va- 
rious tests  of  innocence  which  were  called  ordeals,  this  stood 
undisguised  and  unqualified.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe 
what  is  so  well  known — the  ceremonies  of  trial  by  handling 
hot  iron,  by  plunging  the  arm  into  boiling  fluids,  by  floating 
or  sinking  in  cold  water,  or  by  swallowing  a  piece  of  conse- 
crated bread.  It  is  observable  that,  as  the  interference  of 
Heaven  was  relied  upon  as  a  matter  of  course,  it  seems  to 
have  been  reckoned  nearly  indifierent  whether  such  a  test 
were  adopted  as  must,  humanly  considered,  absolve  all  the 
guilty,  or  one  that  must  convict  all  the  innocent.  The  or- 
deals of  hot  iron  or  water  were,  however,  more  commonly 
used ;  and  it  has  been  a  perplexing  question  by  what  dex- 
terity these  tremendous  proofs  were  eluded.  They  seem  at 
least  to  have  placed  the  decision  of  all  judicial  controversies 
in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  who  must  have  known  the  secret, 
whatever  that  might  be,  of  satisfying  the  spectators  that  an 
accused  person  had  held  a  mass  of  burning  iron  witli  impu- 
nity. For  several  centuries  this  mode  of  investigation  was 
in  great  repute,  though  not  without  opposition  from  some 
eminent  bishops.  It  does  discredit  to  the  memory  of  Char- 
jemagne  that  he  was  one  of  its  warmest  advocates.  But  the 
judicial  combat,  which,  indeed,  might  be  reckoned  one  spe- 
cies of  ordeal,  gradually  put  an  end  to  the  rest ;  and  as  tlie 
Church  acquired  better  notions  of  law,  and  a  code  of  her 
own,  she  strenuously  exerted  herself  against  all  these  barba- 
rous superstitions. 

§  9.  But  the  religious  ignorance  of  the  Middle  Ages  some- 

'2  Duelling,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  exclusive  of  casual  frays  and  single 
combat  during  war,  was  unknown  before  the  sixteenth  century.  But  we  find  one 
anecdote  which  seems  to  illustrate  its  derivation  from  the  judicial  combat.  The 
dukes  of  Lancaster  and  Brunswick,  having  some  differences,  agreed  to  decide  them 
by  duel  before  John,  king  of  France.  The  lists  were  prepared  with  the  solemnity  of 
a  real  trial  by  battle :  but  the  king  interfered  to  prevent  the  engagement.  The  bar- 
barous practice  of  wearing  swords  as  a  part  of  domestic  dress,  which  tended  very 
much  to  the  frequency  of  duelling,  was  not  introduced  till  the  latter  part  of  the  15th 
century. 


State  of  SociETr.       ENTHUSIASTIC  RISINGS.  579 

times  burst  out  in  ebullitions  of  epidemical  enthusiasm,  more 
remarkable  than  these  superstitious  usages,  though  proceed- 
ing in  fact  from  similar  causes.  For  enthusiasm  is  little  else 
than  superstition  put  in  motion,  and  is  equally  founded  on  a 
strong  conviction  of  supernatural  agency,  without  any  just 
conceptions  of  its  nature.  Nor  has  any  denomination  of 
Christians  produced,  or  even  sanctioned,  more  fanaticism 
than  the  Church  of  Rome.  These  epidemical  frenzies,  how- 
ever, to  which  I  am  alluding,  were  merely  tumultuous, 
though  certainly  fostered  by  the  creed  of  perpetual  miracles 
which  the  clergy  inculcated,  and  drawing  a  legitimate  prece- 
dent for  religious  insurrection  from  the  Crusades.  For  these, 
among  other  evil  consequences,  seem  to  have  principally  ex- 
cited a  wild  fanaticism  that  did  not  sleep  for  several  centu- 
ries. 

The  first  conspicuous  appearance  of  it  was  in  the  reign  of 
Philip  Augustus,  when  the  mercenary  troops  dismissed  from 
the  pay  of  that  prince  and  of  Henry  11.  committed  the 
greatest  outrages  in  the  south  of  France.  One  Durand,  a 
carpent-er,  deluded,  it  is  said,  by  a  contrived  appearance  of 
the  Virgin,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  the  popu- 
lace, in  order  to  destroy  these  marauders.  His  followers 
were  styled  Brethren  of  the  White  Caps^  from  the  linen  cov- 
erings of  their  heads.  They  bound  themselves  not  to  play 
at  dice  nor  frequent  taverns,  to  wear  no  affected  clothing, 
to  avoid  perjury  and  vain  swearing.  After  some  successes 
over  the  plunderers,  they  went  so  far  as  to  forbid  the  lords 
to  take  any  dues  fi-om  their  vassals,  on  pain  of  incurring  the 
indignation  of  the  brotherhood.  It  may  easily  be  imagined 
that  they  were  soon  entirely  discomfited,  so  that  no  one 
dared  to  own  that  he  had  belonged  to  them. 

During  the  captivity  of  St.  Louis  in  Egypt,  a  more  exten- 
sive and  terrible  ferment  broke  out  in  Flanders,  and  spread 
from  thence  over  great  part  of  France.  An  impostor  declared 
himself  commissioned  by  the  Virgin  to  preach  a  crusade, 
not  to  the  rich  and  noble,  who  for  their  pride  had  been  le- 
jected  of  God,  but  the  poor.  His  disciples  were  called  Pas- 
toureaux^  the  simplicity  of  shepherds  having  exposed  them 
more  readily  to  this  delusion.  In  a  short  time  they  were 
swelled  by  the  confluence  of  abundant  streams  to  a  moving 
mass  of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  divided  into  companies, 
with  banners  bearing  a  cross  and  a  lamb,  and  commanded  by 
the  impostor's  lieutenants.  He  assumed  a  priestly  charac- 
ter, preaching,  absolving,  annulling  marriages.  At  Amiens, 
Bourges,  Orleans,  and  Paris  itself,  he  was  received  as  a  di- 


680  ENTHUSIASTIC  RISINGS.      Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

vine  prophet.  Even  the  Regent  Blanche,  for  a  time,  was 
led  away  by  the  popular  tide.  His  main  topic  was  reproach 
of  the  clergy  for  their  idleness  and  corruption — a  theme  well 
adapted  to  the  ears  of  the  people,  who  had  long  been  utter- 
ing similar  strains  of  complaint.  In  some  towns  his  follow- 
ers massacred  the  priests  and  plundered  the  monasteries. 
The  Government  at  length  began  to  exert  itself;  and,  the 
public  sentiment  turning  against  the  authors  of  so  much  con- 
fusion, this  rabble  was  put  to  the  sword  or  dissipated.  Sev- 
enty years  afterwards  an  insurrection  almost  exactly  paral- 
lel to  this  burst  out  under  the  same  pretense  of  a  crusade. 
These  insurgents,  too,  bore  the  name  of  Pastoureaux,  and 
their  short  career  was  distinguished  by  a  general  massacre 
of  the  Jews. 

But  though  the  contagion  of  fanaticism  spreads  much 
more  rapidly  among  the  populace,  and  in  modern  times  is 
almost  entirely  coniined  to  it,  there  were  examples,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  of  an  epidemical  religious  lunacy  from  which 
no  class  was  exempt.  One  of  these  occurred  about  the  year 
1260,  when  a  multitude  of  every  rank,  age,  and  sex,  march- 
ing two  by  two  in  procession  along  the  streets  and  public 
roads,  mingled  groans  and  dolorous  hymns  with  the  sound 
of  leathern  scourges  which  they  exercised  upon  their  naked 
backs.  From  this  mark  of  penitence,  which,  as  it  bears  at 
least  all  the  appearance  of  sincerity,  is  not  uncommon  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  they  acquired  the  name  of  Flagellants. 
Tlieir  career  began,  it  is  said,  at  Perugia,  whence  they  spread 
over  the  rest  of  Italy,  and  into  Germany  and  Poland.  As 
this  spontaneous  fanaticism  met  with  no  encouragement  from 
the  Church,  and  was  prudently  discountenanced  by  the  civil 
magistrate,  it  died  away  in  a  very  short  time.  But  it  is  more 
surprising  that,  after  almost  a  century  and  a  half  of  contin- 
ual improvement  and  illumination,  another  irruption  of  pop- 
ular extravagance  burst  out  under  circumstances  exceeding- 
ly similar.  "In  the  month  of  August,  1399,"  says  a  contem- 
porary historian,  "  there  appeared  all  over  Italy  a  descrip- 
tion of  persons,  called  Bianchi,  from  the  white  linen  vest- 
ment that  they  wore.  They  passed  from  province  to  prov- 
ince, and  from  city  to  city,  crying  out  Misericordia !  with 
their  faces  covered  and  bent  towards  the  ground,  and  bear- 
ing before  them  a  great  crucifix.  Their  constant  song  was, 
Stabat  Mater  dolorosa.  This  lasted  three  months;  and  who- 
ever did  not  attend  their  procession  was  reputed  a  heretic." 
Almost  every  Italian  writer  of  the  time  takes  notice  of  these 
Bianchi ;  and  Muratori  ascribes  a  remarkable  refoi  ination  of 


State;  of  Society.      PRETENDED  MIRACLES.  581 

manners  (though  certainly  a  very  transient  one)  to  their  in- 
fluence. Nor  were  they  confined  to  Italy,  though  no  such 
meritorious  exertions  are  imputed  to  them  in  other  coun- 
tries. In  France  their  practice  of  covering  the  face  gave 
such  opportunity  to  crimes  as  to  be  prohibited  by  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  we  have  an  act  on  the  rolls  of  the  first  Parlia- 
ment of  Henry  IV.,  forbidding  any  one,  "  under  pain  of  for- 
feiting all  his  worth,  to  receive  the  new  sect  in  w^hite  clothes, 
pretending  to  great  sanctity,"  which  had  recently  appeared 
in  foreign  parts. 

§  10.  The  devotion  of  the  multitude  was  wrought  to  this 
feverish  height  by  the  prevailing  system  of  the  clergy.  In 
that  singular  polytheism  which  had  been  grafted  on  Chris- 
tianity, nothing  was  so  conspicuous  as  the  belief  of  perpetual 
miracles  —  if,  indeed,  those  could  properly  be  termed  mira- 
cles which,  by  their  constant  recurrencej  even  upon  trifling 
occasions,  might  seem  within  the  ordinary  dispensations  of 
Providence.  These  superstitions  arose  in  what  are  called 
primitive  times,  and  are  certainly  no  part  of  popery,  if  in 
that  word  we  include  any  especial  reference  to  the  Roman 
See.  But  successive  ages  of  ignorance  swelled  the  delusion 
to  such  an  enormous  pitch,  that  it  was  as  diflicult  to  trace, 
we  may  say  without  exaggeration,  the  real  religion  of  the 
Gospel  in  the  popular  belief  of  the  laity,  as  the  real  history 
of  Charlemagne  in  the  romance  of  Turpin.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  these  absurdities  were  produced,  as  well  as 
nourished,  by  ignorance.  In  most  cases  they  were  the  work 
of  deliberate  imposture.  Every  cathedral  or  monastery  had 
its  tutelar  saint,  and  every  saint  his  legend,  fabricated  in  or- 
der to  enrich  the  churches  under  his  protection  by  exagger- 
ating his  virtues,  his  miracles,  and  consequently  his  power 
of  serving  those  who  paid  liberally  for  his  patronage.  Many 
of  those  saints  were  imaginary  persons ;  sometimes  a  blun- 
dered inscription  added  a  name  to  the  calendar,  and  some- 
times, it  is  said,  a  heathen  god  was  surprised  at  the  company 
to  which  he  was  introduced,  and  the  rites  with  which  he  was 
honored. 

§  11.  It  would  not  be  consonant  to  the  nature  of  the  pres- 
ent work  to  dwell  upon  the  erroneousness  of  this  religion ; 
but  its  effect  upon  the  moral  and  intellectual  character  of 
mankind  was  so  prominent  that  no  one  can  take  a  philosoph- 
ical view  of  the  Middle  Ages  without  attending  more  than  is 
at  present  fashionable  to  their  ecclesiastical  history.  That 
the  exclusive  w^orship  of  saints,  under  the  guidance  of  an  art- 
ful though  illiterate  priesthood,  degraded  the  understanding, 


582  MISCHIEFS  OF  SUPERSTITION.     Chap.  IX.  Part  I 

and  begot  a  stupid  credulity  and  fanaticism,  is  sufficiently 
evident.  But  it  was  also  so  managed  as  to  loosen  the  bonds 
of  religion  and  pervert  the  standard  of  morality.  If  these 
inhabitants  of  heaven  had  been  represented  as  stern  avengers, 
accepting  no  slight  atonement  for  heavy  offenses,  and  prompt 
to  interpose  their  control  over  natural  events  for  the  detec- 
tion and  punishment  of  guilt,  the  creed,  however  impossible 
to  be  reconciled  with  experience,  might  have  proved  a  salu- 
tary check  upon  a  rude  people,  and  would  at  least  havp  had 
the  only  palliation  that  can  be  offered  for  a  religious  impos- 
ture, its  political  expediency.  In  the  legends  of  those  times, 
on  the  contrary,  they  appeared  only  as  perpetual  interces- 
sors, so  good-natured  and  so  powerful,  that  a  sinner  was 
more  emphatically  foolish  than  he  is  usually  represented  if 
he  failed  to  secure  himself  against  any  bad  consequences. 
For  a  little  attention  to  the  saints,  and  especially  to  the 
Virgin,  with  due  liberality  to  their  servants,  had  saved,  he 
would  be  told,  so  many  of  the  most  atrocious  delinquents, 
that  he  might  equitably  presume  upon  similar  luck  in  his 
own  case. 

This  monstrous  superstition  grew  to  its  height  in  the 
twelfth  century.  For  the  advance  that  learning  then  made 
was  by  no  means  sufficient  to  counteract  the  vast  increase 
of  monasteries,  and  the  opportunities  which  the  greater  cul- 
tivation of  modern  languages  afforded  for  the  diffusion  of  le- 
gendary tales.  It  was  now,  too,  that  the  veneration  paid  to 
the  Virgin,  in  early  times  very  great,  rose  to  an  almost  ex- 
clusive idolatry.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  stupid  ab- 
surdity and  the  disgusting  profaneness  of  those  stories  which 
were  invented  by  the  monks  to  do  her  honor. 

§  12.  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  evils 
of  superstition  in  the  Middle  Ages,  though  separately  con- 
sidered very  serious,  are  not  to  be  weighed  against  the  bene- 
fits of  the  religion  with  which  they  were  so  mingled.  In  the 
original  principles  of  monastic  orders,  and  the  rules  by  which 
they  ought  at  least  to  have  been  governed,  there  was  a  charac- 
ter of  meekness,  self-denial,  and  charity  that  could  not  wholly 
be  effaced.  These  virtues,  rather  than  justice  and  veracity, 
were  inculcated  by  the  religious  ethics  of  the  Middle  Ages ; 
and  in  the  relief  of  indigence  it  may,  upon  the  whole,  be  as- 
serted that  the  monks  did  not  fall  short  of  their  profession. 
This  eleemosynary  spirit,  indeed,  remarkably  distinguishes 
both  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism  from  the  moral  sys- 
tems of  Greece  and  Rome,  which  were  very  deficient  in  gen- 
eral humanity  and  sympathy  with  suffering.      Nor  do  we 


tiTATE  OF  Society.     VICES  OF  MONKS  AND  CLERGY.  583 

find  in  any  single  instance  during  ancient  times,  if  I  mistake 
not,  those  public  institutions  for  the  alleviation  of  human 
miseries  which  have  long  been  scattered  over  every  part  of 
Europe.  The  virtues  of  the  monks  assumed  a  still  higher 
character  when  they  stood  forward  as  protectors  of  the  op- 
pressed. By  an  established  law,  founded  on  very  ancient 
superstition,  the  precincts  of  a  church  afibrded  sanctuary  to 
accused  persons.  Under  a  due  administration  of  justice  this 
privilege  would  have  been  simply  and  constantly  mischiev- 
ous, as  we  properly  consider  it  to  be  in  those  countries  where 
it  still  subsists.  But  in  the  rapine  and  tumult  of  the  Middle 
Ages  the  right  of  sanctuary  might  as  often  be  a  shield  to  in- 
nocence as  an  immunity  to  crime.  We  can  hardly  regret, 
in  reflecting  on  the  desolating  violence  which  prevailed,  that 
there  should  have  been  some  green  spots  in  the  wilderness 
where  the  feeble  and  the  persecuted  could  find  refuge.  How 
must  this  right  have  enhanced  the  veneration  for  religious 
institutions  !  How  gladly  must  the  victims  of  internal  war- 
fare have  turned  their  eyes  from  the  baronial  castle,  the 
dread  and  scourge  of  the  neighborhood,  to  those  venerable 
walls  within  which  not  even  the  clamor  of  arms  could  be 
heard 'to  disturb  the  chant  of  holy  men  and  the  sacred  serv- 
ice of  the  altar  !  The  protection  of  the  sanctuary  was  never 
withheld.  A  son  of  Chilperic,  king  of  France,  having  fled 
to  that  of  Tours,  his  father  threatened  to  ravage  all  the  lands 
of  the  Church  unless  they  gave  him  up.  Gregory  the  histo- 
rian, bishop  of  the  city,  replied  in  the  name  of  his  clergy 
that  Christians  could  not  be  guilty  of  an  act  unheard  of 
among  pagans.  The  king  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  did 
not  spare  the  estate  of  the  Church,"but  dared  not  infringe  its 
privileges.  He  had,  indeed,  previously  addressed  a  letter  to 
St.  Martin,  w^hich  was  laid  on  his  tomb  in  the  Church,  re- 
questing permission  to  take  away  his  son  by  force ;  but  the 
honest  saint  returned  no  answer. 

The  virtues,  indeed,  or  supposed  virtues,  which  had  induced 
a  credulous  generation  to  enrich  so  many  of  the  monastic  or- 
ders, were  not  long  preserved.  We  must  reject,  in  the  ex- 
cess of  our  candor,  all  testimonies  that  the  Middle  Ages  pre- 
sent, from  the  solemn  declaration  of  councils  and  reports 
of  judicial  inquiry  to  the  casual  evidence  of  common  fame  in 
the  ballad  or  romance,  if  we  would  extenuate  the  general 
corruption  of  those  institutions.  In  vain  new  rules  of  disci- 
pline were  devised,  or  the  old  corrected  by  reforms.  Many 
of  their  worst  vices  grew  so  naturally  out  of  their  mode  of 
life,  that  a  stricter  discipline  could  have  no  tendency  to  ex- 


584  COMMUTA  riON  OF  PENANCES.     Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

tirpate  them.  Such  were  the  frauds  I  have  already  noticed, 
and  the  whole  scheme  of  hypocritical  austerities.  Their  ex- 
treme licentiousness  was  sometimes  hardly  concealed  by  the 
cowl  of  sanctity.  I  know  not  by  what  right  we  should  dis- 
believe the  reports  of  the  visitation  under  Henry  VIII.,  en- 
tering as  they  do  into  a  multitude  of  specific  charges  both 
probable  in  their  nature  and  consonant  to  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  world.  Doubtless  there  were  many  commu- 
nities, as  well  as  individuals,  to  w^hom  none  of  these  re- 
proaches would  apply.  In  the  very  best  view,  however,  that 
can  be  taken  of  monasteries,  their  existence  is  deeply  injuri- 
ous to  the  general  morals  of  a  nation.  They  withdraw  men 
of  pure  conduct  and  conscientious  principles  from  the  exer- 
cise of  social  duties,  and  leave  the  common  mass  of  human 
vice  more  unmixed.  Such  men  are  always  inclined  to  form 
schemes  of  ascetic  perfection,  which  can  only  be  fulfilled  in 
retirement ;  but  in  the  strict  rules  of  monastic  life,  and  un- 
der the  influence  of  a  grovelling  superstition,  their  virtue  lost 
all  its  usefulness.  Their  frauds,  however,  were  less  atrocious 
than  the  savage  bigotry  with  which  they  maintained  their 
own  system  and  infected  the  laity.  In  Saxony,  Poland, 
Lithuania,  and  the  countries  on  the  Baltic  Sea,  a  sanguinary 
persecution  extirpated  the  original  idolatry.  The  Jews  were 
everywhere  the  objects  of  popular  insult  and  oppression,  fre- 
quently of  a  general  massacre,  though  protected,  it  must  be 
confessed,  by  the  laws  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  in  general 
by  temporal  princes.  Of  the  Crusades  it  is  only  necessary 
to  repeat  that  they  began  in  a  tremendous  eruption  of  fa- 
naticism, and  ceased  only  because  that  spirit  could  not  be 
constantly  kept  alive  A  similar  influence  produced  the  dev- 
astation of  Languedoc,  the  stakes  and  scaflblds  of  the  In- 
quisition, and  rooted  in  the  religious  theory  of  Europe  those 
maxims  of  intolerance  which  it  has  so  slowly,  and  still  per- 
haps so  imperfectly,  renounced. 

§  13.  It  is  a  frequent  complaint  of  ecclesiastical  writers 
that  the  rigorous  penances  imposed  by  the  primitive  canons 
upon  delinquents  were  commuted  in  a  laxer  state  of  disci- 
pline for  less  severe  atonements,  and  ultimately  indeed  for 
money.  We  must  not,  however,  regret  that  the  clergy  should 
have  lost  the  power  of  compelling  men  to  abstain  fifteen  years 
from  eating  meat,  or  to  stand  exposed  to  public  derision  at 
the  gates  of  a  church.  Such  implicit  submissiveness  could 
only  have  produced  superstition  and  hypocrisy  among  the 
laity,  and  prepared  the  road  for  a  tyranny  not  less  oppressive 
than  that  of  India  or  ancient  Egypt.     Indeed  the  two  earliest 


State  of  Socidty.  WANT  OF  LAW.  685 

instances  of  ecclesiastical  interference  with  the  rights  of  sov- 
ereigns— namely,  the  deposition  of  Wamba,  in  Spain,  and  that 
of  Louis  the  Debonair — were  founded  upon  this  austere  sys- 
tem of  penitence.  But  it  is  true  that  a  repentance  redeemed 
by  money  or  performed  by  a  substitute  could  have  no  salu- 
tary effect  on  the  sinner ;  and  some  of  the  modes  of  atone- 
ment which  the  Church  most  approved  were  particularly 
hostile  to  public  morals.  None  was  so  usual  as  pilgrimage, 
whether  to  Jerusalem  or  Rome,  which  were  the  great  objects 
of  devotion,  or  to  the  shrine  of  some  national  saint — a  James 
of  Compostella,  a  David,  or  a  Thomas  a  Becket.  This  li- 
censed vagrancy  was  naturally  productive  of  dissoluteness, 
especially  among  the  women.  Our  English  ladies,  in  their 
zeal  to  obtain  the  spiritual  treasures  of  Rome,  are  said  to 
have  relaxed  the  necessary  caution  about  one  that  was  in 
their  own  custody.  There  is  a  capitulary  of  Charlemagne 
directed  against  itinerant  penitents,  who  probably  consider- 
ed the  iron  chain  around  their  necks  an  expiation  of  future 
as  well  as  past  offenses. 

The  Crusades  may  be  considered  as  martial  pilgrimages  on 
an  enormous  scale,  and  their  influence  upon  general  morality 
seems  to  have  been  altogether  pernicious.  Those  who  served 
under  the  cross  would  not,  indeed,  have  lived  very  virtuously 
at  home ;  but  the  confidence  in  their  own  merits,  which  the 
principle  of  such  expeditions  inspired,  must  have  aggravated 
the  ferocity  and  dissoluteness  of  their  ancient  habits.  Sev- 
eral historians  attested  the  depravation  of  morals  which  ex- 
isted both  among  the  crusaders  and  in  the  states  formed  out 
of  their  conquests. 

§  14.  While  religion  had  thus  lost  almost  every  quality 
that  renders  it  conducive  to  the  good  order  of  society,  the 
control  of  human  law  was  still  less  efficacious.  But  this  part 
of  my  subject  has  been  anticipated  m  other  passages  of  the 
present  work;  and  I  shall  only  glance  at  the  want  of  regular 
subordination  which  rendered  legislative  and  judicial  edicts 
a  dead  letter,  and  at  the  incessant  private  warfare  rendered 
legitimate  by  the  usages  of  most  Continental  nations.  Such 
hostilities,  conducted  as  they  must  usually  have  been  with 
injustice  and  cruelty,  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  degree  of 
rapacious  ferocity  in  the  general  disposition  of  a  people. 
And  this  certainly  was  among  the  characteristics  of  every 
nation  for  many  centuries. 

It  is  easy  to  infer  the  degradation  of  society  during  the 
Dark  Ages  from  the  state  of  religion  and  police.  Certain- 
ly there  are  a  few  great  landmarks  of  moral  distinctions 

25* 


586  DEGRADATION  OF  MORALS.     Chap.  IX.  Part  I 

SO  deeply  fixed  in  human  nature,  that  no  degree  of  rude- 
ness can  destroy,  nor  even  any  superstition  remove,  them. 
Wherever  an  extreme  corruption  has  in  any  particular  so- 
ciety defaced  these  sacred  archetypes  that  are  given  to  guide 
and  correct  the  sentiments  of  mankind,  it  is  in  the  course  of 
Providence  that  the  society  itself  should  perish  by  internal 
discord  or  the  sword  of  a  conqueror.  In  the  worst  ages  of 
Europe  there  must  have  existed  the  seeds  of  social  virtues, 
of  fidelity,  gratitude,  and  disinterestedness,  sufficient  at  least 
to  preserve  the  public  approbation  of  more  elevated  princi- 
ples than  the  public  conduct  displayed.  Without  these  im- 
perishable elements  there  could  have  been  no  restoration  of 
the  moral  energies;  nothing  upon  which  reformed  faith,  re- 
vived knowledge,  renewed  faw,  could  exercise  their  nourish- 
ing influences.  But  history,  which  reflects  only  the  more 
prominent  features  of  society,  can  not  exhibit  the  virtues 
that  were  scarcely  able  to  struggle  through  the  general  dep- 
ravation. I  am  aware  that  a  tone  of  exaggerated  declama- 
tion is  at  all  times  usual  with  those  who  lament  the  vices  of 
their  own  time ;  and  writers  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  in  abun- 
dant need  of  allowance  on  this  score.  Nor  is  it  reasonable 
to  found  any  inferences  as  to  the  general  condition  of  socie- 
ty on  single  instances  of  crimes,  however  atrocious,  especial- 
ly when  committed  under  the  influence  of  violent  passion. 
Such  enormities  are  the  fruit  of  every  age,  and  none  is  to  be 
measured  by  them.  They  make,  however,  a  strong  impres- 
sion at  the  moment,  and  thus  find  a  place  in  contemporary 
annals,  from  which  modern  writers  are  commonly  glad  to 
extract  whatever  may  seem  to  throw  light  upon  manners. 
I  shall,  therefore,  abstain  from  producing  any  particular  cases 
of  dissoluteness  or  cruelty  from  the  records  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  lest  I  should  weaken  a  general  proposition  by  offering 
an  imperfect  induction  to  support  it,  and  shall  content  my- 
self with  observing  that  times  to  which  men  sometimes  ap- 
peal, as  to  a  golden  period,  were  far  inferior  in  every  moral 
comparison  to  those  in  which  we  are  thrown.  One  crime, 
as  more  universal  and  characteristic  than  others,  may  be 
particularly  noticed.  All  writers  agree  in  the  prevalence 
of  judicial  perjury.  It  seems  to  have  almost  invariably  es- 
caped human  punishment ;  and  the  barriers  of  superstition 
were  in  this,  as  in  every  other  instance,  too  feeble  to  prevent 
the  commission  of  crimes.  Many  of  the  proofs  by  ordeal 
were  applied  to  witnesses  as  well  as  those  whom  they  ac- 
cused ;  and  undoubtedly  trial  by  combat  was  preserved  in  a 
considerable  degree  on  account  of  the  difficulty  experienced 


State  or  Society.     LOVE  OF  FIELD  SPORTS.  587 

in  securing  a  just  cause  against  the  perjury  of  witnesses. 
Robert,  king  of  France,  perceiving  how  frequently  men  for- 
swore themselves  upon  the  relics  of  saints,  and  less  shocked 
apparently  at  the  crime  than  at  the  sacrilege,  caused  an  emp- 
ty reliquary  of  crystal  to  be  used,  that  those  who  touched  it 
might  incur  less  guilt  in  fact,  though  not  in  intention.  Such 
an  anecdote  characterizes  both  the  man  and  the  times. 

§  15.  The  favorite  diversions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  the 
intervals  of  war,  were  those  of  hunting  and  hawking.  The 
former  must  in  all  countries  be  a  source  of  pleasure ;  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  enjoyed  in  moderation  by  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  With  the  Northern  invaders,  however,  it  was 
rather  a  predominant  appetite  than  an  amusement ;  it  was 
their  pride  and  their  ornament,  the  theme'  of  their  songs,  the 
object  of  their  laws,  and  the  business  of  their  lives.  Falcon- 
ry, unknown  as  a  diversion  to  the  ancients,  became  from  the 
fourth  century  an  equally  delightful  occupation.  From  the 
Salic  and  other  barbarous  codes  of  the  fifth  century  to  the 
close  of  the  period  under  our  review,  every  age  would  fur- 
nish testimony  to  the  ruling  passion  for  these  two  species  of 
chase,  or,  as  they  were  sometimes  called,  the  mysteries  of 
w^oods  and  rivers.  A  knight  seldom  stirred  from  his  house 
without  a  falcon  on  his  wrist  or  a  greyhound  that  followed 
him.  Thus  are  Harold  and  his  attendants  represented  in  the 
famous  tapestry  of  Bayeux.  And  in  the  monuments  of  those 
who  died  anywhere  but  on  the  field  of  battle,  it  is  usual  to 
find  the  greyhound  lying  at  their  feet,  or  the  bird  upon  their 
wrists.  Nor  are  the  tombs  of  ladies  without  their  falcon ; 
for  this  diversion,  being  of  less  danger  and  fatigue  than  the 
chase,  was  shared  by  the  delicate  sex. 

It  was  impossible  to  repress  the  eagerness  with  which  the 
clergy,  especially  after  the  barbarians  were  tempted  by  rich 
bishoprics  to  take  upon  them  the  sacred  functions,  rushed  into 
these  secular  amusements.  Prohibitions  of  councils,  however 
frequently  repeated,  produced  little  efiect.  In  some  instances 
a  particular  monastery  obtained  a  dispensation.  Thus  that 
of  St.  Denis,  in  774,  represented  to  Charlemagne  that  the  flesh 
of  hunted  animals  was  salutary  for  sick  monks,  and  that  their 
skins  would  serve  to  bind  the  books  in  the  library.  Reasons 
equally  cogent,  we  may  presume,  could  not  be  wanting  in 
every  other  case.  As  the  bishops  and  abbots  were  perfectly 
feudal  lords,  and  often  did  not  scruple  to  lead  their  vassals 
into  the  field,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  they  should 
debar  themselves  of  an  innocent  pastime.  It  was  hardly 
such,  indeed,  when  practised  at  the  expense  of  others.     Alex- 


588  BAD  STATE  OF  AGRICULTURE     Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

ander  III.,  by  a  letter  to  the  clergy  of  Berkshire,  dispenses 
with  their  keeping  the  archdeacon  in  dogs  and  hawks  during 
his  visitation.  This  season  gave  jovial  ecclesiastics  an  op- 
portunity of  trying  different  countries.  An  archbishop  of 
York,  in  1321,  seems  to  have  carried  a  train  of  two  hundred 
persons,  who  were  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  abbeys 
on  his  road,  and  to  have  hunted  with  a  pack  of  hounds  from 
parish  to  parish.     The  Third  Council  of  Lateran,  in  1 180,  had 

Erohibited  this  amusement  on  such  journeys,  and  restricted 
ishops  to  a  train  of  forty  or  fifty  horses. 
Though  hunting  had  ceased  to  be  a  necessary  means  of 
procuring  food,  it  was  a  very  convenient  resource,  on  which 
the  wholesomeness  and  comfort,  as  well  as  the  luxury,  of  the 
table  depended.  Before  the  natural  pastures  were  improved, 
and  new  kinds  of  fodder  for  cattle  discovered,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  maintain  the  summer  stock  during  the  cold  season. 
Hence  a  portion  of  it  was  regularly  slaughtered  and  salted 
for  winter  provision.  We  may  suppose  that,  when  no  al- 
ternative was  offered  but  these  salted  meats,  even  the  lean- 
est venison  was  devoured  with  relish.  There  was  somewhat 
more  excuse,  therefore,  for  the  severity  with  which  the  lords 
of  forests  and  manors  preserved  the  beasts  of  chase  than  if 
they  had  been  considered  as  merely  objects  of  sport.  The 
laws  relating  to  preservation  of  game  were  in  every  country 
uncommonly  rigorous.  They  formed  in  England  that  odi- 
ous system  of  forest  laws  which  distinguished  the  tyranny 
of  our  Norman  kings.  Capital  punishment  for  killing  a 
stag  or  wild  boar  was  frequent,  and  perhaps  warranted  by 
law,  until  the  charter  of  John.  The  French  code  was  less 
severe,  but  even  Henry  IV.  enacted  the  pain  of  death 
against  the  repeated  offense  of  chasing  deer  in  the  royal  for- 
ests. The  privilege  of  hunting  was  reserved  to  the  nobility 
till  the  reign  of  Louis  IX.,  who  extended  it  in  some  degree 
to  persons  of  lower  birth. 

This  excessive  passion  for  the  sports  of  the  field  produced 
those  evils  which  are  apt  to  result  from  it — a  strenuous  idle- 
ness which  disdained  all  useful  occupations,  and  an  oppress- 
ive spirit  towards  the  peasantry.  The  devastation  com- 
mitted under  the  pretense  of  destroying  wild  animals,  which 
had  been  already  protected  in  their  depredations,  is  noticed 
in  serious  authors,  and  has  also  been  the  topic  of  popular 
ballads.  What  effect  this  must  have  had  on  agriculture  it 
is  easy  to  conjecture.  The  levelling  of  forests,  the  draining 
of  morasses,  and  the  extirpation  of  mischievous  animals 
which  inhabit  them,  are  the  first  objects  of  man's  labor  in 


State  of  Society.     AND  OF  INTERNAL  TRADE.  589 

reclaiming  the  earth  to  his  use  ;  and  these  were  forbidden 
by  a  landed  aristocracy,  whose  control  over  the  progress  of 
agricultural  improvement  was  unlimited,  and  who  had  not 
yet  learned  to  sacrifice  their  pleasures  to  their  avarice. 

§  16.  These  habits  of  the  rich,  and  the  miserable  servitude 
of  those  who  cultivated  the  land,  rendered  its  fertility  un- 
availing. Predial  servitude,  indeed,  in  some  of  its  modifica- 
tions, has  always  been  the  great  bar  to  improvement.  In 
the  agricultural  economy  of  Rome  the  laboring  husband- 
man, a  menial  slave  of  some  wealthy  senator,  had  not  even 
that  qualified  interest  in  the  soil  which  the  tenure  of  villen- 
age  afforded  to  the  peasant  of  feudal  ages.  Italy,  therefore, 
a  country  presenting  many  natural  impediments,  was  but 
imperfectly  reduced  into  cultivation  before  the  irruption  of 
the  barbarians.  That  revolution  destroyed  agriculture  with 
every  other  art,  and  succeeding  calamities  during  five  or  six 
centuries  left  the  finest  regions  of  Europe  unfruitful  and  des- 
late.  There  are  but  two  possible  modes  in  which  the  prod- 
uce of  the  earth  can  be  increased ;  one  by  rendering  fresh 
land  serviceable,  the  other  by  improving  the  fertility  of  that 
which  is  already  cultivated.  The  last  is  only  attainable  by 
the  application  of  capital  and  of  skill  to  agriculture,  neither 
of  which  could  be  expected  in  the  ruder  ages  of  society. 
The  former  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  always  practicable  while 
waste  lands  remain  ;  but  it  was  checked  by  laws  hostile  to 
improvement,  such  as  the  manerial  and  commonable  rights 
in  England,  and  by  the  general  tone  of  manners. 

Till  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  there  were  no  towns  in 
Germany,  except  a  few  that  had  been  erected  on  the  Rhine 
and  Danube  by  the  Romans.  A  house  with  its  stables  and 
farm  buildings,  surrounded  by  a  hedge  or  inclosure,  was 
called  a  court,  or,  as  we  find  it  in  our  law-books,  a  curtilage ; 
the  toft,  or  homestead,  of  a  more  genuine  English  dialect. 
One  of  these,  with  the  adjacent  domain  of  arable  fields  and 
woods,  had  the  name  of  a  villa  or  manse.  Several  manses 
composed  a  march,  and  several  marches  formed  a  pagus  or 
district.  From  these  elements  in  the  progress  of  population 
arose  villages  and  towns.  In  France  undoubtedly  there 
were  always  cities  of  some  importance.  Country  parishes 
contained  several  manses  or  farms  of  arable  land  around  a 
common  pasture,  where  every  one  was  bound  by  custom  to 
feed  his  cattle. 

§  17.  The  condition  even  of  internal  trade  was  hardly 
preferable  to  that  of  agriculture.  There  is  not  a  vestige, 
perhaps,  to  be  discovered  for  several  centuries  of  any  con^ 


590  DEARTH  OF  MANUFACTURES.     Chap.  IX.  Part  I. 

siderable  manufacture — I  mean,  of  working  up  articles  of 
common  utility  to  an  extent  beyond  what  the  necessities  of 
an  adjacent  district  required.  Rich  men  kept  domestic  ar- 
tisans among  their  servants ;  even  kings,  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, had  their  clothes  made  by  the  women  upon  their 
farms;  but  the  peasantry  must  have  been  supplied  with 
garments  and  implements  of  labor  by  purchase ;  and  every 
town,  it  can  not  be  doubted,  had  its  weaver,  its  smith,  and 
its  carrier.  But  there  were  almost  insuperable  impediments 
to  any  extended  traffic — the  insecurity  of  movable  wealth, 
and  difficulty  of  accumulating  it ;  the  ignorance  of  mutual 
wants ;  the  peril  of  robbery  in  conveying  merchandise,  and 
the  certainty  of  extortion.  In  the  domains  of  every  lord 
a  toll  was  to  be  paid  in  passing  his  bridge,  or  along  his  high- 
-wav,  or  at  his  market.  These  customs,  equitable  and  nec- 
essary in  their  principle,  became  in  practice  oppressive,  be- 
cause they  were  arbitrary,  and  renewed  in  every  petty  ter- 
ritory which  the  road  might  intersect.  Several  of  Charle- 
magne's capitularies  repeat  complaints  of  these  exactions, 
and  endeavor  to  abolish  such  tolls  as  were  not  founded  on 
prescription.  One  of  them  rather  amusingly  illustrates  the 
modesty  and  moderation  of  the  land-holders.  It  is  enacted 
that  no  one  shall  be  compelled  to  go  out  of  his  way  in  order 
to  pay  toll  at  a  particular  bridge,  when  he  can  cross  the 
river  more  conveniently  at  another  place.  These  provis- 
ions, like  most  others  of  that  age,  were  unlikely  to  produce 
much  amendment.  It  was  only  the  milder  species,  however, 
of  feudal  lords  who  were  content  with  the  tribute  of  mer- 
chants. The  more  ravenous  descended  from  their  fortresses 
to  pillage  the  wealthy  traveller,  or  shared  in  the  spoil  of  in- 
ferior plunderers,  whom  they  both  protected  and  instigated. 
Proofs  occur,  even  in  the  later  periods  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
when  government  had  regained  its  energy,  and  civilization 
had  made  considerable  progress,  of  public  robberies  system- 
atically perpetrated  by  men  of  noble  rank.  In  the  more 
savage  times,  before  the  twelfth  century,  they  were  proba- 
bly too  frequent  to  excite  much  attention.  It  was  a  custom 
in  some  places  to  waylay  travellers,  and  not  only  to  plunder, 
but  to  sell  them  as  slaves,  or  compel  them  to  pay  a  ransom. 
Harold,  son  of  Godwin,  having  been  wrecked  on  the  coast 
of  Ponthieu,  was  imprisoned  by  the  lord,  says  an  historian, 
according  to  the  custom  of  that  territory.  Germany  ap- 
pears to  have  been,  upon  the  whole,  the  country  where 
downright  robbery  was  most  unscrupulously  practised  by 
the   great.     Their   castles,   erected   on    almost   inaccessible 


State  of  Society.     STATE  OF  FOREIGN  COMMERCE.  591 

heights  among  the  woods,  became  the  secure  receptacles  of 
predatory  bands,  who  spread  terror  over  the  country.  From 
these  barbarian  lords  of  the  Dark  Ages,  as  from  a  living 
model,  the  romances  are  said  to  have  drawn  their  giants 
and  other  disloyal  enemies  of  true  chivalry.  Robbery,  in- 
deed, is  the  constant  theme  both  of  the  capitularies  and  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  laws ;  one  has  more  reason  to  wonder  at 
the  intrepid  thirst  of  lucre,  which  induced  a  very  few  mer- 
chants to  exchange  the  products  of  different  regions,  than 
to  ask  why  no  general  spirit  of  commercial  activity  pre- 
vailed. 

Under  all  these  circumstances  it  is  obvious  that  very  little 
Oriental  commerce  could  have  existed  in  these  western  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  Destitute  as  they  have  been  created,  speak- 
ing comparatively,  of  natural  productions  fit  for  exportation, 
their  invention  and  industry  are  the  great  resources  from 
which  they  can  supply  the  demands  of  the  East.  Before 
any  manufactures  were  established  in  Europe,  her  commer- 
cial intercourse  with  Egypt  and  Asia  must  of  necessity  have 
been  very  trilling ;  because,  whatever  inclination  she  might 
feel  to  enjoy  the  luxuries  of  those  genial  regions,  she  wanted 
the  means  of  obtaining  them.  It  is  not,  therefore,  necessary 
to  rest  the  miserable  condition  of  Oriental  commerce  upon 
the  Saracen  conquests,  because  the  poverty  of  Europe  is  an 
adequate  cause  ;  and,  in  fact,  what  little  traffic  remained  was 
carried  on  with  no  material  inconvenience  through  the  chan- 
nel of  Constantinople.  Venice  took  the  lead  in  trading  with 
Greece  and  more  eastern  countries.  Amalfi  had  the  second 
place  in  the  commerce  of  those  dark  ages.  These  cities  im- 
ported, besides  natural  productions,  the  fine  clothes  of  Con- 
stantinople ;  yet,  as  this  traffic  seems  to  have  been  illicit,  it 
was  not  probably  extensive.  Their  exports  were  gold  and 
silver,  by  which,  as  none  was  likely  to  return,  the  circulating 
money  of  Europe  was  probably  less  in  the  eleventh  century 
than  at  the  subversion  of  the  Roman  Empire ;  furs,  which 
were  obtained  from  the  Sclavonian  countries ;  and  arms,  the 
sale  of  which  to  pagans  or  Saracens  was  vainly  prohibited 
by  Charlemagne  and  by  the  Holy  See.  A  more  scandalous 
traffic,  and  one  that  still  more  fitly  called  for  prohibitory 
laws,  was  carried  on  in  slaves.  It  is  a  humiliating  proof  of 
the  degradation  of  Christendom,  that  the  Venetians  were  re- 
duced to  purchase  the  luxuries  of  Asia  by  supplying  the 
slave-market  of  the  Saracens.  Their  apology  would  perhaps 
have  been,  that  these  were  purchased  from  their  heathen 
neighbors  ;  but  a  slave-dealer  was  probably  not  very  inquisi- 


592  GENERAL  IMPKOVEMENT.      Chap.  IX.  Part  I 

tive  as  to  the  faith  or  origin  of  his  victim.  This  trade  was 
not  peculiar  to  Venice.  In  England  it  was  very  common, 
even  after  the  Conquest,  to  export  slaves  to  Ireland,  till,  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  the  Irish  came  to  a  non-importation 
agreement,  w^hich  put  a  stop  to  the  practice. 

§  18.  From  this  state  of  degradation  and  poverty  all  the 
countries  of  Europe  have  recovered,  with  a  progression  in 
some  respects  tolerably  uniform,  in  others  more  unequal ; 
and  the  course  of  their  improvement,  more  gradual  and  less 
dependent  upon  conspicuous  civil  revolutions  than  their  de- 
cline, affords  one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  into  which 
a  philosophical  mind  can  inquire.  The  commencement  of 
this  restoration  has  usually  been  dated  from  about  the  close 
of  the  eleventh  century;  though  it  is  unnecessary  to  observe 
that  the  subject  does  not  admit  of  any  thing  approximating 
to  chronological  accuracy.  It  may,  therefore,  be  sometimes 
not  improper  to  distinguish  the  first  six  of  the  ten  centuries 
which  the  present  work  embraces  under  the  appellation  of 
the  Dark  Ages — an  epithet  which  I  do  not  extend  to  the 
twelfth  and  three  following.  In  tracing  the  decline  of  so- 
ciety from  the  subversion  of  the  Roman  Empire,  we  have 
been  led,  not  without  connection,  from  ignorance  to  super- 
stition, from  superstition  to  vice  and  lawlessness,  and  from 
thence  to  general  rudeness  and  poverty.  I  shall  pursue  an 
inverted  order  in  passing  along  the  ascending  scale,  and 
class  the  various  improvements  which  took  place  between 
the  twelfth  and  fifteenth  centuries  under  three  principal 
heads,  as  they  relate  to  the  wealth,  the  manners,  or  the  taste 
and  learning  of  Europe.  Different  arrangements  might 
probably  be  suggested,  equally  natural  and  convenient ;  but. 
in  the  disposition  of  topics  that  have  not  always  an  unbroken 
connection  with  each  other,  no  method  can  be  prescribed  as 
absolutely  more  scientific  than  the  rest.  That  which  I  have 
adopted  appears  to  me  as  philosophical  and  as  little  liable  to 
transitions  as  any  other. 


State  of  Society.     PROGRESS  OF  IMPROVEMENT.  593 


PART   II. 

§  1.  Progress  of  Commercial  Improvement  in  Flauders,  Germany,  and  England.  §  2. 
Baltic  Trade:  Hanseatic  Towns.  §3.  Rapid  Progress  of  English  Trade.  §4.  In- 
tercourse with  the  South  of  Europe.  §  5.  Progress  of  Commerce  in  the  Countries 
upon  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  §  6.  Their  Manufactures.  §  T.  Invention  of  the 
Mariner's  Compass.  §8.  Maritime  Laws.  §9.  Usury:  Money  Dealings  of  the 
Jews.  §  10.  Banking  Companies.  §  11.  Progress  of  Refinement  in  Manners. 
§  12.  Domestic  Architecture.  5  13.  Ecclesiastical  Architecture.  §  14.  State  of 
Agriculture.  §  15.  Value  of  Money.  §  IG.  Improvement  of  the  Moral  Character 
of  Society:  its  Causes.  §  17.  Police.  §  18.  Changes  in  Religious  Opinion:  vari- 
ous Sects.  §  19.  Chivalry:  its  Progress,  Character,  and  Influence.  §20.  Causes 
of  the  Intellectual  Improvement  of  European  Society.  §21.  (I.)  The  Study  of 
Civil  Law.  §22,  (II.)  Institution  of  Universities:  their  Celebrity.  §23.  Scho- 
lastic Philosophy.  §  24.  (III.)  Cultivation  of  Modern  Languages.  §  25.  Pruven- 
fal  PoelB.  §  26.  Norman  Poets :  French  Prose  Writers.  §  2T.  Spanish.  §  28. 
Italian :  early  Poets  in  that  Language.  §  29.  Dante.  §  .30.  Petrarch.  §  31.  En- 
glish Language:  its  Progress.  §32.  Chaucer.  §33.  (IV.)  Revival  of  Classical 
Learning:  Latin  Writers  of  the  Twelfth  Century:  Literature  of  the  Fourteenth 
Century.  §34.  Greek  Literature:  its  Restoration  in  Italy.  §35.  Invention  of 
Printing. 

§  1.  The  geographical  position  of  Europe  naturally  di- 
vides its  maritime  commerce  into  two  principal  regions — one 
comprehending  those  countries  which  border  on  the  Baltic, 
the  German,  and  the  Atlantic  oceans;  another,  those  situated 
around  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  During  the  four  centuries 
which  preceded  the  discovery  of  America,  and  especially  the 
two  former  of  them,  this  separation  was  more  remarkable 
than  at  present,  inasmuch  as  their  intercourse,  either  by  land 
or  sea,  was  extremely  limited.  To  the  first  region  belonged 
the  Netherlands,  the  coasts  of  France,  Germany,  and  Scandi- 
navia, and  the  maritime  districts  of  England.  In  the  second 
we  may  class  the  provinces  of  Valencia  and  Catalonia,  those 
of  Provence  and  Languedoc,  and  the  whole  of  Italy. 

The  former,  or  northern  division,  was  first  animated  by 
the  woollen  manufacture  of  Flanders.  It  is  not  easy  either 
to  discover  the  early  beginnings  of  this,  or  to  account  for 
its  rapid  advancement.  The  fertility  of  that  province  and 
its  facilities  of  interior  navigation  were  doubtless  necessary 
causes;  but  there  must  have  been  some  temporary  encour- 
agement from  the  personal  character  of  its  sovereigns,  or 
other  accidental  circumstances.  Several  testimonies  "to  the 
flourishing  condition  of  Flemish  manufactures  occur  in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  some  might  perhaps  be  found  even  ear- 
lier.'    A  writer  of  the  thirteenth  asserts  that  all  the  world 

1  Macpherson's  Annals  of  Commerce,  vol.  i.,  p.  270. 


594  WOOLLEN  MANUFACTURE    Chap.  IX.  Part  II : 

was  clothed  from  English  wool  wrought  in  Flanders.  This, 
indeed,  is  an  exaggerated  vaunt ;  but  the  Flemish  stuffs  were 
probably  sold  wherever  the  sea  or  a  navigable  river  permit- 
ted them  to  be  carried.  Cologne  was  the  chief  trading-city 
upon  the  Rhine ;  and  its  merchants,  who  had  been  considera- 
ble even  under  the  emperor  Henry  IV.,  established  a  factory 
at  London  in  1220.  The  woollen  manufacture,  notwithstand- 
ing frequent  wars  and  the  impolitic  regulations  of  magis- 
trates, continued  to  flourish  in  the  Netherlands  (for  Brabant 
and  Hainault  shared  it  in  some  degree  with  Flanders),  until 
England  became  not  only  capable  of  supplying  her  own  de- 
mand, but  a  rival  in  all  the  marts  of  Europe.  "  All  Christian 
kingdoms,  and  even  the  Turks  themselves,"  says  an  historian 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  "  lamented  the  desperate  war  be- 
tween the  Flemish  cities  and  their  Count  Louis  that  broke 
out  in  1380.  For  at  that  time  Flanders  was  a  market  for 
the  traders  of  all  the  world.  Merchants  from  seventeen 
kingdoms  had  their  settled  domiciles  at  Bruges,  besides 
strangers  from  almost  unknown  countries  who  repaired 
thither."  During  this  war,  and  on  all  other  occasions,  the 
weavers  both  of  Ghent  and  Bruges  distinguished  themselves 
by  a  democratical  spirit,  the  consequence,  no  doubt,  of  their 
numbers  and  prosperity.  Ghent  was  one  of  the  largest  cities 
in  Europe,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  the  best  situated. 
But  Bruges,  though  in  circuit  but  half  the  former,  was  more 
splendid  in  its  buildings,  and  the  seat  of  far  more  trade  ;  be- 
ing the  great  staple  both  for  Mediterranean  and  northern 
merchandise.  Antwerp,  which  early  in  the  sixteenth  century 
drew  away  a  large  part  of  this  commerce  from  Bruges,  was 
not  considerable  in  the  preceding  ages ;  nor  were  the  towns 
of  Zealand  and  Holland  much  noted  except  for  their  fisheries, 
though  those  provinces  acquired  in  the  fifteenth  century 
some  share  of  the  woollen  manufacture. 

For  the  first  two  centuries  after  the  Conquest  our  English 
towns,  as  has  been  observed  in  a  different  place,  made  some 
forward  steps  towards  improvement,  though  still  very  in- 
ferior to  those  of  the  Continent.  Their  commerce  was  al- 
most confined  to  the  exportation  of  wool,  the  great  staple 
commodity  of  England,  upon  which,  more  than  any  other,  in 
its  raw  or  manufactured  state,  our  wealth  had  been  founded. 
A  woollen  manufacture,  however,  indisputably  existed  under 
Henry  H. ;"  it  is  noticed  in  regulations  of  Richard  L  ;  and 

2  Blomefield,  the  historian  of  Norfolk,  thinks  that  a  colony  of  Flemings  settled  as 
early  as  this  reign  at  Worsted,  a  village  in  that  county,  and  immortalized  its  name 
by  their  manufacture.  It  soon  reached  Norwich,  though  not  conspicuous  till  the 
reign  of  Edward  I. 


State  of  Society.  OF  FLANDERS.  595 

by  the  importation  of  woad  under  John  it  may  be  inferred 
to  have  still  flourished.  The  disturbances  of  the  next  reign, 
perhaps,  or  the  rapid  elevation  of  the  Flemish  towns,  retard- 
ed its  growth,  though  a  remarkable  law  was  passed  by  the 
Oxford  Parliament  in  1261,  prohibiting  the  export  of  wool 
and  the  importation  of  cloth.  This,  while  it  shows  the  def- 
erence paid  by  the  discontented  barons,  who  predominated 
in  that  Parliament,  to  their  confederates  the  burghers,  was 
evidently  too  premature  to  be  enforced.  We  may  infer  from 
it,  however,  that  cloths  were  made  at  home,  though  not  suffi- 
ciently for  the  people's  consumption. 

Prohibitions  of  the  same  nature,  though  with  a  diff*erent 
object,  were  frequently  imposed  on  the  trade  between  En- 
gland and  Flanders  by  Edward  I.  and  his  son.  As  their  po- 
litical connections  fluctuated,  these  princes  gave  full  liberty 
and  settlement  to  the  Flemish  merchants,  or  banished  them 
at  once  from  the  country.  Nothing  could  be  more  injurious 
to  England  than  this  arbitrary  vacillation.  The  Flemings 
w^ere  in  every  respect  our  natural  allies ;  but  besides  those 
connections  with  France,  the  constant  enemy  of  Flanders, 
into  which  both  the  Edwards  occasionally  fell,  a  mutual 
alienation  had  been  produced  by  the  trade  of  the  former  peo- 
ple with  Scotland,  a  trade  too  lucrative  to  be  resigned  at  the 
king  of  England's  request  —  an  early  instance  of  that  con- 
flicting selfishness  of  belligerents  and  neutrals  which  was 
destined  to  aggravate  the  animosities  and  misfortunes  of  our 
own  time. 

A  more  prosperous,  era  began  with  Edward  III.,  the  father, 
as  he  may  almost  be  called,  of  English  commerce,  a  title  not, 
indeed,  more  glorious,  but  by  which  he  may,  perhaps,  claim 
more  of  our  gratitude  than  as  the  hero  of  Crecy.  In  1331 
he  took  advantage  of  discontents  among  the  manufacturers 
of  Flanders  to  invite  them  as  settlers  into  his  dominions. 
They  brought  the  finer  manufacture  of  woollen  cloths,  which 
had  been  unknown  in  England.  The  discontents  alluded  to 
resulted  from  the  monopolizing  spirit  of  their  corporations, 
who  oppressed  all  artisans  without  the  pale  of  their  commu- 
nity. The  history  of  corporations  brings  home  to  our  minds 
one  cardinal  truth,  that  political  institutions  have  very  fre- 
quently but  a  relative  and  temporary  usefulness,  and  that 
what  forwarded  improvement  during  one  part  of  its  course 
may  prove  to  it  in  time  a  most  pernicious  obstacle.  Corpo- 
rations in  England,  we  may  be  sure,  wanted  nothing  of  their 
usual  character,  and  it  cost  Edward  no  little  trouble  to  pro- 
tect his  colonists  from  the  selfishness  and  from  the  blind  na- 


696  CONTINENTAL  MANUFACTURES.    Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

tionality  of  the  vulgar.  The  emigration  of  Flemish  weavers 
into  England  continued  during  this  reign,  and  we  find  it  men* 
tioned  at  intervals  for  more  than  a  century. 

Commerce  now  became,  next  to  liberty,  the  leading  object 
of  Parliament.  For  the  greater  part  of  our  statutes  from 
the  accession  of  Edward  III.  bear  relation  to  this  subject ; 
not  always  well  devised,  or  liberal,  or  consistent,  but  by  no 
means  worse  in  those  respects  than  such  as  have  been  enact- 
ed in  subsequent  ages.  The  occupation  of  a  merchant  be- 
came honorable  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  natural  jealousy 
of  the  two  classes,  he  was  placed,  in  some  measure,  on  a  foot- 
ing with  landed  proprietors.  By  the  statute  of  apparel  in 
37  Edward  III.,  merchants  and  artificers  who  had  five  hun- 
dred pounds'  value  in  goods  and  chattels  might  use  the  same 
dress  as  squires  of  one  hundred  pounds  a  year.  And  those 
who  were  worth  more  than  this  might  dress  like  men  of  dou- 
ble that  estate.  Wool  was  still  the  principal  article  of  ex 
port  and  source  of  revenue.  Subsidies  granted  by  every  Par- 
liament upon  this  article  were,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of 
money,  commonly  taken  in  kind.  By  degrees  the  exporta- 
tion of  woollen  cloths  increased  so  as  to  diminish  that  of  the 
raw  material,  but  the  latter  was  not  absolutely  prohibited 
during  the  period  under  review,  although  some  restrictions 
were  imposed  upon  it  by  Edward  IV.  For  a  much  earlier 
statute,  in  the  11th  of  Edward  III.,  making  the  exportation 
of  wool  a  capital  felony,  was  in  its  terms  provisional,  until  it 
should  be  otherwise  ordered  by  the  council ;  and  the  king  al- 
most immediately  set  it  aside.^ 

A  manufacturing  district,  as  we  see  in  our  own  country, 
sends  out,  as  it  were,  suckers  into  all  its  neighborhood.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  woollen  manufacture  spread  from  Flanders 
along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  and  into  the  northern  provinces 
of  France.  In  Germany  the  privileges  conceded  by  Henry 
V.  to  the  free  cities,  and  especially  to  their  artisans,  gave  a 
soul  to  industry;  though  the  central  parts  of  the  empire 
were,  for  many  reasons,  very  ill  calculated  for  commercial 
enterprise  during  the  Middle  Ages.  But  the  French  towns 
were  never  so  much  emancipated  from  arbitrary  power  as 
those  of  Germany  or  Flanders ;  and  the  evils  of  exorbitant 
taxation,  with  those  produced  by  the  English  wars,  conspired 
to  retard  the  advance  of  manufactures  in  France. 

§  2.  The  manufactures  of  Flanders  and  England  found  a 

8  It  is  worthy  of  notice  ttiat  English  wool  was  superior  to  any  other  for  fineness 
dnrinjr  these  ages.  An  English  flock  transported  into  Spain  about  1348  is  said  to 
have  l)een  the  source  of  the  fine  Spanish  woW. 


State  of  Society.  BALTIC  TKADE.  507 

market,  not  only  in  these  adjacent  countries,  but  in  a  part  of 
Europe  which  for  many  ages  had  only  been  known  enough 
to  be  dreaded.  In  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  a  na- 
tive of  Bremen,  and  a  writer  much  superior  to  most  others 
of  his  time,  was  almost  entirely  ignorant  of  the  geography 
of  the  Baltic ;  doubting  whether  any  one  had  reached  Russia 
by  that  sea,  and  reckoning  Esthonia  and  Courland  among  its 
islands.*  But  in  one  hundred  years  more  the  maritime  re- 
gions of  Mecklenburg  and  Pomerania,  inhabited  by  a  tribe  of 
heathen  Sclavonians,  were  subdued  by  some  German  princes; 
and  the  Teutonic  order  some  time  afterwards,  having  con- 
quered Prussia,  extended  a  line  of  at  least  comparative  civ- 
ilization as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Finland.  The  first  town  erect- 
ed on  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic  w^as  Ltibeck,  which  owes  its 
foundation  to  Adolphus,  count  of  Holstein,  in  1140.  After 
several  vicissitudes  it  became  independent  of  any  sovereign 
but  the  emperor  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Hamburg  and 
Bremen,  upon  the  other  side  of  the  Cimbric  peninsula,  emu- 
lated the  prosperity  of  Ltibeck ;  the  former  city  purchased 
independence  of  its  bishop  in  1225.  A  colony  from  Bremen 
founded  Riga,  in  Livonia,  about  1162.  The  city  of  Dantzic 
grew  into  importance  about  the  end  of  the  following  century. 
Konigsberg  was  founded  by  Ottocar,  king  of  Bohemia,  in  the 
same  age. 

But  the  real  importance  of  these  cities  is  to  be  dated  from 
their  famous  union  into  the  Hanseatic^  confederacy.  The 
origin  of  this  is  rather  obscure,  but  it  may  certainly  be  near- 
ly referred  in  point  of  time  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  accounted  for  by  the  necessity  of  mutual  de- 
fense, which  piracy  by  sea  and  pillage  by  land  had  taught 
the  merchants  of  Germany.  The  nobles  endeavored  to  ob- 
struct the  formation  of  this  league,  which  indeed  was  in 
great  measure  designed  to  withstand  their  exactions.  It 
powerfully  maintained  the  influence  which  the  free  imperial 
cities  were  at  this  time  acquiring.  Eighty  of  the  most  con- 
siderable places  constituted  the  Hanseatic  Confederacy,  di- 
vided into  four  colleges,  whereof  Ltibeck,  Cologne,  Bruns- 
wick, and  Dantzic  were  the  leading  towns.  Ltibeck  held 
the  chief  rank,  and  became,  as  it  Avere,  the  patriarchal  c<ee  of 
the  league ;  whose  province  it  was  to  preside  in  all  general  dis- 
cussions for  mercantile,  political,  or  military  purposes,  and  to 
carry  them  into  execution.     The  league  had  four  principal 

*  Adam  Bremensis,  de  Sitn  Daniae,  p.  13.    (Elzevir  edit.) 

5  Derived  from  the  ancient  German  word  Hanse,  t^ii^nifying  an  association  for  mu- 
tual support. 


598  BALTIC  TRADE.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

factories  in  foreign  parts — at  London,  Bruges,  Bergen,  and 
Novogorod;  endowed  by  the  sovereigns  of  those  cities  with 
considerable  privileges,  to  which  every  merchant  belonging 
to  a  Hanseatic  town  was  entitled.  In  England  the  German 
guildhall  or  factory  was  established  by  concession  of  Henry 
III. ;  and  in  later  periods  the  Hanse  traders  were  favored 
among  many  others  in  the  capricious  vacillations  of  our  mer- 
cantile policy.  The  English  had  also  their  factories  on  the 
Baltic  coast  as  far  as  Prussia  and  in  the  dominions  of  Den- 
mark. 

§  3.  This  opening  of  a  Northern  market  powerfully  accel- 
erated the  growth  of  our  own  commercial  opulence,  especial- 
ly after  the  woollen  manufacture  had  begun  to  thrive.  From 
about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  we  find  continual 
evidences  of  a  rapid  increase  in  wealth.  Thus,  in  1363,  Pic- 
ard,  who  had  been  lord  mayor  some  years  before,  entertained 
Edward  III.  and  the  Black  Prince,  the  kings  of  France,  Scot- 
land, and  Cyprus,  with  many  of  the  nobility,  at  his  own 
house  in  the  Vintry,  and  presented  them  with  handsome  gifts. 
Philpot,  another  eminent  citizen  in  Richard  II.'s  time,  when 
the  trade  of  England  was  considerably  annoyed  by  privateers, 
hired  1000  armed  men,  and  dispatched  them  to  sea,  where 
they  took  fifteen  Spanish  vessels  with  their  prizes.  We  find 
Richard  obtaining  a  great  deal  from  private  merchants  and 
trading  towns.  In  1379  he  got  £5000  from  London,  1000 
marks  from  Bristol,  and  in  proportion  from  smaller  places. 
In  1386  London  gave  £4000  more,  and  10,000  marks  in  1397. 
The  latter  sum  was  obtained  also  for  the  coronation  of  Henry 
VI.  Nor  were  tlie  contributions  of  individuals  contemptible, 
considering  the  high  value  of  money.  Hinde,  a  citizen  of 
London,  lent  to  Henry  IV.  £2000  in  1407,  and  Whittington 
one-half  of  that  sum.  The  merchants  of  the  staple  advanced 
£4000  at  the  same  time.  Our  commerce  continued  to  be 
regularly  and  rapidly  progressive  during  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. The  famous  Canynges  of  Bristol,  under  Henry  VI. 
and  Edward  IV.,  had  ships  of  900  tons  burden.  The  trade 
and  even  the  internal  wealth  of  England  reached  so  much 
higher  a  pitch  in  the  reign  of  the  last-mentioned  king  than  at 
any  former  period,  that  we  may  perceive  the  wars  of  York 
and  Lancaster  to  have  produced  no  very  serious  effect  on  na- 
tional prosperity.  Some  battles  were  doubtless  sanguinary ; 
but  the  loss  of  lives  in  battle  is  soon  repaired  by  a  flourish- 
ing nation ;  and  the  devastation  occasioned  by  armies  was 
both  partial  and  transitory. 

§  4.  A   commercial   intercourse    between  these   northern 


State  of  Society.     COMMERCIAL  INTERCOURSE.  599 

and  southern  regions  of  Europe  began  about  the  early  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  or,  at  most,  a  little  sooner.  Until, 
indeed,  the  use  of  the  magnet  was  thoroughly  understood, 
and  a  competent  skill  in  marine  architecture  as  well  as  navi- 
gation acquired,  the  Italian  merchants  were  scarce  likely  to 
attempt  a  voyage  perilous  in  itself,  and  rendered  more  for- 
midable by  the  imaginary  difficulties  which  had  been  sup- 
posed to  attend  an  expedition  beyond  the  straits  of  Her- 
cules. But  the  English,  accustomed  to  their  own  rough 
seas,  were  always  more  intrepid,  and  probably  more  skillful 
navigators.  Though  it  was  extremely  rare,  even  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  for  an  English  trading-vessel  to  appear  in 
the  Mediterranean,  yet  a  famous  military  armament,  that 
destined  for  the  crusade  of  Richard  I.,  displayed  at  a  very 
early  time  the  seamanship  of  our  countrymen.  In  the  reign 
of  Edward  II.  we  find  mention  in  Rymer's  Collection  of  Gen- 
oese ships  trading  to  Flanders  and  England.  His  son  was 
very  solicitous  to  preserve  the  friendship  of  that  opulent  re- 
public ;  and  it  is  by  his  letters  to  his  Senate,  or  by  royal  or- 
ders restoring  ships  unjustly  seized,  that  we  come  by  a 
knowledge  of  those  facts  which  historians  neglect  to  relate. 
Pisa  shared  a  little  in  this  traffic,  and  Venice  more  considera- 
bly ;  but  Genoa  was  beyond  all  competition  at  the  head  of 
Italian  commerce  in  these  seas  during  the  fourteenth  centu- 
ry. In  the  next,  her  general  decline  left  it  more  open  to  her 
rival ;  but  I  doubt  whether  Venice  ever  maintained  so  strong 
a  connection  with  England.  Through  London  and  Bruges, 
their  chief  station  in  Flanders,  the  merchants  of  Italy  and  of 
Spain  transported  Oriental  produce  to  the  farthest  parts  of 
the  North,  The  inhabitants  of  the  Baltic  coast  were  stimu- 
lated by  the  desire  of  precious  luxuries  which  they  had  never 
known ;  and  these  wants,  though  selfish  and  frivolous,  are 
the  means  by  which  nations  acquire  civilization,  and  the 
earth  is  rendered  fruitful  of  its  produce.  As  the  carriers  of 
this  trade  the  Ilanseatic  merchants  resident  in  England  and 
Flanders  derived  profits  through  which  eventually  of  course 
those  countries  were  enriched.  It  seems  that  the  Italian  ves- 
sels unloaded  at  the  marts  of  London  or  Bruges,  and  that 
such  part  of  their  cargoes  as  were  intended  for  a  more  north- 
ern trade  came  there  into  the  hands  of  the  German  mer- 
chants. In  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.  England  carried  on  a 
pretty  extensive  traffic  with  the  countries  around  the  Medi- 
terranean, for  whose  commodities  her  wool  and  woollen  cloths 
enabled  her  to  pay. 

§  5.  The  commerce  of  the  southern  division,  though  it  did 


600  COMMERCE  OF  THE  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

not,  I  think,  produce  more  extensively  beneficial  effects  upon 
the  progress  of  society,  was  both  earlier  and  more  splendid 
than  that  of  England  and  the  neighboring  countries.  Be- 
sides Venice,  which  has  been  mentioned  already,  Araalti  kept 
up  the  commercial  intercourse  of  Christendom  with  the  Sar- 
acen countries  before  the  first  crusade.  It  was  the  singular 
fate  of  this  city  to  have  filled  up  the  interval  between  two 
periods  of  civilization,  in  neither  of  which  she  was  destined 
to  be  distinguished.  Scarcely  known  before  the  end  ot  the 
sixth  century,  Amalfi  ran  a  brilliant  career  as  a  free  and  trad- 
ing republic,  which  was  checked  by  the  arms  of  a  conqueror 
in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth.  Since  her  subjugation  by 
Roger,  king  of  Sicily,  the  name  of  a  people  who  for  a  while 
connected  Europe  with  Asia  has  hardly  been  repeated,  ex- 
cept for  two  discoveries  falsely  imputed  to  them — those  of 
the  Pandects  and  of  the  compass. 

But  the  decline  of  Amalfi  was  amply  compensated  to  the 
rest  of  Italy  by  the  constant  elevation  of  Pisa,  Genoa,  and 
Venice  in  the  twelfth  and  ensuing  ages.  The  Crusades  led 
immediately  to  this  growing  prosperity  of  the  commercial 
cities.  Besides  the  profit  accruing  from  so  many  naval  ar- 
maments which  they  supplied,  aiid  the  continual  passage  of 
private  adventurers  in  their  vessels,  they  were  enabled  to 
open  a  more  extensive  channel  of  Oriental  traffic  than  had 
hitherto  been  known.  These  three  Italian  republics  enjoyed 
immunities  in  the  Christian  principalities  of  Syria ;  possess- 
ing separate  quarters  in  Acre,  Tripoli,  and  other  cities,  where 
they  were  governed  by  their  own  laws  and  magistrates. 
Though  the  progress  of  commerce  must,  from  the  condition 
of  European  industry,  have  been  slow,  it  was  uninterrupted; 
and  the  settlements  in  Palestine  were  becoming  important  as 
factories,  an  use  of  which  Godfrey  and  Urban  little  dreamed, 
when  they  were  lost  through  the  guilt  and  imprudence  of 
their  inhabitants.  Villani  laments  tlie  injury  sustained  by 
commerce  in  consequence  of  the  capture  of  Acre  ;  but  the 
loss  was  soon  retrieved,  not  perhaps  by  Pisa  and  Genoa,  but 
by  Venice,  who  formed  connections  with  the  Saracen  govern- 
ments, and  maintained  her  commercial  intercourse  with  Syria 
and  Egypt  by  their  license,  though  subject  probably  to  heavy 
exactions.  Sanuto,  a  Venetian  author  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  has  left  a  curious  account  of  the  Levant 
trade  which  his  countrymen  carried  on  at  that  time.  Their 
imports  it  is  easy  to  guess,  and  it  appears  that  timber,  brass, 
tin,  and  lead,  as  well  as  the  precious  metals,  were  exported 
to  Alexandria,  besides  oil,  saffron,  and  some  of  the  produc- 


State  of  Society.     MEDITERRANEAN  COUNTRIES.  601 

tions  of  Italy,  and  even  wool  and  woollen  cloths.  The  Eu- 
ropean side  of  the  account  had  therefore  become  respect' 
able. 

The  commercial  cities  enjoyed  as  great  privileges  at  Con- 
stantinople as  in  Syria,  and  they  bore  an  eminent  part  in  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  After  the  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople by  the  Latin  crusaders,  the  Venetians, having  been 
concerned  in  that  conquest,  became,  of  course,  the  favored 
traders  under  the  new  dynasty ;  possessing  their  own  dis- 
trict in  the  city,  with  their  magistrate  or  podesta,  appointed 
at  Venice,  and  subject  to  the  parent  republic.  When  the 
Greeks  recovered  the  seat  of  their  empire,  the  Genoese,  who, 
from  jealousy  of  their  rivals,  had  contributed  to  that  revolu- 
tion, obtained  similar  immunities.  This  powerful  and  enter- 
prising state,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  sometimes  the  ally, 
sometimes  the  enemy,  of  the  Byzantine  Court,  maintained  its 
independent  settlement  at  Pera.  From  thence  she  spread 
her  sails  into  the  Euxine,  and,  planting  a  colony  at  Caffa,  in 
the  Crimea,  extended  a  line  of  commerce  with  the  interior 
regions  of  Asia  which  even  the  skill  and  spirit  of  our  own 
times  has  not  yet  been  able  to  revive. 

The  French  provinces  which  border  on  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  partook  in  the  advantages  which  it  offered.  ISTot  only 
Marseilles,  whose  trade  had  continued  in  a  certain  degree 
throughout  the  worst  ages,  but  Narbonne,  Nismes,  and  espe- 
cially Montpellier,  were  distinguished  for  commercial  prosper- 
ity. A  still  greater  activity  prevailed  in  Catalonia.  From 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  Barcelona  began  to 
emulate  the  Italian  cities  in  both  the  "branches  of  naval  en- 
ergy, war  and  commerce.  Engaged  in  frequent  and  severe 
hostilities  with  Genoa,  and  sometimes  with  Constantinople, 
while  their  vessels  traded  to  every  part  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  even  of  the  English  Channel,  the  Catalans  might 
justly  be  reckoned  among  the  first  of  maritime  nations.  The 
comm(^rce  of  Barcelona  has  never  since  attained  so  great  a 
height  as  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

§  6.  The  introduction  of  a  silk  manufacture  at  Palermo  by 
Roger  Guiscard,  in  1148,  gave,  perhaps,  the  earliest  impulse 
to  the  industry  of  Italy.  Nearly  about  the  same  time  the 
Genoese  plundered  two  Moorish  cities  of  Spain,  from  which 
they  derived  the  same  art.  In  the  next  age  this  became  a 
staple  manufacture  of  the  Lombard  and  Tuscan  republics, 
and  the  cultivation  of  mulberries  was  enforced  by  their  laws. 
Woollen  stuffs,  though  the  trade  was,  perhaps,  less  conspicu- 
ous than  that  of  Flanders,  and  though  many  of  the  coarser 

26 


602  THE  MARINER'S  COMPASS.      Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

kinds  were  imported  from  thence,  employed  a  multitude  of 
workmen  in  Italy,  Catalonia,  and  the  south  of  France.  Among 
the  trading  companies  into  which  the  middling  ranks  were 
distributed,  those  concerned  in  silk  and  woollens  were  most 
numerous  and  honorable. 

§  7.  A  property  of  a  natural  substance,  long  overlooked, 
even  though  it  attracted  observation  by  a  different  peculiar- 
ity, has  influenced  by  its  accidental  discovery  the  fortunes 
of  mankind  more  than  all  the  deductions  of  philosophy.  It 
is,  perhaps,  impossible  to  ascertain  the  epoch  when  the  polar- 
ity of  the  magnet  was  first  known  in  Europe.  The  common 
opinion,  which  ascribes  its  discovery  to  a  citizen  of  Amalfi  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  is  undoubtedly  erroneous.  Guiot  de 
Provins,  a  French  poet,  who  lived  about  the  year  1200,  or  at 
the  latest  under  St.  Louis,  describes  it  in  the  most  unequivo- 
cal language.  James  de  Vitry,  a  bishop  in  Palestine  before 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  Guido  Guinizzelli^ 
an  Italian  poet  of  the  same  time,  are  equally  explicit.  The 
French  as  well  as  Italians  claim  the  discovery  as  their 
own;  but  whether  it  were  due  to  either  of  these  nations,  or 
rather  learned  from  their  intercourse  with  the  Saracens,  is 
not  easily  to  lie  ascertained.  For  some  time,  perhaps,  even 
this  wonderful  improvement  in  the  art  of  navigation  might 
not  be  universally  adopted  by  vessels  sailing  within  the  Med- 
iterranean, and  accustomed  to  their  old  system  of  observa- 
tions. But  when  it  became  more  established,  it  naturally  in- 
spired a  more  fearless  spirit  of  adventure.  It  was  not,  as 
has  been  mentioned,  till  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury that  the  Genoese  and  other  nations  around  that  inland 
sea  steered  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  towards  England  and 
Flanders.  This  intercourse  with  the  Northern  countries  en- 
livened their  trade  with  the  Levant  by  the  exchange  of  pro- 
ductions which  Spain  and  Italy  do  not  supply,  and  enriched 
the  merchants  by  means  of  whose  capital  the  exports  of 
London  and  of  Alexandria  were  conveyed  into  each  other's 
harbors. 

§  8.  The  usual  risks  of  navigation,  and  those  incident  to 
commercial  adventure,  produce  a  variety  of  questions  in  ev- 
ery system  of  jurisprudence,  which,  though  always  to  be 
determined,  as  far  as  possible,  by  principles  of  natural  jus- 
tice, must  in  many  cases  depend  upon  established  customs. 
These  customs  of  maritime  law  were  anciently  reduced  into 
a  code  by  the  Rhodians,  and  the  Roman  emperors  preserved 
or  reformed  the  constitutions  of  that  republic.  It  would  be 
hard  to  say  how  far  the  tradition  of  this  early  jurisprudence 


State  of  Society.  MARITIME  LAWS.  603 

snrviv^ed  the  decline  of  commerce  in  the  darker  ages ;  but 
after  it  began  to  recover  itself,  necessity  suggested,  or  recol- 
lection prompted  a  scheme  of  regulations  resembling  in  some 
degree  but  much  more  enlarged  than  those  of  antiquity.  This 
was  formed  into  a  written  code,  "  II  Consolato  del  Mare,"  not 
much  earlier,  probably,  than  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  its  promulgation  seems  rather  to  have  proceeded 
from  the  citizens  of  Barcelona  than  from  those  of  Pisa  or 
Venice,  who  have  also  claimed  to  be  the  first  legislators  of  the 
sea.  Besides  regulations  simply  mercantile,  this  system  has 
defined  the  mutual  rights  of  neutral  and  belligerent  vessels, 
and  thus  laid  the  basis  of  the  positive  law  of  nations  in  its  most 
important  and  disputed  cases.  The  King  of  France  and 
Count  of  Provence  solemnly  acceded  to  this  maritime  code, 
which  hence  acquired  a  binding  force  within  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea  ;  and  in  most  respects  the  law  merchant  of  Europe 
is  at  present  conformable  to  its  provisions.  A  set  of  regula- 
tions, chiefly  borrowed  from  the  "  Consolato,"  was  compiled 
in  France  under  the  reign  of  Louis  IX.,  and  prevailed  in  their 
own  country.  These  have  been  denominated  the  laws  of  Ole- 
ron,  from  an  idle  story  that  they  were  enacted  by  Richard 
I.  while  his  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land  lay  at  anchor  in  that 
island.  Kor  was  the  North  without  its  peculiar  code  of  mari- 
time jurisprudence — namely,  the  ordinances  of  Wisbuy,  a 
town  in  the  isle  of  Gothland,  principally  compiled  from  those 
of  Oleron,  before  the  year  1400,  by  which  the  Baltic  traders 
were  governed. 

There  was  abundant  reason  for  establishing  among  mari- 
time nations  some  theory  of  mutual  rights,  and  for  securing 
the  redress  of  injuries,  as  far  as  possible,  by  means  of  acknowl- 
edged tribunals.  In  that  state  of  barbarous  anarchy  which 
so  long  resisted  the  coercive  authority  of  civil  magistrates  the 
sea  held  out  even  more  temptation  and  more  impunity  than 
the  land ;  and  when  the  laws  had  regained  their  sovereignty, 
and  neither  robbery  nor  private  warfare  was  any  longer  toler- 
ated, there  remained  that  great  common  of  mankind,  unclaim- 
ed by  any  king,  and  the  liberty  of  the  sea  was  another  name 
for  the  security  of  plunderers.  A  pirate,  in  a  well-armed  quick- 
sailing  vessel,  must  feel,  I  suppose,  the  enjoyments  of  his  ex- 
emption from  control  more  exquisitely  than  any  other  free- 
booter; and  darting  along  the  bosom  of  the  ocean,  under  the 
impartial  radiance  of  the  heavens,  may  deride  the  dark  conceal- 
ments and  hurried  flights  of  the  forest  robber.  His  occupation 
is,  indeed,  extinguished  by  the  civilization  of  later  ages,  or  con- 
fined to  distant  climates.    But  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 


604  PIRACY.— LAW  OF  REPRISALS.     Chap.  IX.  Pakt  It 

centuries  a  rich  vessel  was  never  secure  from  attack ;  and  nei- 
ther restitution  nor  punishment  of  the  criminals  was  to  be  ob- 
tained from  governments  who  sometimes  feared  the  plunderer 
and  sometimes  connived  at  the  oifense.  Mere  piracy,  howev- 
er, was  not  the  only  danger.  The  maritime  towns  of  Flanders, 
France,  and  England,  like  the  free  republics  of  Italy,  prose- 
cuted their  own  quarrels  by  arms,  without  asking  the  leave 
of  their  respective  sovereigns.  This  practice,  exactly  analo- 
gous to  that  of  private  war  in  the  feudal  system,  more  than 
once  involved  the  kings  of  France  and  England  in  hostility." 
But  where  the  quarrel  did  not  proceed  to  such  a  length  as 
absolutely  to  engage  two  opposite  towns,  a  modification  of 
this  ancient  right  of  revenge  formed  part  of  the  regular  law 
of  nations,  under  the  name  of  reprisals.  Whoev^  was  plun- 
dered or  injured  by  the  inhabitant  of  another  town  obtained 
authority  from  his  own  magistrates  to  seize  the  property  of 
any  other  person  belonging  to  it,  until  his  loss  should  be 
compensated.  This  law  of  reprisal  was  not  confined  to  mari- 
time places ;  it  prevailed  in  Lombardy,  and  probably  in  the 
German  cities.  Thus,  if  a  citizen  of  Modena  were  robbed  by 
a  Bolognese,  he  complained  to  the  magistrates  of  the  former 
city,  who  represented  the  case  to  those  of  Bologna,  demand- 
ing redress.  If  this  were  not  immediately  granted,  letters  of 
reprisals  were  issued  to  plunder  the  territory  of  Bologna  till 
the  injured  party  should  be  reimbursed  by  sale  of  the  spoil. 
Edward  III.  remonstrates,  in  an  instrument  published  by  Ry- 
mer,  against  letters  of  marque  granted  by  the  King  of  Ara- 
gon  to  one  Berenger  de  la  Tone,  who  had  been  robbed  by  an 
English  pirate  of  £2000,  alleging  that,  inasmuch  as  he  had 
always  been  ready  to  give  redress  to  the  party,  it  seemed  to 
his  counsellors  that  there  was  no  just  cause  for  reprisals  upon 
the  king's  or  his  subjects'  property.  This  passage  is  so  far 
curious  as  it  asserts  the  existence  of  a  customary  law  of  na- 
tions, the  knowledge  of  which  was  already  a  sort  of  learning. 
Sir  E.  Coke  speaks  of  this  right  of  private  reprisals  as  if  it 
still  existed  ;  and,  in  fact,  there  are  instances  of  granting  such 
letters  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 

A  practice  founded  on  the  same  principles  as  reprisal, 
though  rather  less  violent,  was  that  of  attaching  the  goods  or 
persons  of  resident  foreigners  for  the  debts  of  their  country- 

«  The  Cinque  Ports  aud  other  trading  towns  of  England  were  in  a  constant  state 
of  hostility  with  their  opposite  neighbors  during  the  reigns  of  Edward  I.  and  IL 
One  might  quote  almost  half  the  instruments  in  Rymer  in  proof  of  these  conflicts, 
and  of  those  with  the  mariners  of  Norway  and  Denmark.  Sometimes  mutual  envy 
produced  frays  between  different  English  towns.  Thus  in  1254  the  Winchelsea  mar- 
iners attacked  a  Yarmoiith  galley,  and  killed  some  of  her  men. 


State  of  Society.     GREAT  PROFITS  OF  TRADE.  605 

men.  This,  indeed,  in  England,  was  not  confined  to  foreign- 
ers  until  the  statute  of  Westminster  I.,  c.  23,  which  enacts  that 
"  no  stranger  who  is  of  this  realm  shall  be  distrained  in  any 
town  or  market  for  a  debt  wherein  he  is  neither  principal  nor 
surety."  Henry  III.  had  previously  granted  a  charter  to  the 
burgesses  of  Ltlbeck  that  they  should  "  not  be  arrested  for 
the  debt  of  any  of  their  countrymen,  unless  the  magistrates 
of  Ltibeck  neglected  to  compel  payment."  But,  by  a  variety 
of  grants  from  Edward  II.,  the  privileges  of  English  sub- 
jects under  the  statute  of  Westminster  were  extended  to 
most  foreign  nations.  This  unjust  responsibility  had  not 
been  confined  to  civil  cases.  One  of  a  company  of  Italian 
merchants,  the  Spini,  having  killed  a  man,  the  officers  of  jus- 
tice seized  the  bodies  and  effects  of  all  the  rest. 

§  9.  If  under  all  these  obstacles,  whether  created  by  bar- 
barous manners,  by  national  prejudice,  or  by  the  fraudulent 
and  arbitrary  measures  of  princes,  the  merchants  of  differ- 
ent countries  became  so  opulent  as  almost  to  rival  the  an- 
cient nobility,  it  must  be  ascribed  to  the  greatness  of  their 
commercial  profits.  The  trading  companies  possessed  ei- 
ther a  positive  or  a  virtual  monopoly,  and  held  the  keys  ot 
those  Eastern  regions,  for  the  luxuries  of  which  the  progress- 
ive refinement  of  manners  produced  an  increasing  demand. 
It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  average  rate  of  profit ;  but 
we  know  that  the  interest  of  money  was  exceedingly  higli 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  At  Verona,  in  1228,  it  was 
fixed  by  law  at  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent. ;  at  Modena,  in 
1270,  it  seems  to  have  been  as  high  as  twenty.  The  repub- 
lic of  Genoa,  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
when  Italy  had  grown  wealthy,  paid  only  from  seven  to  ten 
per  cent,  to  her  creditors.  But  in  France  and  England  the 
rate  was  far  more  oppressive.  An  ordinance  of  Philip  the 
Fair,  in  1311,  allows  twenty  per  cent,  after  the  first  year  of 
the  loan.  Under  Henry  III,  according  to  Matthew  Paris, 
the  debtor  paid  ten  per  cent,  every  two  months  ;  but  this  is 
absolutely  incredible  as  a  general  practice.  This  was  not 
merely  owing  to  scarcity  of  money,  but  to  the  discourage- 
ment which  a  strange  prejudice  opposed  to  one  of  the  most 
useful  and  legitimate  branches  of  commerce.  Usury,  or 
lending  money  for  profit,  was  treated  as  a  crime  by  the  the- 
ologians of  the  Middle  Ages;  and  though  the  superstition 
has  been  eradicated,  some  part  of  the  prejudice  remains  in 
our  legislation.  This  trade  in  money,  and  indeed  a  great 
part  of  inland  trade  in^  general,  had  oi'iginally  fallen  to  the 
Jews,  who  were  noted  for  their  usury  so  early  as  the  sixth 


606  JEWS'  MONEY  DEALINGS.      Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

century.'  For  several  subsequent  ages  they  continued  to 
employ  their  capital  and  industry  to  the  same  advantage, 
with  little  molestation  from  the  clergy,  who  always  toler- 
ated their  avowed  and  national  infidelity,  and  often  with 
some  encouragement  from  princes.  In  the  twelfth  century 
we  find  them  not  only  possessed  of  landed  property  in  Lan- 
guedoc,  and  cultivating  the  studies  of  medicine  and  Rabbin- 
ical literature  in  their  own  academy  at  Montpellier,  under 
the  protection  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  but  invested  with 
civil  offices.  In  Spain  they  were  placed  by  some  of  the  mu- 
nicipal laws  on  the  footing  of  Christians,  with  respect  to  the 
composition  for  their  lives,  and  seem  in  no  other  European 
country  to  have  been  so  numerous  or  considerable.  The 
diligence  and  expertness  of  this  people  in  all  pecuniary 
dealings  recommended  them  to  princes  who  were  solicitous 
about  the  improvement  of  their  revenue.  Two  kings  of 
Castile,  Alonzo  XL  and  Peter  the  Cruel,  incurred  much  odi- 
um by  employing  Jewish  ministers  in  their  treasury.  But 
in  other  parts  of  Europe  their  condition  had,  before  that 
time,  begun  to  change  for  the  worse — partly  from  the  fanat- 
ical spirit  of  the  Crusades,  which  prompted  the  populace  to 
massacre,  and  partly  from  the  jealousy  which  their  opulence 
excited.  Kings,  in  order  to  gain  money  and  popularity  at 
once,  abolished  the  debts  due  to  the  children  of  Israel,  ex- 
cept a  part  which  they  retained  as  the  price  of  their  bounty. 
One  is  at  a  loss  to  conceive  the  process  of  reasoning  in  an 
ordinance  of  St.  Louis,  where,  "  for  the  salvation  of  his  own 
soul  and  those  of  his  ancestors,  he  releases  to  all  Christians 
a  third  part  of  what  was  owing  by  them  to  Jews."  Not 
content  with  such  edicts,  the  kings  of  France  sometimes 
banished  the  whole  nation  from  their  dominions,  seizing 
their  eff*ects  at  the  same  time ;  and  a  season  of  alternative 
severity  and  toleration  continued  till,  under  Charles  VI., 
they  were  finally  expelled  from  the  kingdom,  where  they 
never  afterwards  possessed  any  legal  settlement.  They 
were  expelled  from  England  under  Edward  L,  and  never 
obtained  any  legal  permission  to  reside  till  the  time  of 
Cromwell.  This  decline  of  the  Jews  was  owing  to  the 
transference  of  their  trade  in  money  to  other  hands.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  merchants  of 
Lombardy  and  of  the  south  of  France  took  up  the  business 
of  remitting  money  by  bills  of  exchange,  and  of  making 
profit  upon  loans.  The  utility  of  this  was  found  so  great, 
especially  by  the  Italian  clergy,  who  thus  m  an  easy  man- 

'  Greg.  Tnroii.,  1.  iv." 


State  op  Society.     BANKS  OF  GENOA  AND  OTIIEKS.  607 

ner  drew  the  income  of  their  transalpine  benefices,  that,  in 
spite  of  much  obloquy,  the  Lombard  usurers  established 
themselves  in  every  country,  and  the  general  progress  of 
commerce  wore  off  the  bigotry  that  had  obstructed  their 
reception.  A  distinction  was  made  between  moderate  and 
exorbitant  interest ;  and  though  the  casuists  did  not  ac- 
quiesce in  this  legal  regulation,  yet  it  satisfied,  even  in  su- 
perstitious times,  the  consciences  of  provident  traders." 
The  Italian  bankers  were  frequently  allowed  to  farm  the 
customs  in  England,  as  a  security,  perhaps,  for  loans  which 
were  not  very  punctually  repaid.  In  1345  the  Bardi  at 
Florence,  the  greatest  company  in  Italy,  became  bankrupt, 
Edward  III.  owing  them,  in  principal  and  interest,  900,000 
gold  florins.  Another,  the  Peruzzi,  failed  at  the  same  time, 
being  creditors  to  Edward  for  600,000  florins.  The  King  of 
Sicily  owed  100,000  florins  to  each  of  these  bankers.  Their 
failure  involved,  of  course,  a  multitude  of  Florentine  citi- 
zens, and  was  a  heavy  misfortune  to  the  state. 

§  10.  The  earliest  bank  of  deposit,  instituted  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  private  merchants,  is  said  to  have  been  that 
of  Barcelona,  in  1401.  The  banks  of  Venice  and  Genoa  were 
of  a  different  description.  Although  the  former  of  these  two 
has  the  advantage  of  greater  antiquity,  having  been  formed, 
as  we  are  told,  in  the  twelfth  century,  yet  its  early  history  is 
not  so  clear  as  that  of  Genoa,  nor  its  political  importance  so 
remarkable,  however  similar  might  be  its  origin.  During  the 
wars  of  Genoa  in  the  fourteenth  century,  she  had  borrowed 
large  sums  of  private  citizens,  to  whom  the  revenues  were 
pledged  for  repayment.  The  republic  of  Florence  had  set  a 
recent,  though  not  a  very  encouraging,  example  of  a  public 
loan,  to  defray  the  expense  of  her  war  against  Mastino  della 
Scala,  in  1336.  The  chief  mercantile  firms,  as  well  as  indi- 
vidual citizens,  furnished  money  on  an  assignment  of  the 
taxes,  receiving  fifteen  per  cent,  interest,  which  appears  to 
have  been  above  the  rate  of  private  usury.  The  state  was 
not  unreasonably  considered  a  worse  debtor  than  some  of 
her  citizens,  for  in  a  few  years  these  loans  were  consolidated 
into  a  general  fund,  or  monte^  with  some  deduction  from  the 

8  Usmy  was  looked  upon  with  horror  by  our  English  divines  long  after  the  Eefor- 
mation. 

One  species  of  UBury,  and  that  of  the  highest  importance  to  commerce,  was  always 
permitted,  on  account  of  the  risk  that  attended  it.  This  Avas  marine  insurance, 
which  could  not  have  existed  until  money  was  considered,  in  itself,  as  a  source  of 
profit.  The  earliest  regulations  on  the  subject  of  insurance  are  those  of  Barcelona 
in  1433  ;  but  the  practice  was,  of  course,  earlier  than  these,  though  not  of  great  antiq- 
uity. It  is  not  mentioned  in  the  "Consolate  del  Mare,"  nor  in  any  of  the  Hauseatie 
Jaws  of  the  fourteenth  century- 


608  DOMESTIC  EXPENDITURE.     Chap.  IX.  Part  H 

capital  and  a  great  diminution  of  interest ;  so  that  an  orig^ 
inal  debt  of  one  hundred  florins  sold  only  for  twenty-five. 
But  I  have  not  found  that  these  creditors  formed  at  Flor^ 
ence  a  corporate  body,  or  took  any  part,  as  such,  in  the  af 
fairs  of  the  republic.  The  case  was  different  at  Genoa.  As 
a  security,  at  least,  for  their  interest,  the  subscribers  to  pub- 
lic loans  were  permitted  to  receive  the  produce  of  the  taxes 
by  their  own  collectors,  paying  the  excess  into  the  treasury. 
The  number  and  distinct  classes  of  these  subscribers  becom- 
ing at  length  inconvenient,  they  were  formed,  about  the  year 
1407,  into  a  single  corporation,  called  the  Bank  of  St.  George, 
which  was  from  that  time  the  sole  national  creditor  and 
mortgagee.  The  government  of  this  was  intrusted  to  eight 
protectors.  It  soon  became  almost  independent  of  the  state. 
Every  Senator,  on  his  admission,  swore  to  maintain  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  bank,  which  were  confirmed  by  the  pope,  and 
even  by  the  emperor.  The  bank  interposed  its  advice  in 
every  measure  of  government,  and  generally,  as  is  admitted, 
to  the  public  advantage.  It  equipped  armaments  at  its  own 
expense,  one  of  which  subdued  the  island  of  Corsica;  and 
this  acquisition,  like  those  of  our  great  Indian  corporation, 
was  long  subject  to  a  company  of  merchants,  without  any 
interference  of  the  mother  country. 

§  11.  The  increasing  wealth  of  Europe,  whether  derived 
from  internal  improvement  or  foreign  commerce,  displayed 
itself  in  more  expensive  consumption,  and  greater  refine- 
ments of  domestic  life.  But  these  effects  were  for  a  long 
time  very  gradual.  It  is  not  till  the  latter  half  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  that  an  accelerated  impulse  appears  to  be 
given  to  society.  The  just  government  and  suppression  of 
disorder  under  St.  Louis,  and  the  peaceful  temper  of  his 
brother  Alfonso,  count  of  Toulouse  and  Poitou,  gave  France 
leisure  to  avail  herself  of  her  admirable  fertility.  England, 
that  to  a  soil  not  greatly  inferior  to  that  of  France  united 
the  inestimable  advantage  of  an  insular  position,  and  was  in- 
vigorated, above  all,  by  her  free  constitution  and  the  steady 
industriousness  of  her  people,  rose  with  a  pretty  uniform  mo- 
tion from  the  time  of  Edward  I.  Italy,  though  the  better 
days  of  freedom  had  passed  away  in  most  of  her  republics, 
made  a  rapid  transition  from  simplicity  to  refinement.  "In 
those  times,"  says  a  writer  about  the  year  1300,  speaking  of 
the  age  of  Frederick  II.,  "the  manners  of  the  Italians  were 
rude.  A  man  and  his  wife  ate  off"  the  same  plate.  There 
were  no  wooden-handled  knives,  nor  more  than  one  or  two 
drinking-cnps  in  a  house.     Candles  of  wax  or  tallow  were  un* 


State  of  Society.  SUMPTUARY  LAWS.  609 

known ;  a  servant  held  a  torch  during  supper.  The  clothes 
of  men  were  of  leather  unlined  i  scarcely  any  gold  or  silver 
was  seen  on  their  dress.  The  common  people  ate  flesh  but 
three  times  a  week,  and  kept  their  cold  meat  for  supper. 
Many  did  not  drink  wine  in  summer.  A  small  stock  of  corn 
seemed  riches.  The  portions  of  women  were  small ;  their 
dress,  even  after  marriage,  was  simple.  The  pride  of  men 
was  to  be  well  provided  with  arms  and  horses ;  that  of  the 
nobility  to  have  lofty  towers,  of  which  all  the  cities  in  Italy 
were  full.  But  now  frugality  has  been  changed  for  sumptu- 
ousness;  every  thing  exquisite  is  sought  after  in  dress — gold, 
silver,  pearls,  silks,  and  rich  furs.  Foreign  wines  and  rich 
meats  are  required.  Hence  usury,  rapine,  fraud,  tyranny,"* 
etc.  This  passage  is  supported  by  other  testimonies  nearly 
of  the  same  time.  The  conquest  of  Naples  by  Charles  of 
Anjou,  in  1266,  seems  to  have  been  the  epoch  of  increasing 
luxury  throughout  Italy.  His  Proven9al  knights,  with  their 
plumed  helmets  and  golden  collars,  the  chariot  of  his  queen 
covered  with  blue  velvet  and  sprinkled  with  lilies  of  gold, 
astonished  the  citizens  of  Naples.  Provence  had  enjoyed  a 
long  tranquillity,  the  natural  source  of  luxurious  magnifi- 
cence; and  Italy,  now  liberated  from  the  yoke  of  the  em 
pire,  soon  reaped  the  same  fruit  of  a  condition  more  easy 
and  peaceful  than  had  been  her  lot  for  several  ages. 

Throughout  the  fourteenth  century  there  continued  to  be 
a  rapid  but  steady  progression  in  England  of  what  we  may 
denominate  elegance,  improvement,  or  luxury ;  and  if  this 
was  for  a  time  suspended  in  France,  it  must  be  ascribed  to 
the  unusual  calamities  which  befell  that  country  under  Philip 
of  Valois  and  his  son.  Just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the 
English  wars  an  excessive  fondness  for  dress  is  said  to  have 
distinguished  not  only  the  higher  ranks,  but  the  burghers, 
whose  foolish  emulation  at  least  indicates  their  easy  circum- 
stances. Modes  of  dress  hardly,  perhaps,  deserve  our  notice 
on  their  own  account ;  yet,  so  far  as  their  universal  preva- 
lence was  a  symptom  of  diffused  wealth,  we  should  not  over- 
look either  the  invectives  bestowed  by  the  clergy  on  the 
fantastic  extravagances  of  fashion,  or  the  sumptuary  laws 
by  which  it  was  endeavored  to  restrain  them. 

The  principle  of  sumptuary  laws  was  partly  derived  from 
the  small  republics  of  antiquity,  which  might,  perhaps,  re- 
quire that  security  for  public  spirit  and  equal  rights— partly 
from  the  austere  and  injudicious  theory  of  religion  dissemi* 
nated  by  the  clergy.     These  prejudices  united  to  render  all 

»  Ricobaldns  Ferrarensis,  apnd  Mnrat.  Diesert.,  23    Francisc.  Pippinns,  ibidem. 

26* 


610  REFINEMENT  AND  LUXURY.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

increase  of  general  comforts  odious  under  the  name  of  luxury; 
and  a  third  motive,  more  powerful  than  either,  the  jealousy 
with  which  the  great  regard  any  thing  like  imitation  in 
those  beneath  them,  co-operated  to  produce  a  sort  of  restrict- 
ive code  in  the  laws  of  Europe.  Some  of  those  regulations 
are  more  ancient ;  but  the  chief  part  were  enacted,  both  in 
France  and  England,  during  the  fourteenth  century,  extend- 
ing to  expenses  of  the  table  as  well  as  apparel.  The  first 
statute  of  this  description  in  our  own  country  was,  however, 
repealed  the  next  year  ;^°  and  subsequent  provisions  were  en- 
tirely disregarded  by  a  nation  w^hich  valued  liberty  and  com- 
merce too  much  to  obey  laws  conceived  in  a  spirit  hostile  to 
both.  Law^s,  indeed,  designed  by  those  governments  to  re- 
strain the  extravagance  of  their  subjects  may  well  justify  the 
severe  indignation  which  Adam  Smith  has  poured  upon  all 
such  interference  with  private  expenditure. 

Tow^ards  the  latter  part  of  tlie  fourteenth  century  there 
w^as  more  refinement  and  hixury  in  Italy  than  in  any  other 
part  of  Europe.  In  France  the  burghers,  and  even  the  infe- 
rior gentry,  were  for  the  most  part  in  a  state  of  poverty  at 
this  period,  which  they  concealed  by  an  aiFectation  of  orna- 
ment; while  our  English  yeomanry  and  tradesmen  were  more 
anxious  to  invigorate  their  bodies  by  a  generous  diet  than  to 
dwell  in  w^ell-furnished  houses,  or  to  find  comfort  in  clean- 
liness and  elegance.  The  German  cities,  however,  had  ac- 
quired with  liberty  the  spirit  of  improvement  and  industry. 
From  the  time  that  Henry  V.  admitted  their  artisans  to  the 
privileges  of  free  burghers  they  became  more  and  more  pros- 
perous; while  the  steadiness  and  frugality  of  the  German 
character  compensated  for  some  disadvantages  arising  out 
of  their  inland  situation.  Spire,  Nuremberg,  Ratisbon,  and 
Augsburg  were  not,  indeed,  like  the  rich  markets  of  London 
and  Bruges,  nor  could  their  burghers  rival  the  princely  mer- 
chants of  Italy ;  but  they  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  compe- 
tence diffused  over  a  large  class  of  industrious  freemen,  and 
in  the  fifteenth  century  one  of  the  politest  Italians  could  ex- 
tol their  splendid  and  well-furnished  dwellings,  their  rich  ap- 
parel, their  easy  and  affluent  mode  of  living,  the  security  of 
their  rights  and  just  equality  of  their  laws.^' 

10  37  Edward  III.,  Rep.  38  Edward  III.  Several  other  statutes  of  a  similar  nature 
were  passed  in  this  and  the  ensuing  reign.  In  France,  there  were  sumptuary  laws  as 
old  as  Charlemagne,  prohibiting  or  taxing  the  use  of  furs ;  but  the  first  extensive 
regulation  was  under  Philip  the  Fair.  These  attempts  to  restrain  what  can  not  be 
restrained  continued  even  down  to  1700. 

"  .^neas  Sylvius,  de  Moribus  Germanorum.  This  treatise  is  an  amplified  pane- 
tjyric  upon  Germany,  and  contains  several  curious  passages. 


State  of  Society.  CIRCULAR  TOWERS.  611 

.  §  12.  No  chapter  in  the  history  of  national  manners  would 
illustrate  so  well,  if  duly  executed,  the  progress  of  social  life 
as  that  dedicated  to  domestic  architecture.  The  fashions  of 
dress  and  of  amusements  are  generally  capricious  and  irre- 
ducible to  rule ;  but  every  change  in  the  dwellings  of  man- 
kind, from  the  rudest  wooden  cabin  to  the  stately  mansion, 
has  been  dictated  by  some  principle  of  convenience,  neatness, 
comfort,  or  magnificence. 

The  most  ancient  buildings  which  we  can  trace  in  this  isl- 
and, after  the  departure  of  the  Romans,  were  circular  towers 
of  no  great  size,  whereof  many  remain  in  Scotland,  erected 
either  on  a  natural  eminence  or  on  an  artificial  mound  of 
earth.  Such  are  Oonisborough  Castle  in  Yorkshire,  and  Cas- 
tleton  in  Derbyshire.  To  the  lower  chambers  of  those  gloomy 
keeps  there  was  no  admission  of  light  or  air  except  through 
long  narrow  loop-holes  and  an  aperture  in  the  roof.  Regu- 
lar windows  were  made  in  the  upper  apartments.  Were  it 
not  for  the  vast  thickness  of  the  walls,  and  some  marks  of 
attention  both  to  convenience  and  decoration  in  these  struc- 
tures, we  might  be  induced  to  consider  them  as  rather  in- 
tended for  security  during  the  transient  inroad  of  an  enemy 
than  for  a  chieftain's  usual  residence.  They  bear  a  close  re- 
semblance, except  by  their  circular  form  and  more  insulated 
situation,  to  the  peels,  or  square  towers  of  three  or  four 
stories,  which  are  still  found  contiguous  to  ancient  mansion- 
houses  in  the  northern  counties,  and  seem  to  have  been  de- 
signed for  places  of  refuge,  though  many  of  them  were  also 
built  for  residence. 

In  course  of  time,  the  barons  who  owned  these  castles  be- 
gan to  covet  a  more  comfortable  dwelling.  The  keep  w^as 
either  much  enlarged,  or  altogether  relinquished  as  a  place 
of  residence,  except  in  time  of  siege;  while  more  convenient 
apartments  were  sometimes  erected  in  the  tower  of  entrance, 
over  the  great  gate-way,  which  led  to  the  inner  ballium,  or 
court-yard.  The  windows  in  this  class  of  castles  were  still 
little  better  than  loop-holes  on  the  basement  story,  but  in  the 
upper  rooms  often  large  and  beautifully  ornamented,  though 
always  looking  inward  to  the  court.  Edward  I.  introduced 
a  more  splendid  and  convenient  style  of  castles,  containing 
many  habitable  towers,  with  communicating  apartments. 
Conway  and  Carnarvon  will  be  familiar  examyjles.  The  next 
innovation  w^as  the  castle-palace — of  which  Windsor,  if  not 
quite  the  earliest,  is  the  most  magnificent  instance.  Aln- 
wick, Naworth,  Harewood,  SpofForth,  Kenilworth,  and  War- 
wick, were  all  built  upon  this  scheme  during  the  fourteenth 


612  PROGRESS  OF  Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 

century,  but  subsequent  enlargements  have  rendered  caution 
necessary  to  distinguish  their  original  remains.  The  provis- 
ion for  defense  became  now,  however,  little  more  than  nuga- 
tory ;  large  arched  windows,  like  those  of  cathedrals,  were 
introduced  into  halls,  and  this  change  in  architecture  mani- 
festly bears  witness  to  the  cessation  of  baronial  wars  and  the 
increasing  love  of  splendor  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 

To  these  succeeded  the  castellated  houses  of  the  fifteenth 
century — such  as  Herstmonceux,  in  Sussex ;  Haddon  Hall,  in 
Derbyshire  ;  and  the  older  part  of  Knowle,  in  Kent.'"  They 
resembled  fortified  castles  in  their  strong  gate-ways,  their 
turrets  and  battlements,  to  erect  which  a  royal  license  was 
necessary;  but  their  defensive  strength  could  only  have 
availed  against  a  sudden  affray  or  attempt  at  forcible  dis- 
possession. They  were  always  built  round  one  or  two  court- 
yards, the  circumference  of  the  first,  when  they  were  two, 
being  occupied  by  the  oflSces  and  servants'  rooms,  that  of 
the  second  by  the  state  apartments.  Regular  quadrangu- 
lar houses,  not  castellated,  were  sometimes  built  during  the 
same  age,  and  under  Henry  VH.  became  universal  in  the 
superior  style  of  domestic  architecture.  The  quadrangular 
form,  as  well  from  security  and  convenience  as  from  imita- 
tion of  conventual  houses,  which  were  always  constructed 
upon  that  model,  was  generally  preferred — even  where  the 
dwelling-house,  as  indeed  was  usual,  only  took  up  one  side 
of  the  inclosure,  and  the  remaining  three  contained  the  of- 
fices, stables,  and  farm-buildings,  with  walls  of  communica- 
tion. Several  very  old  parsonages  appear  to  have  been  built 
in  this  manner.'^  A  great  part  of  England  affords  no  stone 
fit  for  building,  and  the  vast,  though  unfortunately  not  inex- 
haustible, resources  of  her  oak  forests  were  easily  applied  to 
less  durable  and  magnificent  structures.  A  frame  of  massive 
timber,  independent  of  walls  and  resembling  the  inverted 
hull  of  a  large  ship,  formed  the  skeleton,  as  it  were,  of  an 
ancient  hall — the  principal  beams  springing  from  the  ground 
naturally  curved,  and  forming  a  Gothic  arch  overhead.  The 
intervals  of  these  were  filled  up  with  horizontal  planks  ;  but 
in  the  earlier  buildings,  at  least  in  some  districts,  no  part  of 
the  walls  was  of  stone.  Stone  houses  are,  however,  men- 
tioned as  belonging  to  citizens  of  London,  even  in  the  reign 

"  The  rnins  of  Herstmoncenx  are,  I  believe,  tolerably  authentic  remains  of  Henry 
VI.'s  age,  but  only  a  part  of  Haddon  Hall  is  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

13  The  quadrangular  form,  however,  was  not  ancient— Ay  don,  Northumberland 
Little  Wenham  Hall,  SnfTolk ;  Markenfield  Hall,  Yorkshire ;  and  Great  Chalfield, 
Wilts— ranging  in  date  from  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  lattei 
half  of  the  fifteenth  century— are  not  quadrangular.    Others  might  be  named. 


State  of  Society.        CIVIL  ARCHITECTURE.  613 

of  Henry  II. ;  and,  though  not  often,  perhaps,  regularly  hewn 
stones,  yet  those  scattered  over  the  soil  or  dug  from  flint 
quarries,  bound  together  with  a  very  strong  and  durable  ce- 
ment, were  employed  in  the  construction  of  manerial  houses, 
especially  in  the  western  counties  and  other  parts  where  that 
material  is  easily  procured.  Gradually,  even  in  timber  build- 
ings, the  intervals  of  the  main  beams,  which  now  became  per- 
pendicular, not  throwing  off  their  curved  springers  till  they 
reached  a  considerable  height,  were  occupied  by  stone  walls, 
or,  where  stone  was  expensive,  by  mortar  or  plaster,  inter- 
sected by  horizontal  or  diagonal  beams,  grooved  into  the 
principal  piers.  This  mode  of  building  continued  for  a  long 
time,  and  is  still  familiar  to  our  eyes  in  the  older  streets  of 
the  metropolis  and  other  towns,  and  in  many  parts  of  the 
country,  but  it  did  not  come  into  general  use  till  the  reign 
of  Henry  VI.  The  use  of  brick  in  building  seems  to  have 
fallen  into  comparative  disuse ;  but  so  simple  an  art  as  mak- 
ing bricks  can  hardly  have  been  lost.  We  have  an  instance 
of  an  early  edifice  constructed  chiefly  of  this  material  in  Lit- 
tle Wenham  Hall,  in  Suffolk,  which  was  erected  about  1270; 
but  many  considerable  houses  as  well  as  public  buildings 
were  erected  with  bricks  during  his  reign  and  that  of  Ed- 
ward IV.,  chiefly  in  the  eastern  counties,  where  the  defi- 
ciency of  stone  was  most  experienced.  Queen's  College  and 
Clare  Hall,  at  Cambridge,  and  part  of  Eton  College,  are 
subsisting  witnesses  to  the  durability  of  the  material  as  it 
was  then  employed. 

It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  English  gentry  were 
lodged  in  stately  or  even  in  well-sized  houses.  Generally 
speaking,  their  dwellings  were  almost  as  inferior  to  those  of 
their  descendants  in  capacity  as  they  were  in  convenience. 
The  usual  arrangement  consisted  of  an  entrance-passage  run- 
ning through  the  house,  with  a  hall  on  one  side,  a  parlor  be- 
yond, and  one  or  two  chambers  above ;  and  on  the  opposite 
side,  a  kitchen,  pantry,  and  other  oflices.  Such  was  the  or- 
dinary manor-house  oV  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 
Larger  structures  were  erected  by  men  of  great  estates  after 
the  wars  of  the  Roses ;  but  I  should  conceive  it  diflScult  to 
name  a  house  in  England,  still  inhabited  by  a  gentleman  and 
not  belonging  to  the  order  of  castles,  the  principal  apart- 
ments of  which  are  older  than  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  The 
instances  at  least  must  be  extremely  few." 

France  by  no  means  appears  to  have  made  a  greater  prog- 
ress  than  our  own  country  in  domestic  architecture.     Except 

'*  For  further  defailn  on  Domestic  Architecture  iu  Eu2:h\nd,  see  ISote  L 


614  INVENTION  OF  CHIMNEYS.     Chap.  IX.  Fakt  IL 

fortified  castles,  I  do  not  find  any  considerable  dwellings 
mentioned  before  the  reign  of  Charles  VII.,  and  very  few  of 
so  early  a  date.  Even  in  Italy,  where,  from  the  size  of  her 
cities  and  social  refinements  of  her  inhabitants,  greater  ele- 
gance and  splendor  in  building  were  justly  to  be  expected, 
the  domestic  architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages  did  not  at- 
tain any  perfection.  In  several  towns  the  houses  were  cov- 
ered with  thatch,  and  suffiered  consequently  from  destruct- 
ive fires. 

The  two  most  essential  improvements  in  architecture  dur- 
ing this  period,  one  of  which  had  been  missed  by  the  sagac- 
ity of  Greece  and  Rome,  were  chimneys  and  glass  windows. 
Nothing,  apparently,  can  be  more  simple  than  the  former; 
yet  the  wisdom  of  ancient  times  had  been  content  to  let  the 
smoke  escape  by  an  aperture  in  the  centre  of  the  roof;  and  a 
discovery,  of  which  Vitruvius  had  not  a  glimpse,  was  made, 
perhaps  in  this  country,  by  some  forgotten  semi-barbarian. 
About  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  use  of  chim- 
neys is  distinctly  mentioned  in  England  and  in  Italy ;  but 
they  are  found  in  several  of  our  castles  which  bear  a  much 
older  date.'"  This  country  seems  to  have  lost  very  early 
the  art  of  making  glass,  which  was  preserved  in  France, 
whence  artificers  were  brought  into  England  to  furnish  the 
windows  in  some  new  churches  in  the  seventh  century.  It 
is  said  that  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  a  few  ecclesiastical 
buildings  had  glazed  windows.  Suger,  however,  a  century 
before,  had  adorned  his  great  work,  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis, 
with  windows,  not  only  glazed  but  painted  ;  and  I  presume 
that  other  churches  of  the  same  class,  both  in  France  and 
England,  especially  after  the  lancet-shaped  window  had  yield- 
ed to  one  of  ampler  dimensions,  were  generally  decorated  in 
a  similar  manner.  Yet  glass  is  said  not  to  have  been  employ- 
ed in  the  domestic  architecture  of  France  before  the  four- 
is  Mr.  Twopeny  observes  :  "  There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  evidence  of  the  use 
of  chimney-shafts  iu  England  prior  to  the  twelfth  centary.  In  Rochester  Castle, 
which  is  in  all  probability  the  work  of  William  Corbyl,  about  1130,  there  are  com- 
plete fire-places  with  semicircular  backs,  and  a  shaft  in  each  jamb,  supporting  a  semi- 
circular arch  over  the  opening,  and  that  is  enriched  with  the  zigzag  moulding ;  some 
of  these  project  slightly  from  the  wall ;  the  flues,  however,  go  only  a  few  feet  up  in 
the  thickness  of  the  wall,  and  are  then  turned  out  at  the  back,  the  apertures  being 
small  oblong  holes.  At  the  castle,  Hedingham,  Essex,  which  is  of  about  the  same 
date,  there  are  fire-places  and  chimneys  of  a  similar  kind.  A  few  years  later,  the  im- 
provement of  carrying  the  flue  up  the  whole  height  of  the  wall  appears  ;  as  at  Christ 
Church,  Hants;  the  keep  at  Newcastle;  Sherborne  Castle,  etc.  The  early  chimney- 
shafts  are  of  considerable  height,  and  circular ;  afterwards  they  assumed  a  great 
variety  of  forms,  and  during  the  fourteenth  century  they  are  frequently  very  short."— 
Glossary  of  Ancient  Architecture,  p.  100,  edit.  1845.  It  is  said,  too,  here  that  chimneys 
were  seldom  used  in  halls  till  near  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century;  the  smoke  took 
its  course,  if  it  pleased,  through  a  hole  in  the  roof. 


State  of  Society.       FURNITURE  OF  HOUSES.  615 

teenth  century  ;  and  its  introduction  into  England  was  prob- 
ably by  no  means  earlier.  Nor,  indeed,  did  it  come  into  gen- 
eral use  during  the  period  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Glazed  win- 
dows were  considered  as  movable  furniture,  and  probably 
bore  a  high  price.  When  the  earls  of  Northumberland,  as 
late  as  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  left  Alnwick  Castle,  the  win- 
dows were  taken  out  of  their  frames,  and  carefully  laid  by. 

But  if  the  domestic  buildings  of  the  fifteenth  century 
would  not  seem  very  spacious  or  convenient  at  present,  far 
less  would  this  luxurious  generation  be  content  with  their 
internal  accommodations.  A  gentleman's  house  containing 
three  or  four  beds  was  extraordinarily  well  provided ;  few, 
probably,  had  more  than  two.  The  walls  were  commonly 
bare,  without  wainscot  or  even  plaster ;  except  that  some 
great  houses  were  furnished  with  hangings,  and  that  per- 
haps liardly  so  soon  as  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  add,  that  neither  libraries  of  books  nor  pictures 
could  have  found  a  place  among  furniture.  Silver  plate  was 
very  rare,  and  hardly  used  for  the  table.  A  few  inventories 
of  furniture  that  still  remain  exhibit  a  miserable  deficiency. 
And  this  was  incomparably  greater  in  private  gentlemen's 
houses  than  among  citizens,  and  especially  foreign  mer- 
chants. We  have  an  inventory  of  the  goods  belonging  to 
Contarini,  a  rich  Venetian  trader,  at  his  house  in  St.  Bo- 
tolph's  Lane,  a.d.  1481.  There  appear  to  have  been  no  less 
than  ten  beds,  and  glass  windows  are  especially  noticed  as 
movable  furniture.  No  mention,  however,  is  made  of  chairs 
or  looking-glasses.  If  we  compare  this  account,  however 
trifling  in  our  estimation,  with  a  similar  inventory  of  furni- 
ture in  Skipton  Castle,  the  great  honor  of  the  earls  of  Cum- 
berland, and  among  the  most  splendid  mansions  of  the  North, 
not  at  the  same  period — for  I  have  not  found  any  invento- 
ry of  a  nobleman's  furniture  so  ancient — but  in  1572,  after 
almost  a  century  of  continual  improvement,  we  shall  be  as- 
tonished at  the  inferior  provision  of  the  baronial  residence. 
There  were  not  more  than  seven  or  eight  beds  in  this  great 
castle  ;  nor  had  any  of  the  chambers  either  chairs,  glasses,  or 
carpets.  It  is  in  this  sense,  probably,  that  we  must  under- 
stand ^neas  Sylvius,  if  he  meant  any  thing  more  than  to 
express  a  traveller's  discontent,  when  he  declares  that  the 
kings  of  Scotland  would  rejoice  to  be  as  well  lodged  as  the 
second  class  of  citizens  at  Nuremberg.  Few  burghers  of 
that  town  had  mansions,  I  presume,  equal  to  the  palaces  of 
Dumferlin  or  Stirling;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  they  were 
better  furnished. 


616  FARM-HOUSES.  Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 

In  the  construction  of  farm-houses  and  cottages,  especially 
the  latter,  there  have  probably  been  fewer  changes;  and 
those  it  would  be  more  difficult  to  follow.  No  building  of 
this  class  can  be  supposed  to  exist  of  the  antiquity  to  which 
the  present  work  is  confined  ;  and  I  do  not  know  that  we 
have  any  document  as  to  the  inferior  architecture  of  En 
gland  so  valuable  as  one  which  M.  de  Paulmy  has  quoted 
for  that  of  France,  though  perhaps  more  strictly  applicable 
to  Italy,  an  illuminated  manuscript  of  the  fourteenth  centu- 
ry, being  a  translation  of  Crescentio's  work  on  agriculture, 
illustrating  the  customs  and,  among  other  things,  the  habita- 
tions of  the  agricultural  class.  According  to  Paulmy,  there  is 
no  other  difference  between  an  ancient  and  a  modern  farm- 
house than  arises  from  the  introduction  of  tiled  roofs.  In 
the  original  work  of  Crescentio,  a  native  of  Bologna,  who 
composed  this  treatise  on  rural  affairs  about  the  year  1300, 
an  Italian  farm-house,  when  built  at  least  according  to  his 
plan,  appears  to  have  been  commodious  both  in  size  and  ar- 
rangement. Cottages  in  England  seem  to  have  generally 
consisted  of  a  single  room,  without  division  of  stories.  Chim- 
neys were  unknown  in  such  dwellings  till  the  early  part  of 
Elizabeth's  reign,  when  a  very  rapid  and  sensible  improve- 
ment took  place  in  the  comforts  of  our  yeomanry  and  cot- 
tagers. 

§  13.  It  must  be  remembered  that  I  have  introduced  this 
disadvantageous  representation  of  civil  architecture  as  a 
proof  of  general  poverty  and  backwardness  in  the  refinements 
of  life.  Considered  in  its  higher  departments,  that  art  is  the 
principal  boast  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  common  buildings, 
especially  those  of  a  public  kind,  were  constructed  with  skill 
and  attention  to  durability.  The  castellated  style  displays 
these  qualities  in  great  perfection ;  the  means  are  well 
adapted  to  their  objects,  and  its  imposing  grandeur,  though 
chiefly  resulting,  no  doubt,  from  massiveness  and  historical 
association,  sometimes  indicates  a  degree  of  architectural 
genius  in  the  conception.  But  the  most  remarkable  works 
of  this  art  are  the  religious  edifices  erected  in  the  twelfth 
and  three  following  centuries.  These  structures,  imiting 
sublimity  in  general  composition  with  the  beauties  of  varie- 
ty and  form,  intricac}''  of  parts,  skillful  or  at  least  fortunate 
effects  of  shadow  and  light,  and  in  some  instances  wdth  ex- 
traordinary mechanical  science,  are  naturally  apt  to  lead 
those  antiquaries  who  are  most  conversant  with  them  into 
too  partial  estimates  of  the  times  wherein  they  were  founded. 
They  certainly  are  accustomed  to  behold  the  fairest  side  of 


State  op  Society.     ECCLESIASTICAL  ARCHITECTUKE.  617 

the  picture.  It  was  the  favorite  and  most  honorable  employ- 
ment of  ecclesiastical  wealth  to  erect,  to  enlarge,  to  repair, 
to  decorate  cathedral  and  conventual  churches.  An  immense 
capital  must  have  been  expended  upon  these  buildings  in 
England  between  the  Conquest  and  the  Reformation.  And 
it  is  pleasing  to  observe  how  the  seeds  of  genius,  hidden  as 
it  were  under  the  frost  of  that  dreary  winter,  began  to  bud 
in  the  first  sunshine  of  encouragement.  In  the  darkest  period 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  especially  after  the  Scandinavian  incur 
sions  into  France  and  England,  ecclesiastical  architecture, 
though  always  far  more  advanced  than  any  other  art,  bespoke 
the  rudeness  and  poverty  of  the  times.  It  began  towards  the 
latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century,  when  tranquillity,  at  least 
as  to  former  enemies,  was  restored,  and  some  degree  of  learn- 
ing reappeared,  to  assume  a  more  noble  appearance.  The 
Anglo-Norman  cathedrals  were  perhaps  as  much  distinguish- 
ed above  other  works  of  man  in  their  own  age,  as  the  more 
splendid  edifices  of  a  later  period.  The  science  manifested 
in  them  is  not,  however,  very  great ;  and  their  style,  though 
by  no  means  destitute  of  lesser  beauties,  is,  upon  the  whole, 
an  awkward  imitation  of  Roman  architecture,  or  perhaps 
more  immediately  of  the  Saracenic  buildings  in  Spain  and 
those  of  the  lower  Greek  Empire.  But  about  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century  this  manner  began  to  give  place  to  what 
is  improperly  denominated  the  Gothic  architecture;  of  which 
the  pointed  arch,  formed  by  the  segments  of  two  intersecting 
semicircles  of  equal  radius  and  described  about  a  common 
diameter,  has  generally  been  deemed  the  essential  character- 
istic. We  are  not  concerned  at  present  to  inquire  whether 
this  style  originated  in  France  or  Germany,  Italy  or  England, 
since  it  was  certainly  almost  simultaneous  in  all  these  coun- 
tries; nor  from  what  source  it  was  derived — a  question  of 
no  small  difficulty.  I  would  only  venture  to  remark  that, 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  origin  of  the  pointed  arch, 
for  which  there  is  more  than  one  mode  of  accounting,  we 
must  perceive  a  very  Oriental  character  in  the  vast  profusion 
of  ornament,  especially  on  the  exterior  surface,  which  is  as 
distinguishing  a  mark  of  Gothic  buildings  as  their  arches,  and 
contributes  in  an  eminent  degree  both  to  their  beauties  and 
to  their  defects.  This  indeed  is  rather  applicable  to  the  later 
than  the  earlier  stage  of  architecture,  and  rather  to  Continent- 
al than  English  churches.  Amiens  is  in  a  far  more  florid 
style  than  Salisbury,  thougli  a  contemporary  structure.  The 
Gothic  species  of  architecture  is  thought  by  most  to  have 
reached  its  perfection,  considered  as  an  object  of  taste,  by  the 


618  riiOGKESS  OF  AGKICULTUKE.     Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 

middle  or  perhaps  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  or  at 
least  to  have  lost  somethmg  of  its  excellence  by  the  corre- 
sponding part  of  the  next  age;  an  effect  of  its  early  and 
rapid  cultivation,  since  arts  appear  to  have,  like  individuals, 
their  natural  progress  and  decay.  The  mechanical  execution, 
however,  continued  to  improve,  and  is  so  far  beyond  the  ap- 
parent intellectua^l  powers  of  those  times,  that  some  have 
ascribed  the  principal  ecclesiastical  structures  to  the  fraterni- 
ty of  freemasons,  depositaries  of  a  concealed  and  traditionary 
science.  There  is  probably  some  ground  for  this  opinion  ; 
and  the  earlier  archives  of  that  mysterious  association,  if  they 
existed,  might  illustrate  the  progress  of  Gothic  architecture, 
and  perhaps  reveal  its  origin.  The  remarkable  change  into 
this  new  style,  that  was  almost  contemporaneous  in  every 
part  of  Europe,  can  not  be  explained  by  any  local  circum- 
stances, or  the  capricious  taste  of  a  single  nation. 

§  14.  It  would  be  a  pleasing  task  to  tiaee  with  satisfactory 
exactness  the  slow  and  almost,  perhaps,  insensible  progress 
of  agriculture  and  internal  improvement  during  the  latter 
period  of  the  Middle  Ages.  I  have  already  adverted  to  the 
wretched  condition  of  agriculture  during  the  prevalence  of 
feudal  tenures,  as  well  as  before  their  general  establishment. 
Yet  even  in  the  least  civilized  ages  there  were  not  wanting 
partial  encouragements  to  cultivation,  and  the  ameliorating 
principle  of  human  industry  struggled  against  destructive 
revolutions  and  barbarous  disorder.  The  devastation  of  war 
from  the  fifth  to  the  eleventh  century  rendered  land  the  least 
costly  of  all  gifts,  though  it  must  ever  be  the  most  truly  val- 
uable and  permanent.  Many  of  the  grants  to  monasteries, 
which  strike  us  as  enormous,  were  of  districts  absolutely 
wasted,  which  would  probably  have  been  reclamied  by  no 
other  means.  We  owe  the  agricultural  restoration  of  great 
part  of  Europe  to  the  monks.  They  chose,  for  the  sake  of 
retirement,  secluded  regions,  which  they  cultivated  with  the 
labor  of  their  hands.  Several  charters  are  extant,  granted 
to  convents,  and  sometimes  to  laymen,  of  lands  which  they 
had  recovered  from  a  desert  condition,  after  the  ravages  of 
the  Saracens.  Some  districts  were  allotted  to  a  body  of  Span- 
ish colonists,  who  emigrated,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Debo- 
nair, to  live  under  a  Christian  sovereign.  Nor  is  this  the 
only  instance  of  agricultural  colonies.  Charlemagne  trans- 
planted part  of  his  conquered  Saxons  into  Flanders,  a  coun- 
try at  that  time  almost  unpeopled ;  and  at  a  much  later  pe- 
riod there  was  a  remarkable  reflux  from  the  same  country,  or 
rather  from  Hollan^:,to  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic  Sea.     In  the 


State  of  Societv.     AGRICULTURE  IN  ENGLAND.  619 

twelfth  century,  great  numbers  of  Dutch  colonists  settled 
along  the  whole  line  between  the  Eras  and  the  Vistula.  They 
obtained  grants  of  uncultivated  land  on  condition  of  fixed 
rents,  and  were  governed  by  their  own  laws  under  magis- 
trates of  their  own  election. 

There  can  not  be  a  more  striking  proof  of  the  low  condi- 
tion of  English  agriculture  in  the  eleventh  century  than  is 
exhibited  by  Doomsday-book.  Though  almost  all  England 
had  been  partially  cultivated,  and  we  find  nearly  the  same 
manors,  except  in  the  north,  which  exist  at  present,  yet  the 
value  and  extent  of  cultivated  ground  are  inconceivably  small. 
We  are  lost  in  amazement  at  the  constant  recurrence  of  two 
or  three  carucates  in  demesne,  with  other  lands  occupied  by 
ten  or  a  dozen  villeins,  valued  altogether  at  forty  shillings, 
as  the  return  of  a  manor,  which  now  would  yield  a  competent 
income  to  a  gentleman.  If  Doomsday- book  can  be  consid- 
ered as  even  approaching  to  accuracy  in  respect  of  these  esti- 
mates, agriculture  must  certainly  have  made  a  very  material 
progress  in  the  four  succeeding  centuries.  By  the  statute  of 
Merton,  in  the  20th  of  Henry  III.,  the  lord  is  permitted  to 
approve,  that  is,  to  inclose  the  waste  lands  of  his  manor,  pro- 
vided he  leave  sufiicient  common  of  pasture  for  the  freehold- 
ers. Iligden,  a  writer  who  lived  about  the  time  of  Richard 
II.,  says,  in  reference  to  the  number  of  hides  and  vills  of 
England  at  the  Conquest,  that  by  clearing  woods  and  plough- 
ing up  wastes  there  were  many  more  of  each  in  his  age  than 
formerly.  And  it  might  be  easily  presumed,  independent- 
ly of  proof,  that  woods  were  cleared,  marshes  drained,  and 
wastes  brought  into  tillage,  during  the  long  period  that  the 
house  of  Plantagenet  sat  on  the  throne.  From  manerial  sur- 
veys indeed  and  similar  instruments,  it  appears  that  in  some 
places  there  was  nearly  as  much  ground  cultivated  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III.  as  at  the  present  day.  The  condition 
of  diflferent  counties,  however,  was  very  far  from  being  alike, 
and  in  general  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  England 
were  the  most  backward. 

The  culture  of  arable  land  was  very  imperfect.  Fleta  re- 
marks, in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  or  11. ,  that  unless  an  acre 
yielded  more  than  six  bushels  of  corn,  the  farmer  would  be  a 
loser,  and  the  land  yield  no  rent.  And  Sir  John  Cnllum,  from 
very  minute  accounts,  has  calculated  that  nine  or  ten  bushels 
were  a  full  average  crop  on  an  acre  of  wheat.  An  amazing 
excess  of  tillage  accompanied,  and  partly,  I  suppose,  produced, 
this  imperfect  cultivation.  In  Hawsted,  for  example,  under 
Edward  I.,  there  were  thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  acres  of 
aiable,  and  only  forty-five  of  meadow  ground.    A  similar  dis-. 


620  AGRICULTURE  IN  ENGLAND      Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

proportion  occurs  almost  invariably  in  every  account  we  pos- 
sess. This  seems  inconsistent  with  the  low  price  of  cattle. 
But  we  must  recollect  that  the  common  pasture,  often  the 
most  extensive  part  of  a  manor,  is  not  included,  at  least  by 
any  specific  measurement,  in  these  surveys.  The  rent  of  land 
differed  of  course  materially;  sixpence  an  acre  seems  to  have 
been  about  the  average  for  arable  land  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, though  meadow  was  at  double  or  treble  that  sum.  But 
the  landlords  were  naturally  solicitous  to  augment  a  revenue 
that  became  more  and  more  inadequate  to  their  luxuries. 
They  grew  attentive  to  agricultural  concerns,  and  perceived 
that  a  high  rate  of  produce,  against  which  their  less  enlight- 
ened ancestors  had  been  used  to  clamor,  would  bring  much 
more  into  their  coffers  than  it  took  away.  The  exportation 
of  corn  had  been  absolutely  prohibited.  But  the  statute  of 
the  15th  of  Henry  VI.,  c.  2,  reciting  that  "on  this  account 
farmers  and  others  w^ho  use  husbandry  can  not  sell  their  corn 
but  at  a  low  price,  to  the  great  damage  of  the  realm,"  permits 
it  to  be  sent  anywhere  but  to  the  king's  enemies,  so  long  as 
the  quarter  of  wheat  shall  not  exceed  Qs.  8d.  in  value,  or  that 
of  barley  Ss. 

The  price  of  wool  was  fixed  in  the  thirty-second  year  of 
the  same  reign  at  a  minimum,  below  whicli  no  person  was 
suffered  to  buy  it,  though  he  might  give  more — a  provision 
neither  wise  nor  equitable,  but  obviously  suggested  by  the 
same  motive.  Whether  the  rents  of  land  were  augmented 
in  any  degree  through  these  measures,  I  have  not  perceived  ; 
their  great  rise  took  place  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHL,  or 
rather  afterwards.  The  usual  price  of  land  under  Edward 
IV.  seems  to  have  been  ten  years'  purchase. 

In  Italy  the  rich  Lombard  plains,  still  more  fertilized  by 
irrigation,  became  a  garden,  and  agriculture  seems  to  have 
reached  the  excellence  which  it  still  retains.  The  constant 
warfare,  indeed,  of  neighboring  cities  is  not  very  favorable  to 
industry  ;  and  upon  this  account  we  might  incline  to  place 
the  greatest  territorial  improvement  of  Lombardy  at  an  era 
rather  posterior  to  that  of  her  republican  government ;  but 
from  this  it  primarily  sprung ;  and  without  the  subjugation 
of  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and  that  perpetual  demand  upon 
the  fertility  of  the  earth  which  an  increasing  population  of 
citizens  produced,  the  valley  of  the  Po  would  not  have  yield- 
ed more  to  human  labor  than  it  had  done  for  several  preced- 
ing centuries.  Though  Lombardy  was  extremely  populous 
in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  she  exported  large 
quantities  of  corn.  But  whatever  mysterious  influence  of 
soil  or  climate  has  scattered  the  seeds  of  death  on  the  west- 


State  of  Society.      AND  IN  FRANCE  AND  ITALY.  621 

ern  regions  of  Tuscany,  had  not  manifested  itself  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  Among  uninhabitable  plains,  the  traveller  is  struck 
by  the  ruins  of  innumerable  castles  and  villages,  monuments 
of  a  time  when  pestilence  was  either  unfelt,  or  had  at 
least  not  forbade  the  residence  of  mankind.  Yolterra,  whose 
deserted  walls  look  down  upon  that  tainted  solitude,  was 
once  a  small  but  free  republic.  Siena,  round  whom,  though 
less  depopulated,  the  malignant  influence  hovers,  was  once 
almost  the  nyal  of  Florence.  So  melancholy  and  apparently 
irresistible  a  decline  of  culture  and  population  through  phys- 
ical causes,  as  seems  to.  have  gradually  overspread  that  por- 
tion of  Italy,  has  not,  perhaps,  been  experienced  in  any  other 
part  of  Europe,  unless  we  except  Iceland. 

The  Italians  of  the  fourteenth  century  seem  to  have  paid 
some  attention  to  an  art  of  which,  both  as  related  to  cultiva- 
tion and  to  architecture,  our  own  forefathers  were  almost  en- 
tirely ignorant.  Crescentius  dilates  upon  horticulture,  and 
gives  a  pretty  long  list  of  herbs,  both  esculent  and  medicinal. 
His  notions  about  the  ornamental  department  are  rather  be- 
yond what  we  should  expect,  and  I  do  not  know  that  his 
scheme  of  a  flower-garden  could  be  much  amended.  His 
general  arrangements,  which  are  minutely  detailed  with  ev- 
ident fondness  for  the  subject,  would  of  course  appear  too 
formal  at  present;  yet  less  so  than  those  of  subsequent  times; 
and  though  acquainted  with  what  is  called  the  topiary  art, 
that  of  training  or  cutting  trees  into  regular  figures,  he  does 
not  seem  to  run  into  its  extravagance.  Regular  gardens, 
according  to  Paulmy,  were  not  made  in  France  till  the 
sixteenth  or  even  seventeenth  century ;  yet  one  is  said  to 
have  existed  at  the  Louvre  of  much  older  construction.  En- 
gland, I  believe,  had  nothing  of  the  ornamental  kind,  unless 
it  were  some  trees  regularly  disposed  in  the  orchard  of  a 
monastery.  Even  the  common  horticultural  art  for  culinary 
purposes,  though  not  entirely  neglected,  since  the  produce 
of  gardens  is  sometimes  mentioned  in  ancient  deeds,  had  not 
been  cultivated  with  much  attention.  The  esculent  vegeta- 
bles now  most  in  use  were  introduced  in  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, and  some  sorts  a  great  deal  later. 

§  15.  I  should  leave  this  slight  survey  of  economical  his- 
tory still  more  imperfect  were  I  to  make  no  observation  on 
the  relative  values  of  money.  Without  something  like  pre- 
cision in  our  notions  upon  this  subject,  every  statistical  in- 
quiry becomes  a  source  of  confusion  and  error. 

In  the  reigns  of  Henry  III.  and  Edward  I.,  previously  to 
the  first  debasement  of  the  coin  by  the  latter  in  1301,  the 
ordinary  price  of  a  quarter  of  wheat  appears  to  have  been 


622 


CHANGES  IN  THE 


Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 


about  four  shillings,  aud  that  of  barley  and  oats  in  propor- 
tion. A  sheep  was  rather  sold  high  at  a  shilling,  and  an  ox 
might  be  reckoned  at  ten  or  twelve.  The  value  of  cattle  is, 
of  course,  dependent  upon  their  breed  and  condition,  and  we 
have  unluckily  no  early  account  of  butcher's  meat ;  but  we 
can  hardly  take  a  less  multiple  than  about  thirty  for  animal 
food,  and  eighteen  or  twenty  for  corn,  in  order  to  bring  the 
prices  of  the  thirteenth  century  to  a  level  with  those  of  the 
present  day.  Combining  the  two,  and  setting  the  compara- 
tive dearness  of  cloth  against  the  cheapness  of  fuel  and  many 
other  articles,  we  may,  perhaps,  consider  any  given  sum  un- 
der Henry  III.  and  Edward  I.  as  equivalent  in  general  com- 
mand over  commodities  to  about  twenty-four  or  twenty-five 
times  their  nominal  value  at  present.  Under  Henry  VI.  the 
coin  had  lost  one-third  of  its  weight  in  silver,  which  caused 
a  proportional  increase  of  money  prices  ;  but,  so  far  as  I  can 
perceive,  there  had  been  no  diminution  in  the  value  of  that 
metal.  We  have  not  much  information  as  to  the  fertility  of 
the  mines  which  supplied  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages ; 
but  it  is  probable  that  the  drain  of  silver  towards  the  East, 
joined  to  the  ostentatious  splendor  of  courts,  might  fully  ab- 
sorb the  usual  produce.  By  the  statute  15  Henry  VI.,  c.  2, 
the  price  up  to  which  wheat  might  be  exported  is  fixed  at 
6s.  8d.,  a  point  no  doubt  above  the  average  ;  and  the  private 
documents  of  that  period,  which  are  sufficiently  numerous, 
lead  to  a  similar  result.'"  Sixteen  will  be  a  proper  multiple 
when  we  would  bring  the  general  value  of  money  in  this 
reign  to  our  present  standard.'^ 

»»  These  will  chiefly  be  found  in  Sir  F.  Eden's  table  of  prices  ;  the  following  may 
be  added  from  the  account-book  of  a  convent  between  1415  and  1425.  Wheat  varied 
from  4s.  to  6«.— barley  from  3«.  2d.  to  4s.  lOd.— oats  from  Is.  8d.  to  2s.  id. — oxen  from 
12s.  to  168.— sheep  from  Is.  2d.  to  Is.  4d.— butter  id.  per  lb.— eggs  twenty-five  for  Id.— 
cheese  id.  per  lb.— Lausdowne  MSS.,  vol.  i.,  Nos.  28  and  29.  These  prices  do  not  al- 
ways agree  with  those  given  in  other  documents  of  equal  authority  in  the  same 
period ;  but  the  value  of  provisions  varied  in  different  counties,  and  still  more  so  in 
different  seasons  of  the  year. 

I'  I  insert  the  following  comparative  table  of  English  money  from  Sir  Frederick 
Eden : 


Value  of 
pound 

sterling, 
present 
money. 

Proper 
tion. 

Value  of 
pound 
sterling, 
present 
money. 

Propor- 
tion. 

Conquest 1066 

28  Edward  1 1300 

18  Edward  III.... 1344 
20  Edward  III.... 1346 
27  Edward  III.... 1363 

13  Henry  IV 1412 

4  Edward  IV....  1464 
IS  Henry  VIII....  1527 

£.  ».      d. 
2  18    H 
2  17    5 
2  12    5i 
2  11     8 
2    6    6 
1  18    9 
1  11     0 
1     7     6i 

2-906 

2-871 

2-622 

2-583 

2-325 

1-937 

1-55 

1-378 

34  Henry  VIII. .  .1543 

36  Henry  VIII..  .1545 

37  Henry  VIII. .  .1546 

5  Edward  VI....  1551 

6  Edward  VI....  1552 

1  Mary 1553 

2  Elizabeth 1560 

43  Elizabeth 1001 

£.  s.      d. 
1    3    3i- 
0  13  Hi 
0    9    3f 

0  4    7f 

1  0    6f 
1     0    5f 
10    8 
10    0 

1-163 
0-698 
0-466 
0-232 
1-028 
1-024 
1-033 
1-000  1 

State  of  Society.  VALUE  OF  MONEY.  623 

But  after  ascertaining  the  proportional  values  of  money 
at  different  periods  by  a  comparison  of  the  prices  in  several 
of  the  chief  articles  of  expenditure,  which  is  the  only  fair 
process,  we  shall  sometimes  be  surprised  at  incidental  facts 
of  this  class  which  seem  irreducible  to  any  rule.  These  dif- 
ficulties arise  not  so  much  from  the  relative  scarcity  of  par- 
ticular commodities,  which  it  is  for  the  most  part  easy  to  ex- 
plain, as  from  the  change  in  manners  and  in  the  usual  mode 
of  living.  We  have  reached  in  this  age  so  high  a  pitch  of 
luxury  that  we  can  hardly  believe  or  comprehend  the  frugal- 
ity of  ancient  times,  and  have  in  general  formed  mistaken 
notions  as  to  the  habits  of  expenditure  which  then  prevailed. 
Accustomed  to  judge  of  feudal  and  chivalrous  ages  by  works 
of  fiction,  or  by  historians  who  embellished  their  writings 
with  accounts  of  occasional  festivals  and  tournaments,  and 
sometimes  inattentive  enough  to  transfer  the  manners  of  the 
seventeenth  to  the  fourteenth  century,  we  are  not  at  all 
aware  of  the  usual  simplicity  with  Avhich  the  gentry  lived 
under  Edward  I.  or  even  Henry  VI.  They  drank  little  wine ; 
they  had  no  foreign  luxuries  ;  they  rarely  or  never  kept  male 
servants  except  lor  husbandry ;  their  horses,  as  we  may 
guess  by  the  price,  were  indifferent ;  they  seldom  travelled 
beyond  their  county.  And  even  their  hospitality  must 
have  been  greatly  limited,  if  the  value  of  manors  were  really 
no  greater  than  we  find  it  in  many  surveys.  Twenty-four 
seems  a  sufiicient  multiple  when  we  would  raise  a  sum  men- 
tioned by  a  writer  under  Edward  I.  to  the  same  real  value 
expressed  in  our  present  money,  but  an  income  of  £10  or 
£20  was  reckoned  a  competent  estate  for  a  gentleman ;  at 
least  the  lord  of  a  single  manor  would  seldom  have  enjoyed 
more.  A  knight  who  possessed  £150  per  annum  passed  for 
extremely  rich.  Yet  this  was  not  equal  in  command  over 
commodities  to  £4000  at  present.  But  this  income  was  com^ 
paratively  free  from  taxation,  and  its  expenditure  lightened 
by  the  services  of  his  villeins.  Such  a  person,  however,  must 
have  been  among  the  most  opulent  of  country  gentlemen. 
Sir  John  Fortescue  speaks  of  five  pounds  a  year  as  "a  fair 
living  for  a  yeoman,"  a  class  of  whom  he  is  not  at  all  inclined 
to  diminish  the  importance.  So,  when  Sir  William  Drury, 
one  of  the  richest  men  in  Suffolk,  bequeaths,  in  1493,  fifty 
marks  to  each  of  his  daughters,  we  must  not  imagine  that 
this  was  of  greater  value  than  four  or  five  hundred  pounds 
at  this  day,  but  remark  the  family  pride  and  want  of  ready 
money  which  induced  country  gentlemen  to  leave  their 
younger  children  in  poverty.     Or,  if  we  read  that  the  ex- 


624  PAY  OF  LABORERS.         Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

pense  of  a  scholar  at  the  university  in  1514  was  but  five 
pounds  annually,  we  should  err  in  supposing  that  he  had  the 
liberal  accommodation  which  the  present  age  deems  indis- 
pensable, but  consider  how  much  could  be  afforded  for  about 
sixty  pounds,  which  will  be  not  far  from  the  proportion. 
And  what  would  a  modern  lawyer  say  to  the  following  en- 
try in  the  church-warden's  accounts  of  St.  Margaret,  West- 
minster, for  1476  :  '*Also  paid  to  Roger  Fylpott,  learned  in 
the  law,  for  his  counsel -giving,  3s.  8c?.,  with  fourpence  for 
his  dinner  f"*  Though  fifteen  times  the  fee  might  not  seem 
altogether  inadequate  at  present,  five  shillings  would  hardly 
furnish  the  table  of  a  barrister,  even  if  the  fastidiousness  of 
our  manners  would  admit  of  his  accepting  such  a  dole.  Bnt 
this  fastidiousness,  which  considers  certain  kinds  of  remunera- 
tion degrading  to  a  man  of  liberal  condition,  did  not  prevail 
in  those  simple  ages.  It  would  seem  rather  strange  that  a 
young  lady  should  learn  needle-work  and  good  breeding  in  a 
family  of  superior  rank,  paying  for  her  board ;  yet  such  was 
the  laudable  custom  of  the  fifteenth  and  even  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, as  we  perceive  by  the  Paston  Letters,  and  even  later 
authorities. 

There  is  one  very  unpleasing  remark  which  every  one  who 
attends  to  the  subject  of  prices  will  be  induced  to  make — that 
the  laboring  classes,  especially  those  engaged  in  agriculture, 
were  better  provided  with  the  means  of  subsistence  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III.  or  of  Henry  VI.  than  they  are  at  pres- 
ent. In  the  fourteenth  century  Sir  John  Cullum  observes  a 
liarvest-man  had  fourpence  a  day,  which  enabled  him  in  a 
Aveek  to  buy  a  comb  of  wheat ;  but  to  buy  a  comb  of  wheat 
a  man  must  now  (1784)  work  ten  or  twelve  days.  So,  under 
Henry  VI.,  if  meat  was  at  a  farthing  and  a  half  the  pound, 
which  I  suppose  was  about  the  truth,  a  laborer  earning 
threepence  a  day,  or  eighteen-pence  in  the  week,  could  buy 
a  bushel  o^  wheat  at  six  shillings  the  quarter,  and  twenty- 
four  pounas  of  meat  for  his  family.  Several  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment regulate  the  wages  that  might  be  paid  to  laborers  of 
different  kinds.  Thus  the  statute  of  laborers  in  1350  fixed 
the  wages  of  reapers  during  harvest  at  threepence  a  day 
without  diet,  equal  to  five  shillings  at  present ;  that  of  23 
Henry  VI.,  c.  12,  in  1444,  fixed  the  reapers'  wages  at  five- 
pence,  and  those  of  common  workmen  in  building  at  3|d, 
equal  to  6s.  M.  and  4s.  8c/. ;  that  of  11  Henry  VII.,  c.  22,  in 
1496,  leaves  the  wages  of  laborers  in  harvest  as  before,  but 
rather  increases  those  of  ordinary  workmen.  The  yearly 
wages  of  a  chief  hind  or  shepherd  by  the  act  of  1444  were 


State  of  Society.  PAY  OF  LABORERS.  625 

£1  45,,  equivalent  to  about  £20  ;  those  of  a  common*servant 
in  husbandry,  18^.  4(^.,  with  meat  and  drink:  they  were  some- 
what augmented  by  the  statute  of  1496.  Yet,  although 
these  wages  are  regulated  as  a  maximum  by  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, which  may  naturally  be  supposed  to  have  had  a  view 
rather  towards  diminishing  than  enhancing  the  current  rate, 
I  am  not  fully  convinced  that  they  were  not  rather  beyond 
it ;  private  accounts  at  least  do  not  always  correspond  with 
these  statutable  prices.  And  it  is  necessary  to  remember 
that  the  uncertainty  of  employment,  natural  to  so  imperfect 
a  state  of  husbandry,  must  have  diminished  the  laborers' 
means  of  subsistence.  Extreme  dearth,  not  more  owing  to 
adverse  seasons  than  to  improvident  consumption,  was  fre- 
quently endured.  But  after  every  allowance  of  this  kind  I 
should  find  it  difficult  to  resist  the  conclusion  that,  however 
the  laborer  has  derived  benefit  from  the  cheapness  of  manu- 
factured commodities  and  from  many  inventions  of  common 
utility,  he  is  much  inferior  in  ability  to  support  a  family  to 
his  ancestors  three  or  four  centuries  ago.  I  know  not  why 
some  have  supposed  that  meat  w^as  a  luxury  seldom  obtained 
by  the  laborer.  Doubtless  he  could  not  have  procured  as 
much  as  he  pleased.  But,  from  the  greater  cheapness  of  cat- 
tle, as  compared  with  corn,  it  seems  to  follow  that  a  more 
considerable  portion  of  his  ordinary  diet  consisted  of  animal 
food  than  at  present.  It  was  remarked  by  Sir  John  Fortes- 
cue  that  the  English  lived  far  more  upon  animal  diet  than 
their  rivals,  the  French ;  and  it  was  natural  to  ascribe  their 
superior  strength  and  courage  to  this  cause.  I  should  feel 
much  satisfaction  in  being  convinced  that  no  deterioration  in 
the  state  of  the  labormg  classes  has  really  taken  place ;  yet 
it  can  not,  I  think,  appear  extraordinary  to  those  who  reflect 
that  the  whole  population  of  England  in  the  year  1377  did 
not  much  exceed  2,300,000  souls,  about  one-fifth  of  the  results 
upon  the  last  enumeration — an  increase  with  which  that  of 
the  fruits  of  the  earth  can  not  be  supposed  to  have  kept  an 
even  pace. 

§  16.  The  second  head  to  which  I  referred — the  improve- 
ments of  European  society  in  the  latter  period  of  the  Middle 
Ages — comprehends  several  changes,  not  always  connected 
with  each  other,  which  contributed  to  inspire  a  more  eleva- 
ted tone  of  moral  sentiment,  or  at  least  to  restrain  the  com- 
mission of  crimes.  The  first  and  perhaps  the  most  important 
of  these,  was  the  gradual  elevation  of  those  whom  unjust 
systems  of  polity  had  long  depressed — of  the  people  itself, 
as  opposed  to  the  small  number  of  rich  and  noble — by  the 

27 


626  POLICE.  Chap.  IX.  Pakt  II. 

abolitiftn  or  desuetude  of  domestic  and  predial  servitude,  and 
by  the  privileges  extended  to  corporate  towns.  The  condi- 
tion of  slavery  is,  indeed,  perfectly  consistent  with  the  ob- 
servance of  moral  obligations;  yet  reason  and  experience 
will  justify  the  sentence  of  Homer,  that  he  who  loses  his  lib- 
erty loses  half  his  virtue.  Those  who  have  acquired,  or  may 
hope  to  acquire,  property  of  their  own,  are  most  likely  to 
respect  that  of  others  ;  those  whom  law  protects  as  a  parent 
are  most  willing  to  yield  her  a  filial  obedience  ;  those  w^ho 
have  much  to  gain  by  the  good-will  of  their  fellow-citizens 
are  most  interested  in  the  preservation  of  an  honorable  char- 
acter. I  have  been  led,  in  different  parts  of  the  present  work, 
to  consider  these  great  revolutions  in  the  order  of  society 
under  other  relations  than  that  of  their  moral  efficacy,  and 
it  will  therefore  be  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  them ;  es- 
pecially as  this  efficacy  is  indeterminate,  though  I  think  un- 
questionable, and  rather  to  be  inferred  from  general  reflec- 
tions than  capable  of  much  illustration  by  specific  facts. 

§  1 7.  We  may  reckon  in  the  next  place,  among  the  causes 
of  moral  improvement,  a  more  regular  administration  of  jus- 
tice according  to  fixed  laws,  and  a  more  effectual  police. 
Whether  the  courts  of  judicature  were  guided  by  the  feudal 
customs  or  the  Roman  law,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
resolve  litigated  questions  with  precision  and  uniformity. 
Hence  a  more  distinct  theory  of  justice  and  good  faith  was 
gradually  apprehended ;  and  the  moral  sentiments  of  man- 
kind were  corrected,  as  on  such  subjects  they  often  require 
to  be,  by  clearer  and  better  grounded  inferences  of  reason- 
ing. Again,  though  it  can  not  be  said  that  lawless  rajDine 
was  perfectly  restrained  even  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, a  sensible  amendment  had  been  everywhere  experi- 
enced. Private  warfare,  the  licensed  robbery  of  feudal  man- 
ners, had  been  subjected  to  so  many  mortifications  by  the 
kings  of  France,  and  especially  by  St.  Louis,  that  it  can  hard- 
ly be  traced  beyond  the  fourteenth  century.  In  Germany 
and  Spain  it  lasted  longer;  but  the  various  associations  for 
maintaining  tranquillity  in  the  former  country  had  consider- 
ably diminished  its  violence  before  the  great  national  meas- 
ure of  public  peace  adopted  under  Maximilian.  Acts  of  out- 
rage committed  by  powerful  men  became  less  frequent  as 
the  executive  government  acquired  more  strength  to  chas- 
tise them.  We  read  that  St.  Louis,  the  best  of  French  kings, 
imposed  a  fine  upon  the  Lord  of  Vernon  for  permitting  a 
merchant  to  be  robbed  in  his  territory  between  sunrise  and 
Bunset.     For  by  the  customary  law,  though  in  general  ill  ol> 


State  of  Society.  EELIGIOUS  SECTS.  627 

served,  the  lord  was  bound  to  keep  the  roads  free  from  dep- 
redators in  the  day-time,  in  consideration  of  the  toll  he  re- 
ceived from  passengers.  The  same  prince  was  with  difficulty 
prevented  from  passing  a  capital  sentence  on  Enguerrand  de 
Ooucy,  a  baron  of  France,  for  a  murder.  Charles  the  Fair 
actually  put  to  death  a  nobleman  of  Languedoc  for  a  series 
of  robberies,  notwithstanding  the  intercession  of  the  provin- 
cial nobility.  The  towns  established  a  police  of  their  own 
for  internal  security,  and  rendered  themselves  formidable 
to  neighboring  plunderers.  Finally,  though  not  before  the 
reign  of  Louis  XL,  an  armed  force  was  established  for  the 
preservation  of  police.  Various  means  were  adopted  in 
England  to  prevent  robberies,  which  indeed  were  not  so  fre- 
quently perpetrated  as  they  were  o^  the  Continent,  by  men 
of  high  condition.  None  of  these,  perhaps,  had  so  much  effi- 
cacy as  the  frequent  sessions  of  judges  under  commissions 
of  jail  delivery.  But  the  spirit  of  this  country  has  never 
brooked  that  coercive  police  which  can  not  exist  without 
breaking  in  upon  personal  liberty  by  irksome  regulations  and 
discretionary  exercise  of  power ;  the  sure  instrument  of  tyr- 
anny, which  renders  civil  privileges  at  once  nugatory  and  in- 
secure, and  by  which  we  should  dearly  purchase  some  real 
benefits  connected  with  its  slavish  discipline. 

§  18.  I  have  some  difficulty  in  adverting  to  another  source 
of  moral  improvement  during  this  period — the  growth  of  re- 
ligious opinions  adverse  to  those  of  the  Established  Church — 
both  on  account  of  its  great  obscurity,  and  because  many  of 
these  heresies  were  mixed  up  with  an  excessive  fanaticism. 
But  they  fixed  themselves  so  deeply  in  the  hearts  of  the  in- 
ferior and  more  numerous  classes,  they  bore,  generally  speak- 
ing, so  immediate  a  relation  to  the  state  of  manners,  and  they 
illustrate  so  much  that  more  visible  and  eminent  revolution 
which  ultimately  rose  out  of  them  in  the  sixteentn  century, 
that  I  must  reckon  these  among  the  most  interesting  phe- 
nomena in  the  progress  of  European  society. 

Many  ages  elapsed  during  which  no  remarkable  instance 
occurs  of  a  popular  deviation  from  the  prescribed  line  of  be- 
lief;  and  pious  Catholics  console  themselves  by  reflecting 
that  their  forefathers,  in  those  times  of  ignorance,  slept  at 
least  the  sleep  of  orthodoxy,  and  that  their  darkness  was  in- 
terrupted by  no  false  lights  of  human  reasoning.  But  from 
the  twelfth  century  this  can  no  longer  be  their  boast.  An 
inundation  of  heresy  broke  in  that  age  upon  the  Church, 
which  no  persecution  was  able  thoroughly  to  repress,  till  it 
finally  overspread  half  the  surface  of  Europe.     Of  this  re« 


628  RELIGIOUS  SECTS.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

ligious  innovation  we  must  seek  the  commencement  in  a  dif- 
ferent part  of  the  globe.  The  Manicheans  afford  an  emi- 
nent example  of  that  durable  attachment  to  a  traditional 
creed  which  so  many  ancient  sects,  especially  in  the  East, 
have  cherished  through  the  vicissitudes  of  ages,  in  spite  of 
persecution  and  contempt.  Their  plausible  and  widely  ex- 
tended system  had  been  in  early  times  connected  with  the 
name  of  Christianity,  however  incompatible  with  its  doctrines 
and  its  history.  After  a  pretty  long  obscurity,  the  Manichean 
theory  revived  with  some  modification  in  the  western  parts 
of  Armenia,  and  was  propagated  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  cen- 
turies by  a  sect  denominated  PauUcians.  Their  tenets  are 
not  to  be  collected  with  absolute  certainty  from  the  mouths 
of  their  adversaries,  and  no  apology  of  their  own  survives. 
There  seems,  however,  to  be  sufficient  evidence  that  the  Pau- 
licians,  though  professing  to  acknowledge  and  even  to  study 
the  apostolical  writings,  ascribed  the  creation  of  the  world 
to  an  evil  deity,  whom  they  supposed  also  to  be  the  author 
of  the  Jewish  law,  and  consequently  rejected  all  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. Believing,  with  the  ancient  Gnostics,  that  our  Sav- 
iour was  clothed  on  earth  with  an  impassive  celestial  body, 
they  denied  the  reality  of  his  death  and  resurrection.^*  These 
errors  exposed  them  to  a  long  and  cruel  persecution,  during 
which  a  colony  of  exiles  was  planted  by  one  of  the  Greek 
emperors  in  Bulgaria.  From  this  settlement  they  silently 
promulgated  their  Manichean  creed  over  the  western  regions 
of  Christendom.  A  large  part  of  the  commerce  of  those  coun- 
tries with  Constantinoi^le  was  carried  on  for  several  centuries 
by  the  channel  of  the  Danube.  This  opened  an  immediate 
intercourse  with  the  Paulicians,  who  may  be  traced  up  that 
river  through  Hungary  and  Bavaria,  or  sometimes  taking  the 
route  of  Lombardy  into  Switzerland  and  France.  In  the  last 
country,  and  especially  in  its  southern  and  eastern  provinces, 
they  became  conspicuous  under  a  variety  of  names,  such  as 

^^  The  most  authentic  account  of  the  Paulicians  is  found  in  a  little  treatise  of  Pe- 
truB  Siculus,  who  lived  about  870,  under  Basil  the  Macedonian.  He  had  been  em- 
ployed on  an  embassy  to  Tephrica,  the  principal  town  of  these  heretics,  so  that  he 
might  easily  be  well  informed ;  and,  though  he  is  sufficiently  bigoted,  I  do  not  see 
any  reason  to  question  the  general  truth  of  his  testimony,  especially  as  it  tallies  so 
welL  with  what  we  learn  of  the  predecessors  and  successors  of  the  Paulicians.  Pe- 
trns  Siculus  enumerates  six  Pauliciau  heresies.  1.  They  maintained  the  existence 
of  two  deities— the  one  evil,  and  the  creator  of  this  world;  the  other  good,  called 
wotJ/p  kirovpdv  or,  the  author  of  that  which  is  to  come.  2.  They  refused  to  worship 
the  Virgin,  and  asserted  that  Christ  brought  his  body  from  heaven.  3.  They  rejected 
the  Lord's  Supper.  4.  And  the  adoration  of  the  Cross.  5.  They  denied  the  authority 
of  the  Old  Testament,  but  admitted  the  New,  except  the  epistles  of  St.  Peter,  and, 
perhaps,  the  Apocalypse.    6.  They  did  not  acknowledge  the  order  of  priests. 

There  seems  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Paulicians,  notwithstanding  their  mis- 
takes,  were  endowed  with  sincere  and  zealous  piety,  and  studious  of  the  Scriptures. 


State  of  Society.  WALDENSES.  629 

Catharists,  Picards,  Paterins,  but  above  all,  Albigenses.  It 
is  beyond  a  doubt  that  many  of  these  sectaries  owed  their 
origin  to  the  Paulicians;  the  appellation  of  Bulgarians  was 
distinctively  bestowed  upon  them ;  and,  according  to  some 
writers,  they  acknowledged  a  primate  or  patriarch  resident 
in  that  country.  The  tenets  ascribed  to  them  by  all  contem- 
porary authorities  coincide  so  remarkably  with  those  held  by 
the  Paulicians,  and  in  earlier  times  by  the  Manicheans,  that  I 
do  not  see  how  we  can  reasonably  deny  what  is  confirmed 
by  separate  and  uncontradicted  testimonies,  and  contains  no 
intrinsic  want  of  probability. 

But  though  the  derivation  of  these  heretics,  called  Albigen- 
ses, from  Bulgaria  is  sufficiently  proved,  it  is  by  no  means  to 
be  concluded  that  all  who  incurred  the  same  imputation  ei- 
ther derived  their  faith  from  the  same  country,  or  had  adopt- 
ed the  Manichean  theory  of  the  Paulicians.  From  the  very 
invectives  of  their  enemies,  and  the  acts  of  the  Inquisition,  it 
is  manifest  that  almost  every  shade  of  heterodoxy  was  found 
among  these  dissidents,  till  it  vanished  in  a  simple  protesta- 
tion against  the  wealth  and  tyranny  of  the  clergy.  Those 
who  were  absolutely  free  from  any  taint  of  Manicheism  are 
properly  called  Waldenses ;  a  name  perpetually  confounded 
in  later  times  with  that  of  Albigenses,  but  distinguishing  a 
sect  probably  of  separate  origin,  and  at  least  of  different 
tenets.  These,  according  to  the  majority  of  writers,  took 
their  appellation  from  Peter  Waldo,  a  merchant  of  Lyons, 
the  parent,  about  the  year  1160,  of  a  congregation  ofseceders 
from  the  Church,  who  spread  very  rapidly  over  France  and 
Germany.  According  to  others,  the  original  Waldenses  were 
a  race  of  uncorrupted  shepherds,  who  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Alps  had  shaken  off,  or  perhaps  never  learned,  the  system  of 
superstition  on  which  the  Catholic  Church  depended  for  its 
ascendency  I  am  not  certain  whether  their  existence  can 
be  distinctly  traced  beyond  the  preaching  of  Waldo,  but  it 
is  well  known  that  the  proper  seat  of  the  Waldenses,  or 
Vaudois,  has  long  continued  to  be  in  certain  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont. These  pious  and  innocent  sectaries,  of  whom  the  very 
monkish  historians  speak  well,  appear  to  have  nearly  re- 
sembled the  modern  Moravians.  They  had  ministers  of  their 
own  appointment,  and  denied  the  lawfulness  of  oaths  and  of 
capital  punisjiment.  In  other  respects  their  opinions  proba- 
bly were  not  far  removed  from  those  usually  called  Protest- 
ant. A  simplicity  of  dress,  and  especially  the  use  of  wooden 
sandals,  was  affected  by  this  people. 

I  have  already  had  occasion  to  relate  the  severe  persecu 


630  WIDE  DIFFUSION  OF  NEW  SECTS.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II, 

tion  which  nearly  exterminated  the  Albigenses  of  Languedoc 
at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  involved  the  counts 
of  Toulouse  in  their  ruin.  The  Catharists,  a  fraternity  of  the 
same  Paulician  origin,  more  dispersed  than  the  Albigenses, 
had  previously  sustained  a  similar  trial.  Their  belief  was 
certainly  a  compound  of  strange  errors  with  truth ;  but  it 
was  attended  by  qualities  of  a  far  superior  lustre  to  ortho- 
doxy, by  a  sincerity,  a  piety,  and  a  self-devotion  that  almost 
purified  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  It  is  always  important 
to  perceive  that  these  high  moral  excellences  have  no  nec- 
essary connection  with  speculative  truths  ;  and  upon  this  ac- 
count I  have  been  more  disposed  to  state  explicitly  the  real 
Manicheism  of  the  Albigenses ;  especially  as  Protestant  writ- 
ers, considering  all  the  enemies  of  Rome  as  their  friends,  have 
been  apt  to  place  the  opinions  of  these  sectaries  in  a  very 
false  light.  In  the  course  of  time,  undoubtedly,  the  system 
of  their  Paulician  teachers  w^ould  have  yielded,  if  the  inquisi- 
tors had  admitted  the  experiment,  to  a  more  accurate  study 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  the  knowledge  which  they  would 
have  imbibed  from  the  Church  itself.  And,  in  fact,  we  find 
that  the  peculiar  tenets  of  Manicheism  died  away  after  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  although  a  spirit  of  dissent 
from  the  established  creed  broke  out  in  abundant  instances 
during  the  two  subsequent  ages. 

We  are  in  general  deprived  of  explicit  testimonies  in  trac- 
ing the  revolutions  of  popular  opinion.  Much  must,  there- 
fore, be  left  to  conjecture ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  a 
very  extensive  effect  to  the  preaching  of  these  heretics. 
They  appear  in  various  countries  nearly  during  the  same  pe- 
riod— in  Spain,  Lombardy,  Germany,  Flanders,  and  England, 
as  well  as  in  France.  Thirty  unhappy  persons,  convicted  of 
denying  the-  sacraments,  are  said  to  have  perished  at  Oxford 
by  cold  and  famine  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  In  every  coun- 
try the  new  sects  appear  to  have  spread  chiefly  among  the 
lower  people,  which,  while  it  accounts  for  the  imperfect  no- 
tice of  historians,  indicates  a  more  substantial  influence  upon 
the  moral  condition  of  society  than  the  conversion  of  a  few 
nobles  or  ecclesiastics. 

But  even  where  men  did  not  absolutely  enlist  under  tlie 
banners  of  any  new  sect,  they  were  stimulated  by  the  tem- 
per of  their  age  to  a  more  zealous  and  independent  discus- 
sion of  their  religious  system.  A  curious  illustration  of  this 
is  furnished  by  one  of  the  letters  of  Innocent  III.  He  had 
been  informed  by  the  Bishop  of  Metz,  as  he  states  to  the 
clergy  of  the  diocese,  that  no  small  multitude  of  laymen  and 


State  of  Society.     TRANSLATION  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.        631 

women,  having  procured  a  translation  of  the  gospels,  epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  the  Psalter,  Job,  and  other  books  of  Scripture,  to 
be  made  for  them  into  French,  meet  in  secret  conventicles  to 
hear  them  read  and  preach  to  each  other,  avoiding  the  com- 
pany of  those  who  do  not  join  in  their  devotion,  and,  having 
been  reprimanded  for  this  by  some  of  their  parish  priests,  have 
withstood  them,  alleging  reasons  from  the  Scriptures  why 
they  should  not  be  so  forbidden.  Some  of  them,  too,  deride 
the  ignorance  of  their  ministers,  and  maintain  that  their  own 
books  teach  them  more  than  they  could  learn  from  the  pul- 
pit, and  that  they  can  express  it  better.  Although  the  de- 
sire of  reading  the  ScrijDtures,  Innocent  proceeds,  is  rather 
praiseworthy  than  reprehensible,  yet  they  are  to  be  blamed 
for  frequenting  secret  assemblies,  for  usurping  the  office  of 
preaching,  deriding  their  own  ministers,and  scorning  the  com- 
pany of  such  as  do  not  concur  in  their  novelties.  He  presses 
the  bishop  and  chapter  to  discover  the  author  of  this  trans- 
lation, which  could  not  have  been  made  without  a  knowledge 
of  letters,  and  what  were  his  intentions,  and  what  degree  of 
orthodoxy  and  respect  for  the  Holy  See  those  who  used  it 
possessed.  This  letter  of  Innocent  III.,  however,  considering 
the  nature  of  the  man,  is  sufficiently  temperate  and  concili- 
atory. It  seems  not  to  have  answered  its  end  ;  for  in  anoth- 
er letter  he  complains  that  some  members  of  this  little  as- 
sociation continued  refractory,  and  refused  to  obey  either  the 
bishop  or  the  pope.^* 

In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  when  the  Vulgate  had 
ceased  to  be  generally  intelligible,  there  is  no  reason  to  sus- 
pect any  intention  in  the  Church  to  deprive  the  laity  of  the 
Scriptures.  Translations  were  freely  made  into  the  vernacu- 
lar languages,  and,  perhaps,  read  in  churches,  although  the 
acts  of  saints  were  generally  deemed  more  instructive.  Lou- 
is the  Debonair  is  said  to  have  caused  a  German  version  of 
the  New  Testament  to  be  made.  Otfrid,  in  the  same  centu- 
ry, rendered  the  gospels,  or  rather  abridged  them,  into  Ger- 
man verse.  This  work  is  still  extant,  and  is  in  several  re- 
spects an  object  of  curiosity.  In  the  eleventh  or  twelfth 
century  we  find  translations  of  the  Psalms,  Job,  Kings,  and 
the  Maccabees  into  French.  But  after  the  diffusion  of  he- 
retical opinions,  or,  what  was  much  the  same  thing,  of  free  in- 
quiry, it  became  expedient  to  secure  the  orthodox  faith  from 
lawless  interpretation.    Accordingly,  the  Council  of  Toulouse, 

i»  Opera  Innocent.  III.,  pp.  468,  53T.  A  translation  of  the  Bible  had  been  made  by 
direction  of  Peter  Waldo  ;  but  whether  this  nsed  in  Lorrain  was  the  same  does  not 
appear.    Metz  was  full  of  t-he  Vaudois,  as  we  find  by  other  authorities. 


682  LOLLARDS.  Chap.  IX.  Part  il. 

in  1229,  prohibited  the  laity  from  possessing  the  Scriptures ; 
and  this  precaution  was  frequently  repeated  upon  subsequent 
occasions.'*" 

The  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth 
centuries  teems  with  new  sectaries  and  schismatics,  various 
in  their  aberrations  of  opinion,  but  all  concurring  in  detes- 
tation of  the  Established  Church.  They  endured  severe  per- 
secutions with  a  sincerity  and  firmness  which  in  any  cause 
ought  to  command  respect. 

But  in  general  we  find  an  extravagant  fanaticism  among 
them;  and  I  do  not  know  how  to  look  for  any  amelioration 
of  society  from  the  Franciscan  seceders,  who  quibbled  about 
the  property  of  things  consumed  by  use,  or  from  the  mystic- 
al visionaries  of  difierent  appellations,  whose  moral  practice 
was  sometimes  more  than  equivocal.  Those  who  feel  any 
curiosity  about  such  subjects,  which  are  by  no  means  unim- 
portant, as  they  illustrate  the  history  of  the  human  mind,  will 
find  them  treated  very  fully  by  Mosheim.  But  the  original 
sources  of  information  are  not  always  accessible  in  this  coun- 
try, and  the  research  would,  perhaps,  be  more  fatiguing  than 
profitable. 

I  shall,  for  an  opposite  reason,  pass  lightly  over  the  great 
revolution  in  religious  opinion  wrought  in  England  by  Wic- 
lifFe,  which  will  generally  be  familiar  to  the  reader  from  our 
common  historians.  Nor  am  I  concerned  to  treat  of  theolog- 
ical inquiries,  or  to  write  a  history  of  the  Church.  Consid- 
ered in  its  effects  upon  manners — the  sole  point  which  these 
pages  have  in  view — the  preaching  of  this  new  sect  certainly 
produced  an  extensive  reformation.  But  their  virtues  were 
by  no  means  free  from  some  unsocial  qualities,  in  which,  as 
well  as  in  their  superior  attributes,  the  Lollards  bear  a  very 
close  resemblance  to  the  Puritans  of  Elizabeth's  reign ;  a 
moroseness  that  proscribed  all  cheerful  amusements,  an  un- 
charitable malignity  that  made  no  distinction  in  condemning 
the  established  clergy,  and  a  narrow  prejudice  that  applied 
the  rules  of  the  Jewish  law  to  modern  institutions.  Some 
of  their  principles  were  far  more  dangerous  to  the  good  or- 

20  The  Anglo-Saxon  versions  are  deserving  of  particular  remark.  It  has  been  said 
that  our  Chnrch  maintained  the  privilege  of  having  part  of  the  daily  service  in  the 
mother  tongne.  "  Even  the  mass  itself,"  says  Lappenberg,  "  was  not  read  entirely 
In  Latin."— Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.,  p.  202.  This,  however,  is  denied  by  Lingard, 
■whose  authority  is  probably  superior.— Hist,  of  Ang.-Sax.  Church,  i.,  307.  But  he 
allows  that  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  were  read  in  English,  which  implies  an  authorized 
translation.  And  we  may  adopt  in  a  great  measure  Lappenberg's  proposition,  which 
follows  the  above  passage  :  "  The  numerous  versions  and  paraphrases  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  made  those  books  known  to  the  laity  and  more  familiar  to  the 
clergy." 


State  of  Society.  HUSSITES.  633 

der  of  society,  and  can  not  justly  be  ascribed  to  the  Puritans, 
though  they  grew  afterwards  out  of  the  same  soil.  Such  was 
the  notion,  which  is  imputed  also  to  the  Albigenses,  that  civ- 
il magistrates  lose  their  right  to  govern  by  committing  sin. 
or,  as  it  was  quaintly  expressed  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
that  dominion  is  founded  in  grace.  These  extravagances, 
however,  do  not  belong  to  the  learned  and  politic  Wicliffe, 
however  they  might  be  adopted  by  some  of  his  enthusiast- 
ic disciples.  Fostered  by  the  general  ill-will  towards  the 
Church,  his  principles  made  vast  progress  in  England,  and, 
unlike  those  of  earlier  sectaries,  were  embraced  by  men  of 
rank  and  civil  influence.  Notwithstanding  the  check  they 
sustained  by  the  sanguinary  law  of  Henry  IV.,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  multitudes  secretly  cherished  them  down  to 
the  era  of  the  Reformation. 

From  England  the  spirit  of  religious  innovation  was  prop- 
agated into  Bohemia;  for  though  John  Huss  was  very  far 
from  embracing  all  the  doctrinal  system  of  Wiclifie,  it  is 
manifest  that  his  zeal  had  been  quickened  by  the  writings 
of  that  reformer.  Inferior  to  the  Englishman  in  ability,  but 
exciting  greater  attention  by  his  constancy  and  sufferings,  as 
well  as  by  the  memorable  war  which  his' ashes  kindled,  the 
Bohemian  martyr  was  even  more  eminently  the  precursor 
of  the  Reformation.  But  still,  regarding  these  dissensions 
merely  in  a  temporal  light,  I  can  not  assign  any  beneficial 
effect  to  the  schism  of  the  Hussites,  at  least  in  its  immediate 
results,  and  in  the  country  where  it  appeared.  Though  some 
degree  of  sympathy  with  their  cause  is  inspired  by  resent- 
ment at  the  ill  faith  of  their  adversaries,  and  by  the  associa- 
tions of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  we  can  not  estimate  the 
Taborites,  and  other  sectaries  of  that  description,  but  as  fero- 
cious and  desperate  fanatics.  Perhaps,  beyond  the  confines 
of  Bohemia,  more  substantial  good  may  have  been  produced 
by  the  influence  of  its  reformation,  and  a  better  tone  of  mor- 
als inspired  into  Germany.  But  I  must  again  repeat  that 
upon  this  obscure  and  ambiguous  subject  I  assert  nothing 
definitely,  and  little  with  confidence.  The  tendencies  of 
religious  dissent  in  the  four  ages  before  the  Reformation 
appear  to  have  generally  conduced  towards  the  moral  im- 
provement of  mankind  ;  and  facts  of  this  nature  occupy  a 
far  greater  space  in  a  philosophical  view  of  society  during 
that  period  than  we  might  at  first  imagine ;  but  every  one 
who  is  disposed  to  prosecute  this  inquiry  will  assign  their 
character  according  to  the  result  of  his  own  investigations. 

§  19.  But  the  best  school  of  moral  discipline  which  the 

27* 


634  CHIVALRY.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

Middle  Ages  afforded  was  the  institution  of  chivalry.  There 
is  something,  perhaps,  to  allow  for  the  partiality  of  modern 
writers  upon  this  interesting  subject ;  yet  our  most  skeptical 
criticism  must  assign  a  decisive  influence  to  this  great  source 
of  human  improvement.  The  more  deeply  it  is  coiisidered, 
the  more  we  shall  become  sensible  of  its  importance. 

There  are,  if  I  may  so  say,  three  powerful  spirits  which 
have  from  time  to  time  moved  over  the  face  of  the  waters, 
and  given  a  predominant  impulse  to  the  moral  sentiments 
and  energies  of  mankind.  These  are  the  spirits  of  liberty, 
of  religion,  and  of  honor.  It  was  the  principal  business  of 
chivalry  to  animate  and  cherish  the  last  of  these  three.  And 
whatever  high  magnanimous  energy  the  love  of  liberty  or 
religious  zeal  has  ever  imparted  was  equalled  by  the  exquis- 
ite sense  of  honor  which  this  institution  preserved. 

It  appears  probable  that  the  custom  of  receiving  arms  at 
the  age  of  manhood  with  some  solemnity  was  of  immemo- 
rial antiquity  among  the  nations  that  overthrew  the  Roman 
Empire  ;  for  it  is  mentioned  by  Tacitus  to  have  prevailed 
among  their  German  ancestors ;  and  his  expressions  might 
have  been  used  with  no  great  variation  to  describe  the  act- 
ual ceremonies  of  knighthood.  There  w^as  even  in  that  re- 
mote age  a  sort  of  public  trial  as  to  the  fitness  of  the  candi- 
date, which,  though  perhaps  confined  to  his  bodily  strength 
and  activity,  might  be  the  germ  of  that  refined  investigation 
which  was  thought  necessary  in  the  perfect  stage  of  chivalry. 
Proofs,  though  rare  and  incidental,  might  be  adduced  to  show 
that  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  and  even  earlier,  the  sons 
of  monarchs  at  least  did  not  assume  manly  arms  without  a 
regular  investiture.  And  in  the  eleventh  century  it  is  evi- 
dent that  this  was  a  general  practice.'^* 

This  ceremony,  however,  would  perhaps  of  itself  have  done 
little  towards  forming  that  intrinsic  principle  which  charac- 
terized the  genuine  chivalry.  But  in  the  reign  of  Charle- 
magne we  find  a  military  distinction  that  appears,  in  fact  as 
well  as  in  name,  to  have  given  birth  to  that  institution.  Cer- 
tain feudal  tenants,  and  I  suppose  also  allodial  proprietors, 
were  bound  to  serve  on  horseback,  equipped  with  the  coat  of 
mail.  These  were  called  Caballarii,  from  w^hich  the  word  chev- 
aliers is  an  obvious  corruption.  But  he  who  fought  on  horse- 
back, and  had  been  invested  with  peculiar  arms  in  a  solemn 

,  '1  Nihil  neque  pnblicse  neque  privatae  rei  nisi  armati  agunt.  Sed  arma  snmere  non 
ante  cuiquam  moris,  quam  civitas  suffecturum  probaverit.  Turn  in  ipso  concilio,  vel 
principum  aliquis,  vel  pater,  vel  propinquus,  scuto  fraraeaque  juvenem  oraant ;  hsec 
apud  eos  toga,  hie  primus  juveutse  bones ;  ante  hoc  domfts  pars  videntur,  mox  rei- 
publicse.— De  Moribns  German.,  c.  13. 


State  of  Society.  CHIVALRY.  635 

manner,  wanted  nothing  more  to  render  him  a  knight  Chiv- 
ahy  therefore  may,  in  a  general  sense,  be  referred  to  the  age 
of  Charlemagne.  We  may,  however,  go  farther,  and  observe 
that  these  distinctive  advantages  above  ordinary  combatants 
were  probably  the  sources  of  that  remarkable  valor  and  that 
keen  thirst  for  glory  which  became  the  essential  attributes 
of  a  knightly  character.  For  confidence  in  our  skill  and 
strength  is  the  usual  foundation  of  courage ;  it  is  by  feeling 
ourselves  able  to  surmount  common  dangers  that  we  become 
adventurous  enough  to  encounter  those  of  a  more  extraordi- 
nary nature,  and  to  which  more  glory  is  attached.  The  rep 
utation  of  superior  personal  prowess,  so  difficult  to  be  at 
tained  in  the  course  of  modern  warfare,  and  so  liable  to  er- 
roneous representations,  was  always  within  the  reach  of  the 
stoutest  knight,  and  was  founded  on  claims  which  could  be 
measured  with  much  accuracy.  Such  is  the  subordination 
and  mutual  dependence  in  a  modern  army,  that  every  man 
must  be  content  to  divide  his  glory  with  his  comrades,  his 
general,  or  his  soldiers ;  but  the  soul  of  chivalry  was  individ- 
ual honor,  coveted  in  so  entire  and  absolute  a  perfection  that 
it  must  not  be  shared  with  an  army  or  a  nation.  Most  of 
the  virtues  it  inspired  were  what  we  may  call  independent, 
as  opposed  to  those  which  are  founded  upon  social  relations. 
The  knights-errant  of  romance  perform  their  best  exploits 
from  the  love  of  renown,  or  from  a  sort  of  abstract  sense  of 
justice,  rather  than  from  any  solicitude  to  promote  the  hap- 
piness of  mankind.  If  these  springs  of  action  are  less  gener- 
ally beneficial,  they  are,  however,  more  connected  with  ele- 
vation of  character  than  the  systematical  prudence  of  men 
accustomed  to  social  life. 

In  the  first  state  of  chivalry,  it  was  closely  connected  with 
the  military  service  of  fiefs.  The  Caballarii  in  the  capitula- 
ries, the  Milites  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  were 
land-holders  who  followed  their  lord  or  sovereign  into  the 
field.  A  certain  value  of  land  was  termed  in  England  a 
knight's  fee,  or  in  Normandy  feudum  lories,  fief  de  haubert, 
from  the  coat  of  mail  which  it  entitled  and  required  the  ten- 
ant to  wear ;  a  military  tenure  was  said  to  be  by  service  in 
chivalry.  To  serve  as  knights,  mounted  and  equipped,  was 
the  common  duty  of  vassals  ;  it  implied  no  personal  merit,  it 
gave  of  itself  a  claim  to  no  civil  privileges.  But  this  knight- 
service  founded  upon  a  feudal  obligation  is  to  be  carefully 
distinguished  from  that  superior  chivalry,  in  which  all  was 
independent  and  voluntary.  The  latter,  in  fact,  could  hardly 
flourish  in  its  full  perfection  till  the  military  service  of  feudal 


C36  CHIVALRY.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

tenure  began  to  decline,  namely,  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  origin  of  this  personal  chivalry  I  should  incline  to  refer 
to  the  ancient  usage  of  voluntary  commendation,  which  I  have 
mentioned  in  a  former  chapter.  Men  commended  themselves, 
that  is,  did  homage  and  professed  attachment  to  a  prince  or 
lord  ;  generally,  indeed,  for  protection  or  the  hope  of  reward, 
but  sometimes  probably  for  the  sake  of  distinguishing  them- 
selves in  his  quarrels.  When  they  received  pay,  which  must 
have  been  the  usual  case,  they  were  literally  his  soldiers,  or 
stipendiary  troops.  Those  who  could  afford  to  exert  their 
valor  without  recompense  were  like  the  knights  of  whom  we 
read  in  romance,  who  served  a  foreign  master  through  love, 
or  thirst  of  glory,  or  gratitude.  The  extreme  poverty  of  the 
lower  nobility,  arising  from  the  subdivision  of  fiefs,  and  the 
politic  generosity  of  rich  lords,  made  this  connection  as 
strong  as  that  of  territorial  dependence.  A  younger  broth- 
er, leaving  the  paternal  estate,  in  which  he  took  a  slender 
share,  might  look  to  wealth  and  dignity  in  the  service  of  a 
powerful  count.  Knighthood,  which  he  could  not  claim  as 
his  legal  right,  became  the  object  of  his  chief  ambition.  It 
raised  him  in  the  scale  of  society,  equalling  him  in  dress,  in 
arms,  and  in  title,  to  the  rich  land-holders.  As  it  was  due  to 
his  merit,  it  did  much  more  than  equal  him  to  those  who  had 
no  pretensions  but  from  wealth  ;  and  the  territorial  knights 
became  by  degrees  ashamed  of  assuming  the  title  till  they 
could  challenge  it  by  real  desert. 

This  class  of  noble  and  gallant  cavaliers,  serving  commonly 
for  pay,  but  on  the  most  honorable  footing,  became  far  more 
numerous  through  the  Crusades ;  a  great  epoch  in  the  history 
of  European  society.  In  these  wars,  as  all  feudal  service  was 
out  of  the  question,  it  was  necessary  for  the  richer  barons  to 
take  into  their  pay  as  many  knights  as  they  could  afford  to 
maintain  ;  speculating,  so  far  as  such  motives  operated,  on  an 
influence  with  the  leaders  of  the  expedition,  and  on  a  share 
of  plunder,  proportioned  to  the  number  of  their  followers. 
During  the  period  of  the  Crusades  we  find  the  institution  of 
chivalry  acquire  its  full  vigor  as  an  order  of  personal  nobility; 
and  its  original  connection  with  feudal  tenure,  if  not  alto- 
gether effaced,  became  in  a  great  measure  forgotten  in  the 
splendor  and  dignity  of  the  new  form  which  it  wore. 

The  Crusaders,  however,  changed  in  more  than  one  respect 
the  character  of  chivalry.  Before  that  epoch  it  appears  to 
have  had  no  particular  reference  to  religion.  We  can  hardly 
perceive,  indeed,  why  the  assumption  of  arms  to  be  used  in 
butchering  mankind  should  be  treated  as  a  religious  cere^ 


State  op  Society.  CHIVALRY.  637 

mony.  The  clergy,  to  do  them  justice,  constantly  opposed 
the  private  wars  in  which  the  courage  of  those  ages  wasted 
itself;  and  all  bloodshed  was  subject  in  strictness  to  a  canon- 
ical penance.  But  the  purposes  for  which  men  bore  arms  in 
a  crusade  so  sanctified  their  use,  that  chivalry  acquired  the 
character  as  much  of  a  religious  as  a  military  institution. 
For  many  centuries  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land  was  con- 
stantly at  the  heart  of  brave  and  superstitious  nobility ;  and 
every  knight  was  supposed  at  his  creation  to  pledge  himself, 
as  occasion  should  arise,  to  that  cause.  Meanwhile,  the  de- 
fense of  God's  law  against  infidels  was  his  primary  and  stand- 
ing duty.  A  knight,  whenever  present  at  mass,  held  the  point 
of  his  sword  before  him  while  the  gospel  was  read,  to  signify 
his  readiness  to  support  it.  Writers  of  the  Middle  Ages  com- 
pare the  knightly  to  the  priestly  character  in  an  elaborate 
parallel,  and  the  investiture  of  the  one  was  supposed  analo- 
gous to  the  ordination  of  the  other.  The  ceremonies  upon 
this  occasion  were  almost  wholly  religious.  The  candidate 
passed  nights  in  prayer  among  priests  in  a  church ;  he  re- 
ceived the  sacraments ;  he  entered  into  a  bath,  and  was  clad 
with  a  white  robe,  in  allusion  to  the  presumed  purification  of 
his  lite;  his  sword  was  solemnly  blessed;  every  thing,  in 
short,  was  contrived  to  identify  his  new  condition  with  the 
defense  of  religion,  or  at  least  of  the  Church. 

To  this  strong  tincture  of  religion  which  entered  into  the 
composition  of  chivalry  from  the  twelfth  century,  was  added 
another  ingredient  equally  distinguishing.  A  great  respect 
for  the  female  sex  had  always  been  a  remarkable  characteris- 
tic of  the  Northern  nations.  The  German  women  were  high- 
spirited  and  virtuous,  qualities  which  might  be  causes  or  con- 
sequences of  the  veneration  with  which  they  were  regarded. 
I  am  not  sure  that  we  could  trace  very  minutely  the  condi- 
tion of  women  for  the  period  between  the  subversion  of  the 
Roman  Empire  and  the  first  Crusade;  but  apparently  man 
did  not  grossly  abuse  his  superiority ;  and  in  point  of  civil 
rights,  and  even  as  to  the  inheritance  of  property,  the  two 
sexes  were  placed  perhaps  as  nearly  on  a  level  as  the  nature 
of  such  warlike  societies  would  admit.  There  seems,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  more  roughness  in  the  social  intercourse 
between  the  sexes  than  we  find  in  later  periods.  The  spirit  of 
gallantry,  which  became  so  animating  a  principle  of  chivalry, 
must  be  ascribed  to  the  progressive  refinement  of  society  dur- 
ing the  12th  and  two  succeeding  centuries.  In  a  rude  state 
of  manners,  as  among  the  lower  people  in  all  ages,  woman 
has  not  full  scope  to  display  those  fascinating  graces  by  which 


638  CHARACTERISTIC  VIRTUES      Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

nature  lias  designed  to  counterbalance  the  strength  and  en- 
ergy of  mankind.  Even  where  those  jealous  customs  that 
degrade  alike  the  two  sexes  have  not  prevailed,  her  lot  is  do- 
mestic seclusion.  Nor  is  she  fit  to  share  in  the  boisterous  pas- 
times of  drunken  merriment  to  which  the  intercourse  of  an 
unpolished  people  is  confined.  But  as  a  taste  for  the  more  ele- 
gant enjoyments  of  wealth  arises — a  taste  which  it  is  always 
her  policy  and  her  delight  to  nourish — she  obtains  an  ascend- 
ency at  first  in  the  lighter  hour,  and  from  thence  in  the  seri- 
ous occupations  of  life.  She  chases,  or  brings  into  subjection, 
the  god  of  wine — a  victory  which  might  seem  more  ignoble 
were  it  less  difficult,  and  calls  in  the  aid  of  divinities  more 
propitious  to  her  ambition.  The  love  of  becoming  ornament 
is  not,  perhaps,  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  vanity ;  it  is 
rather  an  instinct  which  woman  has  received  from  nature  to 
give  effect  to  those  charms  that  are  her  defense;  and  when 
commerce  began  to  minister  more  eflfectually  to  the  wants  of 
luxury,  the  rich  furs  of  the  North,  the  gay  silks  of  Asia,  the 
wrought  gold  of  domestic  manufacture,  illumined  the  halls  of 
chivalry,  and  cast,  as  if  by  the  spell  of  enchantment,  that  in- 
effable grace  over  beauty  which  the  choice  and  arrangeYnent 
of  dress  is  calculated  to  bestow.  Courtesy  had  always  been 
the  proper  attribute  of  knighthood ;  protection  of  the  weak 
its  legitimate  duty;  but  these  were  heightened  to  a  pitch  of 
enthusiasm  when  woman  became  their  object.  There  was 
little  jealousy  shown  in  the  treatment  of  that  sex,  at  least  in 
France,  the  fountain  of  chivalry ;  they  were  present  at  fes- 
tivals, at  tournaments,  and  sat  promiscuously  in,the  halls  of 
their  castle.  The  romance  of  Perceforest  (and  romances  have 
always  been  deemed  good  witnesses  as  to  manners)  tells  of 
a  feast  where  eight  hundred  knights  had  each  of  them  a  lady 
eating  off  his  plate.  For  to  eat  off  the  same  plate  was  a 
usual  mark  of  gallantry  or  friendship. 

Next,  therefore,  or  even  equal  to  devotion,  stood  gallant- 
ry among  the  principles  of  knighthood.  But  all  compari- 
son between  the  two  was  saved  by  blending  them  together. 
The  love  of  God  and  the  ladies  was  enjoined  as  a  single 
duty.  He  who  was  faithful  and  true  to  his  mistress  was 
held  sure  of  salvation  in  the  theology  of  castles,  though  not 
of  cloisters. 

The  gallantry  of  those  ages,  which  was  very  often  adulter- 
ous, had  certainly  no  right  to  profane  the  name  of  religion  ; 
but  its  union  with  valor  was  at  least  more  natural,  and  be- 
came so  intimate  that  the  same  word  has  served  to  express 
both  qualities.     In  the  French  and  English  wars  especially, 


State  of  Society.  OF  CHIVALRY.  639 

the  knights  of  each  country  brought  to  that  serious  conflict 
the  spirit  of  romantic  attachment  which  had  been  cherished 
in  the  hours  of  peace.  They  fought  at  Poitiers  or  Verneuii 
as  they  had  fought  at  tournaments,  bearing  over  their  armor 
scarfs  and  devices  as  the  livery  of  their  mistresses,  and  as- 
serting the  paramount  beauty  of  her  they  served  in  vaunting 
challenges  towards  the  enemy.  Thus  in  the  middle  of  a 
keen  skirmish  at  Cherbourg,  the  squadrons  remained  motion- 
less while  one  knight  challenged  to  a  single  combat  the  most 
amorous  of  the  adversaries.  Such  a  defiance  was  soon  ac- 
cepted, and  the  battle  only  recommenced  when  one  of  the 
champions  had  lost  his  life  for  his  love.  In  the  first  cam- 
paign of  Edward's  war  some  young  English  knights  wore  a 
covering  over  one  eye,  vowing,  for  the  sake  of  their  ladies, 
iiever  to  see  with  both  till  they  should  have  signalized  their 
prowess  in  the  field.  These  extravagances  of  chivalry  are 
BO  common  that  they  form  part  of  its  general  character,  and 
prove  how  far  a  course  of  action  which  depends  upon  the 
impulses  of  sentiment  may  come  to  deviate  from  common 
sense. 

But  the  morals  of  chivalry,  we  can  not  deny,  were  not 
pure.  In  the  amusing  fictions  which  seem  to  have  been  the 
only  popular  reading  of  the  Middle  Ages,  there  reigns  a  licen- 
tious spirit,  not  of  that  slighter  kind  which  is  usual  in  such 
compositions,  but  indicating  a  general  dissoluteness  in  the 
intercourse  of  the  sexes.  This  has  often  been  noticed  of  Boc- 
caccio and  the  early  Italian  novelists ;  but  it  equally  charac- 
terized the  tales  and  romances  of  France,  whether  metrical  or 
in  prose,  and  all  the  poetry  of  the  Troubadours.  The  viola- 
tion of  marriage  vows  passes  in  them  for  an  incontestable 
privilege  of  the  brave  and  the  fair;  and  an  accomplished 
knight  seems  to  have  enjoyed  as  undoubted  prerogatives,  by 
general  consent  of  opinion,  as  were  claimed  by  the  brilliant 
courtiers  of  Louis  XV. 

But  neither  that  emulous  valor  which  chivalry  excited, 
nor  the  religion  and  gallantry  which  were  its  animating 
principles,  alloyed  as  the  latter  w^ere  by  the  corruption  of 
those  ages,  could  have  rendered  its  institution  materially 
conducive  to  the  moral  improvement  of  society.  There 
were,  however,  excellences  of  a  very  high  class  which  it 
equally  encouraged.  Three  virtues  may  particularly  be  no- 
ticed as  essential  in  the  estimation  of  mankind  to  the  char- 
acter of  a  knight — loyalty,  courtesy,  and  munificence. 

(i.)  Loyalty. — The  first  of  these,  in  its  original  sense,  may 
be  defined  fidelity  to  engagements ;  whether  actual  prom- 


040  CHARACTERISTIC  VIRTUES      Chap,  IX.  Part  II. 

ises,  or  such  tacit  obligations  as  bound  a  vassal  to  his  lord 
and  a  subject  to  his  prince.  It  was  applied  also,  and  in 
the  utmost  strictness,  to  the  fidelity  of  a  lover  towards  the 
lady  he  served.  Breach  of  faith,  and  especially  an  express 
promise,  was  held  a  disgrace  that  no  valor  could  redeem. 
False,  perjured,  disloyal,  recreant,  were  the  epithets  which 
he  must  be  compelled  to  endure  who  had  swerved  from  a 
plighted  engagement  even  towards  an  enemy.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  changes  produced  by  chivalry.  Treach- 
ery, the  usual  vice  of  savage  as  well  as  corrupt  nations,  be- 
came infamous  during  the  vigor  of  that  discipline.  As  per- 
sonal rather  than  national  feelmg  actuated  its  heroes,  they 
never  felt  that  hatred,  much  less  that  fear  of  their  enemies, 
which  blmd  men  to  the  heinousness  of  ill  faith.  In  the  wars 
of  Edward  III.,  originating  in  no  real  animosity,  the  spirit 
of  honorable  as  well  as  courteous  behavior  towards  the  foe 
seems  to  have  arrived  at  its  highest  point.  Though  avarice 
may  have  been  the  primary  motive  of  ransoming  prisoners 
instead  of  putting  them  to  death,  their  permission  to  return 
home  on  the  word  of  honor  in  order  to  procure  the  stipulated 
sum^an  indulgence  never  refused — could  only  be  founded 
on  experienced  confidence  in  the  principles  of  chivalry. 

(ii.)  Courtesy. — A  knight  was  unfit  to  remain  a  member 
of  the  order  if  he  violated  his  faith ;  he  was  ill  acquainted 
with  its  duties  if  he  proved  wanting  in  courtesy.  This 
word  expressed  the  most  highly  refined  good-breeding,  found- 
ed less  upon  a  knowledge  of  ceremonious  politeness — though 
this  was  not  to  be  omitted — than  on  the  spontaneous  mod- 
esty, self-denial,  and  respect  for  others,  which  ought  to 
spring  from  his  heart.  Besides  the  grace  which  this  beau- 
tiful virtue  threw  over  the  habits  of  social  life,  it  softened 
down  the  natural  roughness  of  war,  and  gradually  intro- 
duced that  indulgent  treatment  of  prisoners  which  was  al- 
most unknown  to  antiquity.  Instances  of  this  kind  are  con- 
tinual in  the  later  period  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  behavior 
of  Edward  III.  to  Eustace  de  Ribaumont,  after  the  capture 
of  Calais,  and  that,  still  more  exquisitely  beautiful,  of  the 
Black  Prince  to  his  royal  prisoner  at  Poitiers,  are  such 
eminent  instances  of  chivalrous  virtue,  that  I  omit  to  repeat 
them  only  because  they  are  so  well  known.  Those  great 
princes,  too,  might  be  ima'ginedto  have  soared  far  above  the 
ordinary  track  of  mankind.  But  in  truth,  the  knights  who 
surrounded  them  and  imitated  their  excellences,  were  only 
inferior  in  opportunities  of  displaying  the  same  virtue. 

(iii.)  Miirtlfice?ice. — Liberality,  indeed,  and  disdain  of  mon- 


State  of  Society.  OF  CHIVALRY.  641 

ey,  might  be  reckoned,  as  I  have  said,  among  the  essential 
virtues  of  chivalry.  All  the  romances  inculcate  the  duty  of 
scattering  their  wealth  with  profusion,  especially  towards 
minstrels,  pilgrims,  and  the  poorer  members  of  their  own  or- 
der. The  last,  who  were  pretty  numerous,  had  a  constant 
right  to  succor  from  the  opulent ;  the  castle  of  every  lord 
who  respected  the  ties  of  knighthood  was  open  with  more 
than  usual  hospitality  to  the  traveller  whose  armor  an- 
nounced his  dignity,  though  it  might  also  conceal  his  pov- 
erty. 

Valor,  loyalty,  courtesy,  munificence,  formed  collectively 
the  character  of  an  accomplished  knight,  so  far  as  was  dis- 
played in  the  ordinary  tenor  of  his  life,  reflecting  these  vir- 
tues as  an  unsullied  mii-ror.  Yet  something  more  was  re- 
quired for  the  perfect  idea  of  chivalry,  and  enjoined  by  its 
principles ;  an  active  sense  of  justice,  an  ardent  indignation 
against  wrong,  a  determination  of  courage  to  its  best  end, 
the  prevention  or  redress  of  injury.  It  grew  up  as  a  salu- 
tary antidote  in  the  midst  of  poisons,  while  scarce  any  law 
but  that  of  the  strongest  obtained  regard,  and  the  rights 
of  territorial  property,  which  are  only  rights  as  they  con- 
duce to  general  good,  became  the  means  of  general  oppres- 
sion. The  real  condition  of  society,  it  has  sometimes  been 
thought,  might  suggest  stories  of  knight-errantry,  which 
weiV  w^rought  up  into  the  popular  romances  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  A  baron,  abusing  the  advantage  of  an  inaccessible 
castle  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  Black  Forest  or  the  Alps,  to 
pillage  the  neighborhood  and  confine  travellers  in  his  dun- 
geon, though  neither  a  giant  nor  a  Saracen,  was  a  monster 
not  less  formidable,  and  could  perhaps  as  little  be  destroyed 
without  the  aid  of  disinterested  bravery.  Knight-errantry, 
indeed,  as  a  profession,  can  not  rationally  be  conceived  to 
have  had  any  existence  beyond  the  precincts  of  romance. 
Yet  there  seems  no  improbability  in  supposing  that  a  knight, 
journeying  through  uncivilized  regions  in  his  way  to  the 
Holy  Land,  or  to  the  court  of  a  foreign  sovereign,  might  find 
himself  engaged  in  adventures  not  very  dissimilar  to  those 
which  are  the  theme  of  romance.  We  can,  not  indeed,  expect 
to  find  any  historical  evidence  of  such  incidents. 

The  characteristic  virtues  of  chivalry  bear  so  much  resem- 
blance to  those  which  Eastern  writers  of  the  same  period 
extol,  that  I  am  a  little  disposed  to  suspect  Europe  of  having 
derived  some  improvement  from  imitation  of  Asia.  Though 
the  Crusades  began  in  abhorrence  of  infidels,  this  sentiment 
wore  off  in  some  degree  before  their  cessation ;  and  the  reg 


642  EVILS  PRODUCED  BY  CHIVALRY.     Chap.  JX.  Part  IL 

ular  intercourse  of  commerce,  sometimes  of  alliance,  between 
the  Christians  of  Palestine  and  the  Saracens,  must  have  re- 
moved part  of  the  prejudice,  v^^hile  experience  of  their  ene- 
my's courage  and  generosity  in  war  would  with  those  gal- 
lant knights  serve  to  lighten  the  remainder.  The  romancers 
expatiate  with  pleasure  on  the  merits  of  Saladin,  who  actu- 
ally received  the  honor  of  knighthood  from  Hugh  of  Tabaria, 
his  prisoner.  An  ancient  poem,  entitled  tbe  "  Order  of  Chiv- 
alry," is  founded  upon  this  story,  and  contains  a  circum- 
stantial account  of  the  ceremonies,  as  w^ell  as  duties,  which 
the  institution  required.  One  or  two  other  instances  of  a 
similar  kind  bear  witness  to  the  veneration  in  which  the 
name  of  knight  was  held  among  the  Eastern  nations.  And 
certainly  the  Mohammedan  chieftains  were  for  the  most  part 
abundantly  qualified  to  fulfill  the  duties  of  European  chival- 
ry. Their  manners  had  been  polished  and  courteous,  while 
the  Western  kingdoms  were  comparatively  barbarous. 

The  principles  of  chivalry  were  not,  I  think,  naturally  pro- 
ductive of  many  evils;  for  it  is  unjust  to  class  those  acts 
of  oppression  or  disorder  among  the  abuses  of  knighthood 
which  were  committed  in  spite  of  its  regulations,  and  were 
only  prevented  by  them  from  becoming  more  extensive. 
But  some  bad  consequences  may  be  more  fairly  ascribed  to 
the  very  nature  of  chivalry,  I  have  already  mentioned  the 
dissoluteness  which  almost  unavoidably  resulted  from  the 
prevailing  tone  of  gallantry.  And  yet  we  sometimes  find  in 
the  writings  of  those  times  a  spii'it  of  pure  but  exaggerated 
sentiment ;  and  the  most  fanciful  refinements  of  passion  are 
mingled  by  the  same  poets  with  the  coarsest  immorality. 
An  undue  thirst  for  military  renown  w^as  another  fault  that 
chivalry  must  have  nourished  ;  and  the  love  of  war,  suffi- 
ciently pernicious  in  any  shape,  was  more  founded,  as  I  have 
observed,  on  personal  feelings  of  honor,  and  less  on  public 
spirit,  than  in  the  citizens  of  free  states.  A  third  reproach 
may  be  made  to  the  character  of  knighthood,  that  it  widened 
the  separation  between  the  different  classes  of  society,  and 
confirmed  that  aristocratical  spirit  of  high  birth  by  w^hich 
the  large  mass  of  mankind  were  kept  in  unjust  degradation. 
Compare  the  generosity  of  Edward  III.  towards  Eustace  do 
Ribaumont  at  the  siege  of  Calais  with  the  harshness  of  his 
conduct  towards  the  citizens. 

There  is  perhaps  enough  in  the  nature  of  this  institution 
and  its  congeniality  to  the  habits  of  a  warlike  generation  to 
account  for  the  respect  in  which  it  was  held  throughout  Eu* 
rope.     But  several  collateral  circumstances  served  to  invig* 


State  of  Society.     ENCOURAGEMENT  OF  PRINCES.  643 

orate  its  spirit.  Besides  the  powerful  efficacy  with  which 
the  poetry  and  romance  of  the  Middle  Ages  stimulated  those 
susceptible  minds  which  were  alive  to  no  other  literature, 
we  may  enumerate  four  distinct  causes  tending  to  the  pro- 
motion of  chivalry. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  regular  scheme  of  education,  ac' 
cording  to  which  the  sons  of  gentlemen  from  the  age  of  seven 
years  were  brought  up  in  the  castles  of  superior  lords,  where 
they  at  once  learned  the  whole  discipline  of  their  future 
profession,  and  imbibed  its  emulous  and  enthusiastic  spirit. 
This  was  an  inestimable  advantage  to  the  poorer  nobility, 
who  could  hardly  otherwise  have  given  their  children  the 
accomplishments  of  their  station.  From  seven  to  fourteen 
these  boys  were  called  pages  or  varlets ;  at  fourteen  they 
bore  the  name  of  esquire.  They  were  instructed  in  the  man- 
agement of  arms,  in  the  art  of  horsemanship,  to  exercises  of 
strength  and  activity.  They  became  accustomed  to  obedi- 
ence and  courteous  demeanor,  serving  their  lord  or  lady  in 
oflices  which  had  not  yet  become  derogatory  to  honorable 
birth,  and  striving  to  please  visitors,  and  especially  ladies,  at 
the  ball  or  banquet.  Thus  placed  in  the  centre  of  all  that 
could  awaken  their  imaginations,  the  creed  of  chivalrous 
gallantry,  superstition,  or  honor  must  have  made  indelible 
impressions.  Panting  for  the  glory  which  neither  their 
strength  nor  the  established  rules  permitted  them  to  antici- 
pate,"the  young  scions  of  chivalry  attended  their  masters  to 
the  tournament,  and  even  to  the  battle,  and  riveted  with  a 
sigh  the  armor  they  were  forbidden  to  wear. 

It  was  the  constant  policy  of  sovereigns  to  encourage  this 
institution,  which  furnished  them  with  faithful  supports,  and 
counteracted  the  independent  spirit  of  feudal  tenure.  Hence 
they  displayed  a  lavish  magnificence  in  festivals  and  tourna- 
ments, which  may  be  reckoned  a  second  means  of  keeping 
up  the  tone  of  chivalrous  feeling.  The  kings  of  France  and 
England  held  solemn  or  plenary  courts  at  the  great  festivals, 
or  at  other  times,  where  the  name  of  knight  was  always  a 
title  to  admittance ;  and  the  masque  of  chivalry,  if  I  may 
use  the  expression,  was  acted  in  pageants  and  ceremonies 
fantastical  enough  in  our  apprehension,  but  well  calculated 
for  those  heated  understandings.  Here  the  peacock  and  the 
pheasant,  birds  of  high  fame  in  romance,  received  the  hom- 
age of  all  true  knights.  The  most  singular  festival  of  this 
kind  was  that  celebrated  by  Philip,  duke  of  Burgundy,  in 
1453.  In  the  midst  of  the  banquet  a  pageant  was  intro- 
duced representing  the  calamitous  state  of  religion,  in  con- 


644  KNIGHTHOOD.  Chap.  IX.  Pari  11 

sequence  of  the  recent  capture  of  Constantinople.  This  was 
followed  by  the  appearance  of  a  pheasant,  which  was  laid 
before  the  duke,  and  to  which  the  knights  present  addressed 
their  vows  to  undertake  a  crusade,  in  the  following  very 
characteristic  preamble :  "  I  swear  before  God  my  Creatoi-, 
in  the  first  place,  and  the  glorious  Virgin  his  mother,  and 
next,  before  the  ladies  and  the  pheasant."  Tournaments 
were  a  still  more  powerful  incentive  to  emulation.  These 
may  be  considered  to  have  arisen  about  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  century ;  for  though  every  martial  people  have 
found  diversion  in  representing  the  image  of  war,  yet  the 
name  of  tournaments,  and  the  laws  that  regulated  them,  can 
not  be  traced  any  higher.  Every  scenic  performance  of 
modern  times  must  be  tame  in  comparison  of  these  anima- 
ting combats.  At  a  tournament  the  space  inclosed  within 
the  lists  was  surrounded  by  sovereign  princes  and  their  no- 
blest barons,  by  knights  of  established  renown,  and  all  that 
rank  and  beauty  had  most  distinguished  among  the  fair. 
Covered  with  steel,  and  known  only  by  their  emblazoned 
shield,  or  by  the  favors  of  their  mistresses,  a  still  prouder 
bearing,  the  combatants  rushed  forward  to  a  strife  without 
enmity,  but  not  without  danger.  Though  their  weapons 
were  pointless,  and  sometimes  only  of  wood ;  though  they 
were  bound  by  the  laws  of  tournaments  to  strike  only  upon 
thfe  strong  armor  of  the  trunk,  or,  as  it  was  called,  between 
the  four  limbs,  those  impetuous  conflicts  often  terminated  in 
wounds  and  death.  The  Church  uttered  her  excommunica- 
tions in  vain  against  so  wanton  an  exposure  to  peril;  but  it 
was  more  easy  for  her  to  excite  than  to  restrain  that  martial 
enthusiasm.  Victory  in  a  tournament  was  little  less  glori- 
ous, and  perhaps  at  the  moment  more  exquisitely  felt,  than 
in  the  field,  since  no  battle  could  assemble  such  witnesses  of 
valor.  "  Honor  to  the  sons  of  the  brave  !"  resounded  amidst 
the  din  of  martial  music  from  the  lips  of  the  minstrels,  as 
the  conqueror  advanced  to  receive  the  prize  from  his  queen 
or  his  mistress;  while  the  surrounding  multitude  acknowl- 
edged in  his  prowess  of  that  day  an  augury  of  triumphs  that 
might  in  more  serious  contests  be  blended  with  those  of  his 
country. 

Both  honorary  and  substantial  privileges  belonged  to  the 
condition  of  knighthood,  and  had  of  course  a  material  tend- 
ency to  preserve  its  credit.  A  knight  was  distinguished 
abroad  by  his  crested  helmet,  his  weighty  armor,  whether 
of  mail  or  plate,  bearing  his  heraldic  coat,  by  his  gilded 
spurs,  his  horse  barded  with  iron,  or  clothed  in  housing  of 


State  of  Society.  MILITARY  SERVICE.  645 

gold;  at  home,  by  richer  silks  and  more  costly  fars  than 
were  permitted  to  squires,  and  by  the  appropriated  color  of 
scarlet.  He  was  addressed  by  titles  of  more  respect.  Many 
civil  officers,  by  rule  or  usage,  were  confined  to  his  order. 
But  perhaps  its  chief  privilege  was  to  form  one  distinct  class 
of  nobility,  extending  itself  throughout  great  part  of  Europe, 
and  almost  independent,  as  to  its  rights  and  dignities,  of  any 
particular  sovereign.  Whoever  had  been  legitimately  dub- 
bed a  knight  in  one  country  became,  as  it  were,  a  citizen  of 
universal  chivalry,  and  might  assume  most  of  its  privileges 
in  any  other.  Nor  did  he  require  the  act  of  a  sovereign  to 
be  thus  distinguished.  It  was  a  fundamental  principle  that 
any  knight  might  confer  the  order ;  responsible  only  in  his 
own  reputation  if  he  used  lightly  so  high  a  prerogative. 
But  as  all  the  distinctions  of  rank  might  have  been  con- 
founded if  this  right  had  been  without  limit,  it  was  an  equal- 
ly fundamental  rule  that  it  could  only  be  exercised  in  favor 
of  gentlemen. 

The  privileges  annexed  to  chivalry  were  of  peculiar  ad- 
vantage to  the  vavassors,  or  inferior  gentry,  as  they  tended 
to  counterbalance  the  influence  which  territorial  wealth 
threw  into  the  scale  of  their  feudal  suzerains.  Knighthood 
brought  these  two  classes  nearly  to  a  level ;  and  it  is  owing 
perhaps  in  no  small  degree  to  this  institution  that  the  lo^er 
nobility  saved  themselves,  notwithstanding  their  poverty, 
from  being  confounded  with  the  common  people. 

Lastly,  the  customs  of  chivalry  were  maintained  by  their 
connection  with  military  service.  After  armies,  which  we 
may  call  comparatively  regular,  had  superseded  in  a  great 
degree  the  feudal  milftia,  princes  Avere  anxious  to  bid  high 
for  the  service  of  knights,  the  best  equipped  and  bravest 
warriors  of  the  time,  on  whose  prowess  the  fate  of  battles 
was  for  a  long  period  justly  supposed  to  depend.  War 
brought  into  relief  the  generous  virtues  of  chivalry,  and  gave 
lustre  to  its  distinctive  privileges.  The  rank  was  sought 
with  enthusiastic  emulation  through  heroic  achievements  to 
which,  rather  than  to  mere  wealth  and  station,  it  was  con- 
sidered to  belong.  In  the  wars  of  France  and  England,  by 
far  the  most  splendid  period  of  this  institution,  a  promotion 
of  knights  followed  every  success,  besides  the  innumerable 
cases  where  the  same  honor  rewarded  individual  bravery. 
It  may  here  be  mentioned  that  an  honorary  distinction  was 
made  between  knights-bannerets  and  bachelors.  The  former 
were  the  richest  and  best  accompanied.  No  man  could  prop- 
erly be  a  banneret  unless  he  possessed  a  certain  estate,  and 


646  DECLINE  OF  CHIVALRY.      Chap.  IX.  Part  XL 

could  bring  a  certain  number  of  lances  into  the  field.  His 
distinguishing  mark  was  the  square  banner,  carried  by  a 
squire  at  the  point  of  his  lance ;  while  the  knight-bachelor 
had  only  the  coronet  or  pointed  pendant.  When  a  banneret 
was  created,  the  general  cut  off  this  pendant  to  render  the 
banner  square.  But  this  distinction,  however  it  elevated 
the  banneret,  gave  him  no  claim  to  military  command,  ex- 
cept over  his  own  dependents  or  men-at-arms.  Chandos  was 
still  a  knight -bachelor  when  he  led  part  of  the  prince  of 
Wales's  army  into  Spain.  He  first  raised  his  banner  at  the 
battle  of  Navarette  ;  and  the  narration  that  Froissart  gives 
of  the  ceremony  will  illustrate  the  manners  of  chivalry  and 
the  character  of  that  admirable  hero,  the  conqueror  of  Du 
Guesclin  and  pride  of  English  chivalry,  whose  fame  with 
posterity  has  been  a  little  overshadowed  by  his  master's  lau- 
rels. What  seems  more  extraordinary  is,  that  mere  squires 
had  frequently  the  command  over  knights.  Proofs  of  this 
are  almost  continual  in  Froissart.  But  the  vast  estimation 
in  which  men  held  the  dignity  of  knighthood  led  them  some- 
times to  defer  it  for  great  part  of  their  lives,  in  hope  of  sig- 
nalizing their  investiture  by  some  eminent  exploit. 

These  appear  to  have  been  the  chief  means  of  nourishing 
the  principles  of  chivalry  among  the  nobility  of  Europe. 
But  notwithstanding  all  encouragement,  it  underwent  the 
usAal  destiny  of  human  institutions.  St.  Palaye,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  so  vivid  a  picture  of  ancient  manners, 
ascribes  the  decline  of  chivalry  in  France  to  the  profusion 
with  which  the  order  was  lavished  under  Charles  VI.,  to  the 
establishment  of  the  companies  of  ordonnance  by  Charles 
VH.,  and  to  the  extension  of  knightly  honors  to  lawyers, 
and  other  men  of  civil  occupation,  by  Francis  I.  But  the 
real  principle  of  decay  was  something  different  from  these 
three  subordinate  circumstances,  unless  so  far  as  it  may  bear 
some  relation  to  the  second.  It  was  the  invention  of  gun- 
powder that  eventually  overthrew  chivalry.  From  the  time 
when  the  use  of  fire-arms  became  tolerably  perfect  the  weap- 
ons of  former  warfare  lost  their  efficacy,  and  physical  force 
was  reduced  to  a  very  subordinate  place  in  the  accomplish- 
ments of  a  soldier.  The  advantages  of  a  disciplined  infantry 
became  more  sensible ;  and  the  lancers,  who  continued  till  al- 
most the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  charge  in  a  long  line, 
felt  the  punishment  of  their  presumption  and  indiscipline. 
Even  in  the  wars  of  Edward  III.  the  disadvantageous  tactics 
of  chivalry  must  have  been  perceptible;  but  the  military  art 
had  not  been  sufficiently  studied  to  overcome  the  prejudices 


State  of  Society.      DECLINE  OF  CHIVALRY.  647 

of  men  eager  for  individual  distinction.  Tournaments  be- 
came less  frequent ;  and,  after  the  fatal  accident  of  Henry 
II.,  were  entirely  discontinued  in  France.  Notwithstanding 
the  convulsions  of  the  religious  wars,  the  sixteenth  century 
was  more  tranquil  than  any  that  had  preceded ;  and  thus  a 
large  part  of  the  nobility  passed  their  lives  in  pacific  habits, 
and,  if  they  assumed  the  honors  of  chivalry,  forgot  their  nat- 
ural connection  with  military  prowess.  This  is  far  more  ap 
plicable  to  England,  where,  except  from  the  reign  of  Edward 
III.  to  that  of  Henry  VI.,  chivalry,  as  a  military  institution, 
seems  not  to  have  found  a  very  congenial  soil.  To  these  cir- 
cumstances, immediately  affecting  the  military  condition  of 
nations,  we  must  add  the  progress  of  reason  and  literature, 
which  made  ignorance  discreditable  even  in  a  soldier,  and 
exposed  the  follies  of  romance  to  a  ridicule  which  they  were 
very  ill  calculated  to  endure. 

"  The  spirit  of  chivalry  left  behind  it  a  more  valuable  suc- 
cessor. The  character  of  knight  gradually  subsided  in  that 
of  gentleman;  and  the  one  distinguishes  European  society 
in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeeth  centuries,  as  much  as  the 
other  did  in  the  preceding  ages.  A  jealous  sense  of  honor, 
less  romantic,  but  equally  elevated,  a  ceremonious  gallantry 
and  politeness,  a  strictness  in  devotional  observances,  a  high 
pride  of  birth  and  feeling  of  independence  upon  any  sover- 
eign for  the  dignity  it  gave,  a  sympathy  for  martial  honor, 
though  more  subdued  by  civil  habits,  are  the  lineaments 
which  prove  an  indisputable  descent.  The  cavaliers  of 
Charles  I.  were  genuine  successors  of  Edward's  knights;  and 
the  resemblance  is  much  more  striking  if  we  ascend  to  the 
civil  wars  of  the  League.  Time  has  effaced  much  also  of 
this  gentlemanly,  as  it  did  before  of  the  chivalrous,  character. 
From  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  its  vigor 
and  purity  have  undergone  a  tacit  decay,  and  yielded,  per- 
haps, in  every  country  to  increasing  commercial  wealth,  more 
diffused  instruction,  the  spirit  of  general  liberty  in  some,  and 
of  servile  obsequiousness  in  others,  the  modes  of  life  in  great 
cities,  and  the  levellmg  customs  of  social  intercourse. 

§  20.  It  is  now  time  to  pass  to  a  very  different  subject. 
The  third  head  under  which  I  classed  the  improvements  of 
society  during  the  four  last  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages 
was  that  of  literature.  But  I  must  apprise  the  reader  not  to 
expect  any  general  view  of  literary  history,  even  in  the  most 
abbreviated  manner.  Such  an  epitome  would  not  only  be 
necessarily  superficial,  but  foreign  in  many  of  its  details  to 
the  purposes  of  this  chapter,  which,  attempting  to  develop 


648  CIVIL  LAW.  Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 

the  circumstances  that  gave  a  new  complexion  to  society, 
considers  literature  only  so  far  as  it  exercised  a  general  and 
powerful  influence.  I  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself  to  four 
points — the  study  of  civil  law ;  the  institution  of  universities; 
the  application  of  modern  languages  to  literature,  and  espe- 
cially to  poetry ;  and  the  revival  of  ancient  learning. 

§21.  (I.)  The  Study  op  Civil  Law. — The  Roman  law 
had  been  nominally  preserved  ever  since  the  destruction  of 
the  Empire;  and  a  great  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  France 
and  Spain,  as  well  as  Italy,  were  governed  by  its  provisions. 
But  this  was  a  mere  compilation  from  the  Theodosian  Code, 
which  itself  contained  only  the  more  recent  laws  promul- 
gated after  the  establishment  of  Christianity,  with  some 
fragments  from  earlier  collections.  It  was  made  by  order 
of  Alaric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  about  the  year  500,  and  it  is 
frequently  confounded  with  the  Theodosian  Code  by  v/riters 
of  the  Dark  Ages.  The  Code  of  Justinian,  reduced  into 
system  after  the  separation  of  the  two  former  countries  from 
the  Greek  empire,  never  obtained  any  authority  in  them ; 
nor  was  it  received  in  the  part  of  Italy  subject  to  the  Lom- 
bards. But  that  this  body  of  laws  was  absolutely  unknown 
in  the  West  during  any  period  seems  to  have  been  too  has- 
tily supposed.  Some  of  the  more  eminent  ecclesiastics,  as 
Hincmar  and  Ivon  of  Chartres,  occasionally  refer  to  it,  and 
bear  witness  to  the  regard  which  the  Roman  Church  had 
uniformly  paid  to  its  decisions. 

The  revival  of  the  study  of  jurisprudence,  as  derived  from 
the  laws  of  Justinian,  has  generally  been  ascribed  to  the  dis- 
covery made  of  a  copy  of  the  Pandects  at  Amalfi,  in  1135, 
when"^that  city  was  taken  by  the  Pisans.  This  fact,  though 
not  improbable,  seems  not  to  rest  upon  sufficient  evidence. 
But  its  truth  is  the  less  material,  as  it  appears  to  be  unequiv- 
ocally proved  that  the  study  of  Justinian's  system  had  re- 
commenced before  that  era.  Early  in  the  twelfth  century 
a  professor  named  Irnerius  opened  a  school  of  civil  law  at 
Bologna,  where  he  commented,  if  not  on  the  Pandects,  yet 
on  the  other  books,  the  Institutes  and  Code,  which  were 
sufficient  to  teach  the  principles  and  inspire  the  love  of 
that  comprehensive  jurisprudence.  The  study  of  law,  hav- 
ing thus  revived,  made  a  surprising  progress;  within  fifty 
years  Lombardy  was  full  of  lawyers,  on  whom  Frederick 
Barbarossa  and  Alexander  III,  so  hostile  in  every  other 
respect,  conspired  to  shower  honors  and  privileges.  The 
schools  of  Bologna  were  pre-eminent  throughout  this  cen- 
tury for  legal  learning.     There  seem  also  to  have  been  sem- 


State  ov  Society.  CIVIL  LAW.  649 

inaries  at  Modena  and  Mantua;  nor  was  any  considerable 
city  without  distinguished  civilians.  In  the  next  age  they 
became  still  more  numerous,  and  their  professors  more  con- 
spicuous ;  and  universities  arose  at  Naples,  Padua,  and  other 
places,  where  the  Roman  law  was  the  object  of  peculiar  re- 
gard. 

The  fame  of  this  renovated  jurisprudence  spread  very  rap- 
idly from  Italy  over  other  parts  of  Europe.  Students  flocked 
from  all  parts  of  Bologna ;  and  some  eminent  masters  of  that 
school  repeated  its  lessons  in  distant  countries.  One  of  these, 
Placentinus,  explained  the  Digest  at  Montpellier  before  the 
«nd  of  the  twelfth  century ;  and  the  collection  of  Justinian 
soon  came  to  supersede  the  Theodosian  Code  in  the  dominions 
of  Toulouse.  Its  study  continued  to  flourish  in  the  universi- 
ties of  both  these  cities ;  and  hence  the  Roman  law,  as  it  is 
exhibited  in  the  system  of  Justinian,  became  the  rule  of  all 
tribunals  in  the  southern  provinces  of  France.  Its  authority 
in  Spain  is  equally  great,  or  at  least  is  only  disputed  by  that 
of  the  canonists ;  and  it  forms  the  acknowledged  basis  of  de- 
cision in  all  the  Germanic  tribunals,  sparingly  modified  by  the 
ancient  feudal  customaries,  which  the  jurists  of  the  empire  re- 
duce within  narrow  bounds.  In  the  northern  parts  of  France, 
where  the  legal  standard  was  sought  in  local  customs,  the  civil 
law  met  naturally  with  less  regard.  But  the  Code  of  St.  Louis 
borrows  from  that  treasury  many  of  its  provisions,  and  it  was 
const^intly  cited  in  pleadings  before  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
either  as  obligatory  by  way  of  authority,  or  at  least  as  writ- 
ten wisdom,  to  which  great  deference  was  shown.  Yet  its 
study  was  long  prohibited  in  the  University  of  Paris,  from  a 
disposition  of  the  popes  to  establish  exclusively  their  decre- 
tals, though  the  prohibition  was  silently  disregarded. 

As  early  as  the  reign  of  Stephen,  Yacarius,  a  lawyer  of  Bo- 
logna, taught  at  Oxford  with  great  success  ;  but  the  students 
of  scholastic  theology  opposed  themselves,  from  some  unex- 
plained reason,  to  this  new  jurisprudence,  and  his  lectures 
were  interdicted.  About  the  time  of  Henry  III.  and  Edward 
I.  the  civil  law  acquired  some  credit  in  England  ;  but  a  sys- 
tem entirely  incompatible  with  it  had  established  itself  in  our 
courts  of  justice ;  and  the  Roman  jurisprudence  was  not  only 
soon  rejected,  but  became  obnoxious.  Everywhere,  however, 
fhe  clergy  combined  its  study  with  that  of  their  own  canons : 
it  was  a  maxim  that  every  canonist  must  be  a  civilian,  and 
that  no  one  could  be  a  good  civilian  unless  he  were  also  a  can- 
onist. In  all  universities  degrees  are  granted  in  both  laws 
conjointly;  and  in  all  courts  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  the 

28 


650  INSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.     Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 

authority  of  Justinian  is  cited,  when  that  of  Gregory  or  Cle- 
ment is  wanting. 

§  22.  (II.)  The  Institution  of  Universities.  —  The  es- 
tablishment of  public  schools  in  France  is  owing  to  Charle- 
magne. At  his  accession  we  are  assured  that  no  means  of 
obtaining  a  learned  education  existed  in  his  dominions ;  and, 
in  order  to  restore  in  some  degree  the  spirit  of  letters,  he  was 
compelled  ^to  invite  strangers  from  countries  where  learning 
was  not  so  thoroughly  extinguished.  Alcuin  of  England, 
Clement  of  Ireland,  Theodulf  of  Germany,  were  the  true  Pal- 
adins who  repaired  to  his  court.  With  the  help  of  these  he 
revived  a  few  sparks  of  diligence,,  and  established  schools  in 
different  cities  of  his  empire ;  nor  was  he  ashamed  to  be  the 
disciple  of  that  in  his  own  palace,  under  the  care  of  Alcuin. 
His  two  next  successors,  Louis  the  Debonair  and  Charles  the 
Bald,  were  also  encouragers  of  letters;  and  the  schools  of 
Lyons,  Fulda,  Corvey,  Rheims,  and  some  other  cities,  might 
be  said  to  flourish  in  the  ninth  century.  In  these  were  taught 
the  trivium  and  quadrivium — a  long-established  division  of 
sciences :  the  first,  comprehending  grammar,  or  what  we  now 
call  philology,  logic,  and  rhetoric ;  the  second,  music,  arith- 
metic, geometry,  and  astronomy.  But  in  tliose  ages  scarcely 
any  body  mastered  the  latter  four ;  and  to  be  perfect  in  the 
three  former  was  exceedingly  rare.  All  those  studies,  how- 
ever, were  referred  to  theology,  and  that  in  the  narrowest 
manner;  music,  for  example,  being  reduced  to  church  chant- 
ing, and  astronomy  to  the  calculation  of  Easter.  Alcuin  was, 
in  his  old  age,  against  reading  the  poets ;  and  this  discour- 
agement of  secular  learning  was  very  general ;  though  some, 
as  for  instance,  Raban,  permitted  a  slight  tincture  of  it,  as 
subsidiary  to  religious  instruction. 

About  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century  a  greater  ar- 
dor for  intellectual  pursuits  began  to  show  itself  in  Europe, 
which  in  the  twelfth  broke  out  into  a  flame.  This  was  mani- 
fested in  the  numbers  who  repaired  to  the  public  academies  or 
schools  of  philosophy.  None  of  these  grew  so  early  into  rep- 
utation as  that  of  Paris.  This  can  not,  indeed,  as  has  been 
vainly  pretended,  trace  its  pedigree  to  Charlemagne.  The 
first  who  is  said  to  have  read  lectures  at  Paris  was  Remigius 
of  Auxerre,  about  the  year  900.  For  the  two  next  centuries 
the  history  of  this  school  is  very  obscure;  and  it  would  be 
hard  to  prove  an  unbroken  continuity,  or  at  least  a  dependence 
and  connection,  of  its  professors.  In  the  year  1100  we  find 
William  of  Champeaux  teaching  logic,  and  apparently  some 
higher  parts  of  philosophy,  with  much  credit.     But  this  pre' 


State  of  Society.  ABELARD.  651 

ceptor  was  eclipsed  by  his  disciple,  afterwards  his  rival  and 
adversary,  Peter  Abelard,  to  whose  brilliant  and  hardy  genius 
the  University  of  Paris  appears  to  be  indebted  for  its  rapid 
advancement.  Abelard  was  almost  the  first  who  awakened 
mankind  in  the  ages  of  darkness  to  a  sympathy  with  intellect- 
ual excellence.  His  bold  theories — not  the  less  attractive, 
perhaps,  for  treading  upon  the  bounds  of  heresy — his  impru- 
dent vanity,  that  scorned  the  regularly  acquired  reputation 
of  older  men,  allured  a  multitude  of  disciples  who  would 
never  have  listened  to  an  ordinary  teacher.  It  is  said  that 
twenty  cardinals  and  fifty  bishops  had  been  among  his  hearers. 
Even  in  the  wilderness,  where  he  had  erected  the  monastery 
of  Paraclete,  he  was  surrounded  by  enthusiastic  admirers,  re- 
linquishing the  luxuries,  if  so  they  might  be  called,  of  Paris 
for  the  coarse  living  and  imperfect  accommodation  which 
that  retirement  could  afford.  But  the  whole  of  Abelard's  life 
was  the  shipwreck  of  genius,  and  of  genius  both  the  source 
of  his  own  calamities  and  unserviceable  to  posterity.  There 
are  few  lives  of  literary  men  more  interesting  or  more  diversi- 
fied by  success  and  adversity,  by  glory  and  humiliation,  by 
the  admiration  of  mankind  and  the  persecution  of  enemies ; 
nor  from  which,  I  may  add,  more  impressive  lessons  of  moral 
prudence  may  be  derived."  One  of  Abelard's  pupils  was 
Peter  Lombard,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Paris,  and  author 
of  a  work  called  the  "  Book  of  Sentences,"  which  obtained 
the  highest  authority  among  the  scholastic  disputants.  The 
resort  of  students  to  Paris  became  continually  greater ;  they 
appear,  before  the  year  1169,  to  hav^e  been  divided  into  na- 
tions ;"  and  probably  they  had  an  elected  rector  and  volun- 
tary rules  of  discipline  about  the  same  time.  This,  however, 
is  not  decisively  proved;  but  in  the  last  year  of  the  twelfth 
century  they  obtained  their  earliest  charter  from  Philip  Au- 
gustus. 

The  foundation  of  the  University  of  Oxford  is  commonly 
ascribed  to  Alfred,  but  we  have  no  proof  of  its  existence  as 
a  school  of  learning  before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury.    In  the  reign  of  Stephen,  Vacarius  read  lectures  there 

*'  Abelard's  philosophical  writitigs  were  published  in  1836  by  M.  Cousin.  See  also 
the  excellent  work  of  M,  de  Remusat,  in  1845,  with  the  title  Abelard,  containing  a 
copious  account  both  of  the  life  and  writings  of  that  most  remarkable  man,  the  fa- 
ther, perhaps,  of  the  theory  as  to  the  nature  of  universal  ideas,  now  so  generally 
known  by  the  name  of  conceptualism. 

23  The  faculty  of  arts  in  the  University  of  Paris  was  divided  into  four  nations ; 
those  of  France,  Picardy,  Normandy,  and  England.  These  had  distinct  suffrages  in 
the  affairs  of  the  university,  and  consequently,  when  united,  outnumbered  the  three 
higher  faculties  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine.  In  1269,  Henry  II.  of  England  offers 
to  refer  his  dispute  with  Becket  to  the  provinces  of  the  school  of  Paris. 


652  UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.     Chap.  JX.  Part  II. 

upon  civil  law  ;  and  in  that  of  Henry  II.,  or  at  least  of  Rich- 
ard I.,  Oxford  became  a  very  flourishing  university,  and  in 
1201,  according  to  Wood,  contained  3000  scholars.  The  ear- 
liest charters  were  granted  by  John. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  construe  the  word  university  in  the 
strict  sense  of  a  legal  incorporation,  Bologna  might  lay  claim 
to  a  higher  antiquity  than  either  Paris  or  Oxford.  There  are 
a  few  vestiges  of  studies  pursued  in  that  city  even  in  the 
eleventh  century ;  but  early  in  the  next  the  revival  of  the 
Roman  jurisprudence,  as  has  been  already  noticed,  brought 
a  throng  of  scholars  round  the  chairs  of  its  professors.  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa  in  1158,  by  his  authentic  or  rescript,  enti- 
tled Habita,  took  these  under  his  protection,  and  permitted 
them  to  be  tried  in  civil  suits  by  their  own  judges.  This 
exemption  from  the  ordinary  tribunals,  and  even  from  those 
of  the  Church,  was  naturally  coveted  by  other  academies  :  it 
was  granted  to  the  University  of  Paris  by  its  earliest  charter 
from  Philip  Augustus,  and  to  Oxford  by  John.  From  this 
time  the  golden  age  of  universities  commenced ;  and  it  is 
hard  to  say  whether  they  were  favored  more  by  their  sov- 
ereigns or  by  the  See  of  Rome.  Their  history,  indeed,  is  full 
of  struggles  with  the  municipal  authorities  and  with  the 
bishops  of  their  several  cities,  wherein  they  were  sometimes 
the  aggressors,  and  generally  the  conquerors.  From  all  parts 
of  Europe  students  resorted  to  these  renowned  seats  of  learn- 
ing with  an  eagerness  for  instruction  Avhich  may  astonish 
those  who  reflect  how  little  of  what  we  now  deem  useful 
could  be  imparted.  At  Oxford,  under  Henry  III.,  it  is  said 
that  there  were  30,000  scholars ;  an  exaggeration  which 
seems  to  imply  that  the  real  number  was  very  great.  A  re- 
spectable contemporary  writer  asserts  that  there  were  full 
10,000  at  Bologna  about  the  same  time.  I  have  not  ob- 
served any  numerical  statement  as  to  Paris  during  this  age; 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  more  frequented  than 
any  other.  At  the  death  of  Charles  VII.  in  1453,  it  is  said 
to  have  contained  25,000  students.  In  the  thirteenth  centu- 
ry other  universities  sprang  up  in  diflerent  countries — Padua 
and  Naples  under  the  patronage  of  Frederick  II.,  a  zealous 
and  useful  friend  to  letters,  Toulouse  and  Montpellier,  Cam- 
bridge and  Salamanca.  Orleans,  which  had  long  been  dis- 
tinguished as  a  school  of  civil  law,  received  the  privileges  of 
incorporation  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  Angers 
before  the  expiration  of  the  same  age.  Prague,  the  earliest 
and  most  eminent  of  German  universities,  was  founded  in 
1350;  a  secession  from  thence  of  Saxon  students,  in  conse- 


State  of  Socikty.     ENCOURAGEMENT  OF  UNIVERSITIES.       653 

quence  of  the  nationality  of  the  Bohemians  and  the  Hussite 
schism,  gave  rise  to  that  of  Leipsic.  The  fifteenth  century 
produced  several  new  academical  foundations  in  France  and 
Spain. 

A  large  proportion  of  scholars  in  most  of  those  institutions 
r^eve  drawn  by  the  love  of  science  from  foreign  countries. 
The  chief  universities  had  their  own  particular  departments 
of  excellence.  Paris  was  unrivalled  for  scholastic  theology  ; 
Bologna  and  Orleans,  and  afterwards  Bourges,  for  jurispru- 
dence ;  Montpellier  for  medicine.  Though  national  preju- 
dices, as  in  the  case  of  Prague,  sometimes  interfered  with 
this  free  resort  of  foreigners  to  places  of  education,  it  was  in 
general  a  wise  policy  of  government,  as  well  as  of  the  univer- 
sities themselves,  to  encourage  it.  The  thirty-fifth  article  of 
the  peace  of  Bretigni  provides  for  the  restoration  of  former 
privileges  to  students  respectively  in  the  French  and  English 
universities.  Various  letters  patent  will  be  found  in  Ry- 
mer's  collection  securing  to  Scottish  as  well  as  French  na- 
tives a  safe  passage  to  their  place  of  education.  The  English 
nation,  including  however  the  Flemings  and  Germans,  had 
a  separate  vote  in  the  faculty  of  arts  at  Paris ;  but  foreign 
students  were  not,  I  believe,  so  numerous  in  the  English 
academies. 

If  endowments  and  privileges  are  the  means  of  quickening 
a  zeal  for  letters,  they  were  liberally  bestowed  in  the  last 
three  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Crevier  enumerates  fifteen  col- 
leges founded  in  the  University  of  Paris  during  the  thirteenth 
century,  besides  one  or  two  of  a  still  earlier  date.  Two 
only,  or  at  most  three,  existed  in  that  age  at  Oxford,  and  but 
one  at  Cambridge.  In  the  next  two  centuries  these  univer- 
sities could  boast,  as  every  one  knows,  of  many  splendid 
foundations,  though  much  exceeded  in  number  by  those  of 
Paris.  Considered  as  ecclesiastical  institutions,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  universities  obtained,  according  to  the  spirit 
of  their  age,  an  exclusive  cognizance  of  civil  or  criminaj 
suits  affecting  their  members.  This  jurisdiction  was,  how« 
ever,  local  as  well  as  personal,  and  in  reality  encroached  on 
the  regular  police  of  their  cities.  At  Paris  the  privilege 
turned  to  a  flagrant  abuse,  and  gave  rise  to  many  scandalous 
contentions.  Still  more  valuable  advantages  were  those  re- 
lating to  ecclesiastical  preferments,  of  whicii  a  large  propor- 
tion was  reserved  in  France  to  academical  graduates.  Some- 
thing of  the  same  sort,  though  less  extensive,  may  still  be 
traced  in  the  rules  respecting  plurality  of  benefices  in  out 
Enslish  Church. 


654  SCHOLASTIC  PHILOSOPHY.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

§  23.  This  remarkable  and  almost  sudden  transition  from 
a  total  indifference  to  all  intellectual  pursuits  can  not  be 
ascribed  perhaps  to  any  general  causes.  The  restoration  of 
the  civil,  and  the  formation  of  the  canon  law,  were  indeed  emi- 
nently conducive  to  it,  and  a  large  proportion  of  scholars  in 
most  universities  confined  themselves  to  jurisprudence.  But 
the  chief  attraction  to  the  studious  was  the  new  scholastic 
philosophy.  The  love  of  contention,  especially  with  such 
arms  as  the  art  of  dialectics  supplies  to  an  acute  understand- 
ing, is  natural  enough  to  mankind.  That  of  speculating 
upon  the  mysterious  questions  of  metaphysics  and  theology 
is  not  less  so.  These  disputes  and  speculations,  however, 
appear  to  have  excited  little  interest  till,  after  the  middle  of 
the  eleventh  century,  Roscelin,  a  professor  of  logic,  revived 
the  old  question  of  the  Grecian  schools  respecting  universal 
ideas,  the  reality  of  which  he  denied.  This  kindled  a  spirit 
of  metaphysical  discussion,  which  Lanfranc  and  Anselm,  suc- 
cessively archbishops  of  Canterbury,  kept  alive  ;  and  in  the 
next  century  Abelard  and  Peter  Lombard,  especially  the  lat- 
ter, completed  the  scholastic  system  of  philosophizing.  The 
logic  of  Aristotle  seems  to  have  been  partly  known  in  the 
eleventh  century,  although  that  of  Augustin  was  perhaps  in 
higher  estimation ;  in  the  twelfth  it  obtained  more  decisive 
influence.  His  metaphysics,  to  which  the  logic  might  be 
considered  as  preparatory,  were  introduced  through  transla- 
tions from  the  Arabic,  and  perhaps  also  from  the  Greek,  early 
in  the  ensuing  century.  This  work,  condemned  at  first  by 
the  decrees  of  popes  and  councils  on  account  of  its  supposed 
tendency  to  atheism,  acquired  by  degrees  an  influence  to 
which  even  popes  and  councils  were  obliged  to  yield.  The 
Mendicant  Friars,  established  throughout  Europe  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  greatly  contributed  to  promote  the  Aristo- 
telian philosophy ;  and  its  final  reception  into  the  orthodox 
system  of  the  Church  may  chiefly  be  ascribed  to  Thomas 
Aquinas,  the  boast  of  the  Dominican  order,  and  certainly  the 
most  distinguished  metaphysician  of  the  Middle  Ages.  His 
authority  silenced  all  scruples  as  to  that  of  Aristotle,  and  the 
two  philosophers  were  treated  with  equally  implicit  defer- 
ence by  the  later  school-men. 

This  scholastic  philosophy,  so  famous  for  several  ages,  has 
since  passed  away  and  been  forgotten.  The  history  of  liter- 
ature, like  that  of  empire,  is  full  of  revolutions.  Our  public 
libraries  are  cemeteries  of  departed  reputation,  and  the  dust 
accumulating  upon  their  untouched  volumes  speaks  as  forci- 
bly as  the  grass  that  waves  over  the  ruins  of  Babylon.    Few^ 


State  of  Society.     SCHOLASTIC  PHILOSOPHY.  655 

very  few,  for  a  hundred  years  past,  have  broken  the  repose 
of  the  immense  works  of  the  school-men.  Yet  we  can  not 
deny  that  Roscelin,  Anselm,  Abelard,  Peter  Lombard,  Al- 
bertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Duns  Scotus,  and  Ockham 
were  men  of  acute  and  even  profound  understandings,  the 
giants  of  their  own  generation.  Even  with  the  slight  knowl- 
edge we  possess  of  their  tenets,  there  appear  through  the 
cloud  of  repulsive  technical  barbarisms  rays  of  metaphysical 
genius  which  this  age  ought  not  to  despise.  Thus  in  the 
works  of  Anselm  is  found  the  celebrated  argument  of  Des 
Cartes  for  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  deduced  from  the  idea  of 
an  infinitely  perfect  being.  One  great  object  that  most  of 
the  school-men  had  in  view  was  to  establish  the  principles 
of  natural  theology  by  abstract  reasoning.  This  reasoning 
was  doubtless  liable  to  great  difficulties.  But  it  would  be 
difficult  to  mention  any  theoretical  argument  to  prove  the 
divine  attributes,  or  any  objection  capable  of  being  raised 
against  the  proof,  which  we  do  not  find  in  some  of  the  scho- 
lastic philosophers.  The  most  celebrated  subjects  of  discus- 
sion, and  those  on  which  this  class  of  reasoners  were  most 
divided,  were  the  reality  of  universal  ideas,  considered  as  ex- 
trinsic to  the  human  mind  and  the  freedom  of  will.  These 
have  not  ceased  to  occupy  the  thoughts  of  metaphysicians. 

But  all  discovery  of  truth  by  means  of  these  controversies 
was  rendered  hopeless  by  two  insurmountable  obstacles — the 
authority  of  Aristotle  and  that  of  the  Church.  Wherever 
obsequious  reverence  is  substituted  for  bold  inquiry,  truth,  if 
it  is  not  already  at  hand,  will  never  be  attained.  The  scho- 
lastics did  not  understand  Aristotle,  whose  original  writings 
they  could  not  read ;  but  his  name  was  received  with  implicit 
faith.  They  learned  his  peculiar  nomenclature,  and  fancied 
that  he  had  given  them  realities.  The  authority  of  the  Church 
did  them  still  more  harm.  It  has  been  said,  and  probably 
with  much  truth,  that  their  metaphysics  were  injurious  to 
their  theology.  But  I  must  observe  in  return  that  their  the- 
ology was  equally  injurious  to  their  metaphysics.  Their  dis- 
putes continually  turned  upon  questions  either  involving  ab- 
surdity and  contradiction,  or  at  best  inscrutable  by  human 
comprehension.  Those  who  assert  the  greatest  antiquity  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  as  to  the  real  presence  allow 
that  both  the  Avord  and  the  definition  of  transubstantiation 
are  owing  to  the  scholastic  writers.  Their  subtleties  were 
not  always  so  well  received.  They  reasoned,  at  imminent 
eril  of  being  charged  with  heresy,  which  Roscelin,  Abelard, 
ombard,  and  Ockham  did  not  escape.     In  the  virulent  fac 


I 


656  SCHOLASTIC  PHILOSOPHY.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

tions  that  arose  out  of  their  metaphysical  quarrels,  either 
party  was  eager  to  expose  its  adversary  to  detraction  and 
persecution.  The  Nominalists  were  accused,  one  hardly  sees 
why,  with  reducing,  like  Sabellius,  the  persona  of  the  Trinity 
to  modal  distinctions.  The  Realists,  with  more  pretense,  in- 
curred the  imputation  of  holding  a  language  that  savored  of 
atheism.  In  the  controversy  which  the  Dominicans  and  Fran- 
ciscans, disciples  respectively  of  Thomas  Aquinas  and  Dans 
Scotus,  maintained  about  grace  and  free-will,  it  was  of  course 
still  more  easy  to  deal  in  mutual  reproaches  of  heterodoxy. 
But  the  school-men  were  in  general  prudent  enough  not  to 
defy  the  censures  of  the  Church ;  and  the  popes,  in  return  for 
the  support  they  gave  to  all  exorbitant  pretensions  of  the 
Holy  See,  connived  at  this  factious  wrangling,  which  threat- 
ened no  serious  mischief,  as  it  did  not  proceed  from  any  in- 
dependent spirit  of  research.  Yet,  with  all  their  apparent 
conformity  to  the  received  creed,  there  was,  as  might  be  ex^ 
pected  from  the  circumstances,  a  great  deal  of  real  deviation 
from  orthodoxy,  and  even  of  infidelity.  The  scholastic  mode 
of  dispute,  admitting  of  no  termination  and  producing  no 
conviction,  was  the  sure  cause  of  skepticism;  and  the  sys- 
tem of  Aristotle,  especially  with  the  commentaries  of  Aver* 
roes,  bore  an  aspect  very  unfavorable  to  natural  religion. 
The  Aristotelian  philosophy,  even  in  the  hands  of  the  Mas- 
ter, was  like  a  barren  tree  that  conceals  its  want  of  fruit  by 
profusion  of  leaves.  But  the  scholastic  ontology  was  much 
worse.  What  could  be  more  trifling  than  disquisitions  about 
the  nature  of  angels,  their  modes  of  operatiop,'tTieir  means 
of  conversing,  or  (for  these  were  distinguished)  the  morning 
and  evening  state  of  their  understandings?  Into  such  follies 
the  school-men  appear  to  have  launched,  partly  because  there 
was  less  danger  of  running  against  a  heresy  in  a  matter 
where  the  Church  had  defined  so  little — partly  from  their 
presumption,  which  disdained  all  inquiries  into  the  human 
mind,  as  merely  a  part  of  physics — and  in  i^o  small  degree 
through  a  spirit  of  mystical  fanaticism,  derived  from  the  Ori- 
ental philosophy  and  the  later  Platonists,  which  blended  it- 
self with  the  cold-blooded  technicalities  of  the  Aristotelian 
school.  But  this  unproductive  waste  of  the  faculties  could 
not  last  forever.  Men  discovered  that  they  had  given  their 
time  for  the  promise  of  wisdom,  and  been  cheated  in  the  bar- 
gain. What  John  of  Salisbury  observes  of  the  Parisian  dia- 
lecticians in  his  own  time,  that  after  several  years'  absence 
he  found  them  not  a  step  advanced,  and  still  employed  in 
urging  and  parrying  the  same  arguments,  was  equally  appli- 


State  op  Society.     SCHOLASTIC  PHILOSOPHY.  en7 

cable  to  the  period  of  centuries.  After  three  or  four  hun- 
dred years,  the  scholastics  had  not  untied  a  single  knot,  nor 
added  one  unequivocal  truth  to  the  domain  of  philosophy. 
As  this  became  more  evident,  the  enthusiasm  for  that  kind 
of  learning  declined  ;  after  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury few  distinguished  teachers  arose  among  the  school-men, 
and  at  the  revival  of  letters  their  pretended  science  had  no 
advocates  left  but  among  the  prejudiced  or  ignorant  adher- 
ents of  established  systems.  How  different  is  the  state  of 
genuine  philosophy,  the  zeal  for  which  will  never  wear  out 
by  length  of  time  or  change  of  fashion,  because  the  inquirer, 
unrestrained  by  authority,  is  perpetually  cheered  by  the  dis- 
covery of  truth  in  researches,  which  the  boundless  riches  of 
nature  seem  to  render  indefinitely  progressive! 

Yet,  upon  a  general  consideration,  the  attention  paid  in 
the  universities  to  scholastic  philosophy  may  be  deemed  a 
source  of  improvement  in  the  intellectual  character,  w^hen  we 
compare  it  with  the  perfect  ignorance  of  some  preceding  ages. 
Whether  the  same  industry  would  not  have  been  more  profit- 
ably directed  if  the  love  of  metaphysics  had  not  intervened, 
is  another  question.  Philology,  or  the  principles  of  good 
taste,  degenerated  through  the  prevalence  of  school-logic. 
The  Latin  compositions  of  the  twelfth  century  are  better 
than  those  of  the  three  that  followed — at  least  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  Alps.  I  do  not,  however,  conceive  that  any 
real  correctness  of  taste  or  general  elegance  of  style  was  like- 
ly to  subsist  in  so  imperfect  a  condition  of  society.  These 
qualities  seem  to  require  a  certain  harmonious  correspond- 
ence in  the  tone  of  manners  before  they  can  establish  a  prev- 
alent influence  over  literature.  A  more  real  evil  was  the  di- 
verting of  studious  men  from  mathematical  science.  Early 
in  the  twelfth  century  several  persons,  chiefly  English,  had 
brought  into  Europe  some  of  the  Arabian  writings  on  geom- 
etry and  physics.  In  the  thirteenth  the  works  of  Euclid 
were  commented  upon  by  Campano,  and  Roger  Bacon  was 
fully  acquainted  with  them."  Algebra,  as  far  as  the  Ara- 
bians knew  it,  extending  to  quadratic  equations,  was  actually 
in  the  hands  of  some  Italians  at  the  commencement  of  the 

2*  The  resemblance  between  Roger  Bacon  and  his  greater  namesake  is  very  re- 
markable. Whether  Lord  Bacon  ever  read  the  Opus  Majus,  T  know  not ;  but  it  is 
singular  that  his  favorite  quaint  expression,  prcerogativce  scientiarum,  should  be 
found  in  that  work,  though  not  used  with  the  same  allusion  to  the  Roman  comitia. 
And  whoever  reads  the  sixth  part  of  the  Opus  Majus,  upon  experimental  science, 
must  be  struck  by  it  as  the  prototype,  in  spirit,  of  the  Novum  Organum.  The  same 
sanguine  and  sometimes  rash  confidence  in  the  effect  of  physical  discoveries,  the 
same  fondness  for  experiment,  the  same  preference  of  inductive  to  abstract  reason- 
ing, pervade  both  works. 

28* 


658  MODERN  LANGUAGES.         Chap.  IX.  Part  IL 

same  age,  and  preserved  for  almost  three  hundred  years  as 
a  secret,  though  without  any  conception  of  its  importance. 
As  abstract  mathematics  require  no  collateral  aid,  they  may 
reach  the  highest  perfection  in  ages  of  general  barbarism ; 
and  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why,  if  the  course  of  study 
had  been  directed  that  way,  there  should  not  have  arisen  a 
Newton  or  a  Laplace,  instead  of  an  Aquinas  or  an  Ockhara. 
The  knowledge  displayed  by  Roger  Bacon  and  by  Albertus 
Magnus,  even  in  the  mixed  mathematics,  under  every  disad- 
vantage from  the  imperfection  of  instruments  and  the  want 
of  recorded  experience,  is  sufficient  to  inspire  us  with  regret 
that  their  contemporaries  were  more  inclined  to  astonish- 
ment than  to  emulation.  These  inquiries,  indeed,  were  sub- 
ject to  the  ordeal  of  fire,  the  great  purifier  of  books  and  men ; 
for  if  the  metaphysician  stood  a  chance  of  being  burned  as 
a  heretic,  the  natural  philosopher  was  in  not  less  jeopardy  as 
a  magician. 

§  24.  (III.)  Cultivation  of  Modern  Languages. — ^A  far 
more  substantial  cause  of  intellectual  improvement  was  the 
development  of  those  new  languages  that  sprang  out  of  the 
corruption  of  Latin.  For  three  or  four  centuries  after  what 
was  called  the  Romance  tongue  was  spoken  in  France, 
there  remain  but  few  vestiges  of  its  employment  in  writing ; 
though  we  can  not  draw  an  absolute  inference  from  our 
want  of  proof,  and  a  critic  of  much  authority  supposes  trans- 
lations to  have  been  made  into  it  for  religious  purposes  from 
the  time  of  Charlemagne.  During  this  period  the  language 
was  split  into  two  very  separate  dialects,  the  regions  of 
which  may  be  considered,  though  by  no  means  strictly,  as 
divided  by  the  Loire.  These  were  called  the  Langue  d'Oil 
and  the  Langue  d'Oc  ;  or,  in  more  modern  terms,  the  French 
and  Provengal  dialects.  In  the  latter  of  these  I  know  of 
nothing  which  can  even  by  name  be  traced  beyond  the  year 
1100.  About  that  time  Gregory  de  Bechada,  a  gentleman 
of  Limousin,  recorded  the  memorable  events  of  the  first 
Crusade,  then  recent,  in  a  metrical  history  of  great  length. 
This  poem  has  altogether  perished;  which,  considering  the 
popularity  of  its  subject,  would  probably  not  have  been  the 
case  if  it  had  possessed  any  merit.  But  very  soon  afterwards 
a  multitude  of  poets,  like  a  swarm  of  summer  insects,  ap- 
peared in  the  southern  provinces  of  France.  These  were  the 
celebrated  troubadours,  whose  fame  depends  far  less  on  their 
positive  excellence  than  on  the  darkness  of  preceding  ages, 
on  the  temporary  sensation  they  excited,  and  their  perma- 
nent influence  on  the  state  of  European  poetry.     From  Wil- 


State  of  Society.  TROUBADOURS.  659 

liam,  count  of  Poitou,  the  earliest  troubadour  on  record,  who 
died  in  1126,  to  their  extinction,  about  the  end  of  the  next 
century,  there  were  probably  several  hundred  of  these  versi- 
fiers in  the  language  of  Provence,  though  not  always  natives 
of  France.  Among  those  poets  are  reckoned  a  king  of  En- 
gland (Richard  I.),  two  of  Aragon,  one  of  Sicily,  a  dauphin  of 
Auvergne,  a  count  of  Foix,  a  prince  of  Orange,  many  noble- 
men, and  several  ladies.  One  can  hardly  pretend  to  account 
for  this  sudden  and  transitory  love  of  verse ;  but  it  is  mani- 
festly one  symptom  of  the  rapid  impulse  which  the  human 
mind  received  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  contemporaneous 
with  the  severer  studies  that  began  to  flourish  in  the  uni- 
versities. It  was  encouraged  by  the  prosperity  of  Languedoc 
and  Provence,  undisturbed,  comparatively  with  other  coun- 
tries, by  internal  warfare,  and  disposed  by  the  temper  of  their 
inhabitants  to  feel  with  voluptuous  sensibility  the  charm  of 
music  and  amorous  poetry.  But  the  tremendous  storm  that 
fell  upon  Languedoc  in  the  crusade  against  the  Albigeois 
ehook  off  the  flowers  of  Provenyal  verse ;  and  the  final  ex- 
tinction of  the  fief  of  Toulouse,  with  the  removal  of  the  counts 
of  Provence  to  Naples,  deprived  the  troubadours  of  their  most 
eminent  patrons.  An  attempt  was  made  in  the  next  century 
to  revive  them,  by  distributing  prizes  for  the  best  composi- 
tion in  the  Floral  Games  of  Toulouse,  which  have  sometimes 
been  erroneously  referred  to  a  higher  antiquity ;  but  it  did 
not  establish  the  name  of  any  Provenyal  poet.  Nor  can  we 
deem  these  fantastical  solemnities,  styled  Courts  of  Love, 
where  ridiculous  questions  of  metaphysical  gallantry  were 
debated  by  poetical  advocates,  under  the  presidency  and 
arbitration  of  certain  ladies,  much  calculated  to  bring  for- 
ward any  genuine  excellence.  They  illustrate,  however, 
what  is  more  immediately  my  own  object — the  general  ardor 
for  poetry  and  the  manners  of  those  chivalrous  ages. 

§  25.  The  great  reputation  acquired  by  the  troubadours, 
and  panegyrics  lavished  on  some  of  them  by  Dante  and  Pe- 
trarch, excited  a  curiosity  among  literary  men,  which  has 
been  a  good  deal  disappointed  by  further  acquaintance. 
Translations  from  part  of  this  collection,  with  memorials  of 
the  writers,  were  published  by  Millot ;  and  we  certainly  do 
not  often  meet  with  passages  in  his  three  volumes  which 
give  us  any  poetical  pleasure.  The  troubadours  chiefly  con- 
fined themselves  to  subjects  of  love,  or  rather  gallantry,  and 
to  satires  (sirventes),  which  are  sometimes  keen  and  spirit- 
ed. No  romances  of  chivalry,  and  hardly  any  tales,  are  found 
among  their  works.     There  seems  a  general  deficiency  of  im* 


660      FRENCH  METRICAL  TRANSLATIONS.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

agination,  and  especially  of  that  vivid  description  which  dis- 
tinguishes works  of  genius  in  the  rudest  period  of  society. 
In  the  poetry  of  sentiment,  their  favorite  province,  they  sel- 
dom attain  any  natural  expression,  and  consequently  pro« 
duce  no  interest.  It  must  be  allowed,  however,  that  we  can 
not  judge  of  the  troubadours  at  a  greater  disadvantage  than 
through  the  prose  translations  of  Millot.  Their  poetry  was 
entirely  of  that  class  which  is  allied  to  music,  and  excites 
the  fancy  or  feelings  rather  by  the  power  of  sound  than  any 
stimulancy  of  imagery  and  passion.  Possessing  a  flexible 
and  harmonious  language,  they  invented  a  variety  of  met- 
rical arrangements,  perfectly  new  to  the  nations  of  Europe. 
The  Latin  hymns  were  striking  but  monotonous,  the  metre 
of  the  northern  French  unvaried;  but  in  Proven9al  poetry, 
almost  every  length  of  verse,  from  two  syllables  to  twelve, 
and  the  most  intricate  disposition  of  rhymes,  were  at  the 
choice  of  the  troubadour.  The  canzoni,  the  sestine,  all  the 
lyric  metres  of  Italy  and  Spain,  were  borrowed  from  his 
treasury.  With  such  a  command  of  poetical  sounds,  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  inspire  delight  into  ears  not  yet  ren- 
dered familiar  to  the  artifices  of  verse;  and  even  now  the 
fragments  of  these  ancient  lays,  quoted  by  M.  Sismondi  and 
M.  Ginguene,  seem  to  possess  a  sort  of  charm  that  has  evap- 
orated in  translation.  Upon  this  harmony,  and  upon  the  fa- 
cility with  which  mankind  are  apt  to  be  deluded  into  an  ad- 
miration of  exaggerated  sentiment  in  poetry,  they  depended 
for  their  influence.  And  however  vapid  the  songs  of  Pro- 
vence may  seem  to  our  apprehensions,  they  were  undoubted- 
ly the  source  from  whicli  poetry  for  many  centuries  derived 
a  great  portion  of  its  habitual  language. 

§  26.  It  is  probable  that  the  Northern  Romance,  or  what 
we  properly  call  French,  was  not  formed  until  the  tenth 
century.  Translations  of  some  books  of  Scripture  and  acts 
of  saints  were  made  about  1100,  or  even  earlier,  and  there 
are  French  sermons  of  St.  Bernard,  from  which  extracts  have 
been  published,  in  the  royal  library  at  Paris.  ^  In  1126,  a 
charter  was  granted  by  Louis  VI.  to  the  city  of  Beauvais  in 
French.  Metrical  compositions  are  in  general  the  first  liter- 
ature of  a  nation,  and,  even  if  no  distinct  proof  could  be  ad- 
duced, we  might  assume  their  existence  before  the  twelfth 
century.  There  is,  however,  evidence,  not  to  mention  the 
fragments  printed  by  Le  Boeuf,  of  certain  lives  of  saints 
translated  into  French  verse  by  Thibault  de  Vernon,  a  can- 
on of  Rouen,  before  the  middle  of  the  preceding  age.  And 
we  are  told  that  Taillefer,  a  Norman  minstrel,  recited  a  song; 


State  of  Society.     NORMAN  ROMANCES  AND  TALES.  G61 

or  romance  on  the  deeds  of  Roland,  before  the  army  of  his 
countrymen,  at  the  battle  of  Hastings  in  1066.  Philip  de 
Than,  a  Norman  subject  of  Henry  I.,  seems  to  be  the  earliest 
poet  whose  works  as  well  as  name  have  reached  us,  unless 
we  admit  a  French  translation  of  the  work  of  one  Marbode 
upon  precious  stones  to  be  more  ancient.  This  De  Than 
wrote  a  set  of  rules  for  computation  of  time  and  an  account 
of  different  calendars.  A  happy  theme  for  inspiration,  with- 
out doubt !  Another  performance  of  the  same  author  is  a 
treatise  on  birds  and  beasts,  dedicated  to  Adelaide,  queen  of 
Henry  I.  But  a  more  famous  votary  of  the  muses  was  Wace, 
a  native  of  Jersey,  who,  about  the  beginning  of  Henry  H.'s 
reign,  turned  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  history  into  P^rench 
metre.  Besides  this  poem,  called  le  Brut  d'Angleterre,  he 
composed  a  series  of  metrical  histories,  containing  the  trans- 
actions of  the  dukes  of  Normandy,  from  Rollo,  their  great 
progenitor,  who  gave  name  to  the  Roman  de  Rou,  down  to 
his  own  age.  Other  productions  are  ascribed  to  Wace,  who 
was  at  least  a  prolific  versifier,  and,  if  he  seem  to  deserve  no 
higher  title  at  present,  has  a  claim  to  indulgence,  and  even 
to  esteem,  as  having  far  excelled  his  contemporaries,  without 
any  superior  advantages  of  knowledge.  In  emulation,  how- 
ever, of  his  fame,  several  Norman  writers  addicted  them- 
selves to  composing  chronicles  of  devotional  treatises  in  me- 
tre. The  court  of  our  Norman  kings  was  to  the  early  poets 
in  the  Langue  d'Oil  what  those  of  Aries  and  Toulouse  were 
to  the  troubadours.  Henry  I.  was  fond  enough  of  literature 
to  obtain  the  surname  of  Beauclerc;  Henry  II.  was  more  in- 
disputably an  encourager  of  poetry  ;  and  Richard  I.  has  left 
compositions  of  his  own  in  the  two  dialects  spoken  in  France. 
If  the  poets  of  Normandy  had  never  gone  beyond  histor- 
ical and  religious  subjects,  they  would  probably  have  had 
less  claim  to  our  attention  than  their  brethren  of  Provence. 
But  a  different  and  far  more  interesting  species  of  composi- 
tion began  to  be  cultivated  in  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth 
century.  Without  entering  upon  the  controverted  question 
as  to  the  origin  of  romantic  fictions,  referred  by  one  party 
to  the  Scandinavians,  by  a  second  to  the  Arabs,  by  others  to 
the  natives  of  Brittany,  it  is  manifest  that  the  actual  stories, 
upon  which  one  early  and  numerous  class  of  romances  was 
founded,  are  related  to  the  traditions  of  the  last  people. 
These  are  such  as  turn  upon  the  fable  of  Arthur;  for  though 
we  are  not  entitled  to  deny  the  existence  of  such  a  personage, 
his  story  seems  chiefly  the  creation  of  Celtic  vanity.  Tradi- 
tions current  in  Brittany,  though  probably  derived  from  this 


662  NORMAN  ROMANCES  AND  TALES.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

island,  became  the  basis  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  Latin 
prose,  which,  as  has  been  seen,  was  transfused  into  French 
metre  by  Wace.  The  vicinity  of  Normandy  enabled  its 
poets  to  enrich  their  narratives  with  other  Armorican  fic- 
tions, all  relating  to  the  heroes  who  had  surrounded  the  ta- 
ble of  the  son  of  Uther.  An  equally  imaginary  history  of 
Charlemagne  gave  rise  to  a  new  family  of  romances.  The 
authors  of  these  fictions  were  called  trouveurs,  a  name  ob- 
viously identical  with  that  of  troubadours.  But  except  in 
name  there  was  no  resemblance  between  the  minstrels  of 
the  northern  and  southern  dialects.  The  invention  of  one 
class  was  turned  to  description,  that  of  the  other  to  senti- 
ment ;  the  first  were  epic  in  their  form  and  style,  the  latter 
almost  always  lyric.  We  can  not,  perhaps,  give  a  better  no- 
tion of  their  dissimilitude  than  by  saying  that  one  school 
produced  Chaucer,  and  the  other  Petrarch.  Besides  these 
romances  of  chivalry,  the  trouveurs  displayed  their  powers 
of  lively  narration  in  comic  tales  or  fabliaux  (a  name  some- 
times extended  to  the  higher  romance),  which  have  aided 
the  imagination  of  Boccace  and  La  Fontaine.  These  compo- 
sitions are  certainly  more  entertaining  than  those  of  the 
troubadours;  but,  contrary  to  what  I  have  said  of  the  latter, 
they  often  gain  by  appearing  in  a  modern  dress.  Their  ver- 
sification, which  doubtless  had  its  charm  when  listened  to 
around  the  hearth  of  an  ancient  castle,  is  very  languid  and 
prosaic,  and  suitable  enough  to  the  tedious  prolixity  into 
which  the  narrative  is  apt  to  fall ;  and  though  we  find  many 
sallies  of  that  arch  and  sprightly  simplicity  which  character- 
izes the  old  language  of  France  as  well  as  England,  it  re- 
quires, upon  the  whole,  a  factitious  taste  to  relish  these  Nor- 
man tales,  considered  as  poetry  in  the  higher  sense  of  the 
word,  distinguished  from  metrical  fiction. 

A  manner  very  different  from  that  of  the  fabliaux  was 
adopted  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  begun  by  William  de 
Loris  about  1250,  and  completed  by  John  de  Meun  half  a 
century  later.  This  poem,  which  contains  about  16,000  lines 
in  the  usual  octosyllable  verse,  from  which  the  early  French 
writers  seldom  deviated,  is  an  allegorical  vision,  wherein  love 
and  the  other  passions  or  qualities  connected  with  it  pass 
over  the  stage,  without  the  intervention,  I  believe,  of  any 
less  abstract  personages.  Though  similar  allegories  were 
not  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and,  which  is  more  to  the  pur- 
pose, may  be  found  in  other  productions  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  none  had  been  constructed  so  elaborately  as  that 
of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.     Cold  and  tedious  as  we  now  con- 


State  of  Society.     WORKS  IN  FRENCH  PROSE.  663 

sider  this  species  of  poetry,  it  originated  in  the  creative  pow- 
er of  imagination,  and  appealed  to  more  refined  feeling  than 
the  common  metrical  narratives  could  excite.  This  poem 
was  highly  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  became  the 
source  of  those  numerous  allegories  which  had  not  ceased  in 
the  seventeenth  century. 

The  French  language  was  employed  in  prose  as  well  as  in 
metre.  Indeed  it  seems  to  have  had  almost  an  exclusive 
privilege  in  this  respect.  "The  language  of  Oil,"  says  Dante, 
in  his  treatise  on  vulgar  speech,  prefers  its  claim  to  be  rank- 
ed above  those  of  Oc  and  Si  (Proven9al  and  Italian),  on  the 
ground  that  all  translations  or  compositions  in  prose  have 
been  written  therein,  from  its  greater  facility  and  grace,  such 
as  the  books  compiled  from  the  Trojan  and  Roman  stories, 
the  deliglitful  fables  about  Arthur,  and  many  other  works  of 
history  and  science."  I  have  mentioned  already  the  sermons 
of  St.  Bernard  and  translations  from  Scripture.  The  laws  of 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  purport  to  have  been  drawn  up 
immediately  after  the  first  crusade,  and,  though  their  lan- 
guage has  been  materially  altered,  there  seems  no  doubt 
that  they  were  originally  compiled  in  French.  Besides  some 
charters,  there  are  said  to  have  been  prose  romances  before 
the  year  1200.  Early  in  the  next  age  Ville  Hardouin,  sene- 
schal of  Campagne,  recorded  the  capture  of  Constantinople 
in  the  fourth  crusade,  an  expedition  the  glory  and  reward  of 
which  he  had  personally  shared,  and,  as  every  original  work 
of  prior  date  has  either  perished  or  is  of  small  importance,  may 
be  deemed  the  father  of  French  prose.  The  Establishments 
of  St.  Louis  and  the  law  treatise  of  Beaumanoir  fill  up  the 
interval  of  the  thirteenth  century ;  and  before  its  conclusion 
we  must  suppose  the  excellent  memoirs  of  Joinville  to  have 
been  composed,  since  they  are  dedicated  to  Louis  X.  in  1315, 
when  the  author  could  hardly  be  less  than  ninety  years  of 
age.  Without  prosecuting  any  further  the  history  of  French 
literature,  I  will  only  mention  the  translations  of  Livy  and 
Sallust,  made  in  the  reign  and  by  the  order  of  John,  with 
those  of  Caesar,  Suetonius,  Ovid,  and  parts  of  Cicero,  which 
are  due  to  his  successor,  Charles  V. 

§  27.  I  confess  myself  wholly  uninformed  as  to  the  origin- 
al formation  of  the  Spanish  language,  and  as  to  the  epoch 
of  its  separation  into  the  two  principal  dialects  of  Castile 
and  Portugal  or  Gallicia  ;  nor  should  I  perhaps  have  alluded 
to  the  literature  of  that  peninsula,  were  it  not  for  a  remark- 
able poem  which  shines  out  among  the  minor  lights  of  those 
times.     This  is  a  metrical  life  of  the  Cid  Ruy  Diaz,  written 


G64  EARLY  ITALIAN  WRITERS.     Chap.  IX.  Fart  11. 

in  a  barbarous  style  and  with  the  rudest  inequality  of  meas- 
ure, but  with  a  truly  Homeric  warmth  and  vivacity  of  delin- 
eation. It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  author's  name 
has  perished ;  but  its  date  has  been  referred  by  some  to  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  while  the  hero's  actions  were 
yet  recent,  and  before  the  taste  of  Spain  had  been  corrupted 
by  the  Proven9al  troubadours,  whose  extremely  diiferent 
manner  would,  if  it  did  not  pervert  the  poet's  genius,  at 
least  have  impeded  his  popularity.  A  very  competent  judge 
has  pronounced  the  poem  of  the  Cid  to  be  "  decidedly  and 
beyond  comparison  the  finest  in  the  Spanish  language."  It 
is  at  least  superior  to  any  that  was  written  in  Europe  before 
the  appearance  of  Dante," 

§  28.  A  strange  obscurity  envelops  the  infancy  of  the  Ital- 
ian language.  Though  it  is  certain  that  grammatical  Latin 
had  ceased  to  be  employed  in  ordinary  discourse,  at  least 
from  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  we  have  not  a  single  pas- 
sage of  undisputed  authenticity  in  the  current  idiom  for 
nearly  four  centuries  afterwards.  Though  Italian  phrases 
are  mixed  up  in  the  barbarous  jargon  of  some  charters,  not 
an  mstrument  is  extant  in  that  language  before  the  year  1200. 
Nor  is  there  a  vestige  of  Italian  poetry  older  than  a  few 
fragments  of  Ciullo  d'Alcamo,  a  Sicilian,  who  must  have 
written  before  1193,  since  he  mentions  Saladin  as  then  living. 
This  may  strike  us  as  the  more  remarkable,  when  we  consider 
the  political  circumstances  of  Italy  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries.  From  the  struggles  of  her  spirited  republics 
against  the  emperors  and  their  internal  factions  we  might, 
upon  all  general  reasoning,  anticipate  the  early  use  and  vig- 
orous cultivation  of  their  native  language.  Even  if  it  were 
not  yet  ripe  for  historians  and  philosophers,  it  is  strange  that 
no  poet  should  have  been  inspired  with  songs  of  triumph  or 
invective  by  the  various  fortunes  of  his  country.  But,  on 
the  contrary,  the  poets  of  Lombardy  became  troubadours, 
and  wasted  their  genius  in  Provenyal  love-strains  at  the 
courts  of  princes.  The  Milanese  and  other  Lombard  dialects 
were,  indeed,  exceedingly  rude  ;  but  this  rudeness  separated 
them  more  decidedly  from  Latin :  nor  is  it  possible  that  the 
Lombards  could  have  employed  that  language  intelligibly 
for  any  public  or  domestic  purpose.  And  indeed,  in  the 
earliest  Italian  compositions  that  have  been  published,  the 
new  language  is  so  thoroughly  formed,  that  it  is  natural  to 

25  An  extract  from  this  poem  was  published  in  1808  by  Mr.  Southey,  at  the  end  of 
his  "  Chronicles  of  the  Cid."  M.  Sismondi  has  given  other  passages  in  the  third 
volume  of  his  "  History  of  Southern  Literatnre." 


State  of  Society.  DANTE.  665 

infer  a  very  long  disuse  of  that  from  which  it  was  derived. 
The  Sicilians  claim  the  glory  of  having  first  adapted  their 
own  harmonious  dialect  to  poetry.  Frederick  II.  both  en- 
couraged their  art  and  cultivated  it ;  among  the  very  first 
essays  of  Italian  verse  we  find  his  productions  and  those  of 
his  chancellor  Pierodelle  Vigne.  Thus  Italy  was  destined  to 
owe  the  beginnings  of  her  national  literature  to  a  foreigner 
and  an  enemy.  These  poems  are  very  short  and  few ;  those 
ascribed  to  St.  Francis  about  the  same  time  are  hardly  dis- 
tinguishable from  prose ;  but  after  the  middle  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  Tuscan  poets  awoke  to  a  sense  of  the 
beauties  which  their  native  language,  refined  from  the  im- 
purities of  vulgar  speech,  could  display,  and  the  genius  of 
Italian  literature  was  rocked  upon  the  restless  waves  of  the 
Florentine  democracy.  Ricordano  Malespini,  the  first  his- 
torian, and  nearly  the  first  prose  writer  in  Italian,  left  memo- 
rials of  the  republic  down  to  the  year  1281,  which  was  that 
of  his  death,  and  it  was  continued  by  Giacchetto  Malespini 
to  1286.  These  are  little  inferior  in  purity  of  style  to  the 
best  Tuscan  authors ;  for  it  is  the  singular  fate  of  that  lan- 
guage to  have  spared  itself  all  intermediate  stages  of  refine- 
ment, and,  starting  the  last  in  the  race,  to  have  arrived  al- 
most instantaneously  at  the  goal.  There  is  an  interval  of 
not  much  more  than  half  a  century  between  the  short  frag- 
ment of  Ciullo  d'Alcamo,  mentioned  above,  and  the  poems  of 
Guido  Guinizzelli,  Guitone  d'Arezzo,  and  Guido  Cavalcante, 
which,  in  their  diction  and  turn  of  thought,  are  sometimes 
not  unworthy  of  Petrarch. 

§  29.  But  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  age  arose  a  much 
greater  genius,  the  true  father  of  Italian  poetry,  and  the  first 
name  in  the  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages.  This  was  Dante, 
or  Durante  Alighieri,  born  in  1265,  of  a  respectable  family 
at  Florence.  Attached  to  the  Guelf  party,  which  had  then 
obtained  a  final  ascendency  over  its  rival,  he  might  justly 
promise  himself  the  natural  reward  of  talents  under  a  free 
government — public  trust  and  the  esteem  of  his  compatriots. 
But  the  Guelfs  unhappily  Avere  split  into  two  factions,  the 
Bianchi  and  the  Neri,  with  the  former  of  whom,  and,  as  it 
proved,  the  unsuccessful  side,  Dante  was  connected.  In  1300 
he  filled  the  office  of  one  of  the  priori,  or  chief  magistrates, 
at  Florence ;  and  having  manifested  in  this,  as  was  alleged, 
some  partiality  towards  the  Bianchi,  a  sentence  of  proscrip- 
tion passed  against  him  about  two  years  afterwards,  when  it 
became  the  turn  of  the  opposite  faction  to  triumph.  Ban- 
ished from  bis  country,  and  baffled  in  several  efforts  of  his 


666  DANTE.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

friends  to  restore  their  fortunes,  he  had  no  resource  but  at 
the  courts  of  the  Scalas  at  Verona,  and  otlier  Italian  princes, 
attaching  himself  in  adversity  to  the  imperial  interests,  and 
tasting,  in  his  own  language,  the  bitterness  of  another's  bread. 
In  this  state  of  exile  he  finished,  if  he  did  not  commence, 
his  great  poem,  the  Divine  Comedy — a  representation  of  the 
three  kingdoms  of  futurity.  Hell,  Purgatory,  and  Paradise, 
divided  into  one  hundred  cantos,  and  containing  about  14,000 
lines.     He  died  at  Ravenna,  in  1321. 

Dante  is  among  the  very  few  who  have  created  the  na- 
tional poetry  of  their  country.  For  notwithstanding  the  pol- 
ished elegance  of  some  early  Italian  verse,  it  had  been  con- 
fined to  amorous  sentiment;  and  it  was  yet  to  be  seen  that 
the  language  could  sustain,  for  a  greater  length  than  any  ex- 
isting poem  except  the  Iliad,  the  varied  style  of  narration, 
reasoning,  and  ornament.  Of  all  writers  he  is  the  most  un- 
questionably original.  Virgil  was  indeed  his  inspiring  gen- 
ius, as  he  declares  himself,  and  as  may  sometimes  be  per- 
ceived in  his  diction ;  but  his  tone  is  so  peculiar  and  charac- 
teristic, that  few  readers  would  be  willing  at  first  to  acknowl- 
edge any  resemblance.  He  possessed  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  a  command  of  language,  the  abuse  of  which  led  to 
his  obscurity  and  licentious  innovations.  No  poet  ever  ex- 
celled him  in  conciseness,  and  in  the  rare  talent  of  finishing 
his  pictures  by  a  few  bold  touches — the  merit  of  Pindar  in 
his  better  hours.  How  prolix  w^ould  the  stories  of  Frances- 
ca  or  of  Ugolino  have  become  in  the  hands  of  Ariosto,  or  of 
Tasso,  or  of  Ovid,  or  of  Spenser !  This  excellence,  indeed,  is 
most  striking  in  the  first  part  of  his  poem.  Having  formed 
his  plan  so  as  to  give  an  equal  length  to  the  three  regions 
of  his  spiritual  world,  he  found  himself  unable  to  vary  the 
images  of  hope  or  beatitude,  and  the  Paradise  is  a  continual 
accumulation  of  descriptions,  separately  beautiful,  but  uni- 
form and  tedious.  Though  images  derived  from  light  and 
music  are  the  most  pleasing,  and  can  be  borne  longer  in 
poetry  than  any  others,  their  sweetness  palls  upon  the  sense 
by  frequent  repetition,  and  we  require  the  intermixture  of 
sharper  flavors.  Yet  there  are  detached  passages  of  great 
excellence  in  this  third  part  of  Dante's  poem ;  and  even  in 
the  long  theological  discussions,  which  occupy  the  greater 
proportion  of  its  thirty-three  cantos,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
admire  the  enunciation  of  abstract  positions  with  remarkable 
energy,  conciseness,  and  sometimes  perspicuity.  The  first 
twelve  cantos  of  the  Purgatory  are  an  almost  continual  flow 
of  soft  and  brilliant  poetry.     The  last  seven  are  also  very 


State  of  SociETr.  DANTE.  667 

splendid ;  but  there  is  some  heaviness  in  the  intermediate 
parts.  Fame  has  justly  given  the  preference  to  the  Inferno, 
which  displays  throughout  a  more  vigorous  and  masterly 
conception ;  but  the  mind  of  Dante  can  not  be  thoroughly 
appreciated  without  a  perusal  of  his  entire  poem. 

The  most  forced  and  unnatural  turns,  the  most  barbarous 
licenses  of  idiom,  are  found  in  this  poem,  whose  power  of 
expression  is  at  other  times  so  peculiarly  happy.  His  style 
is  indeed  generally  free  from  those  conceits  of  thought  which 
discredited  the  other  poets  of  his  country;  but  no  sense  is 
too  remote  for  a  word  which  he  finds  convenient  for  his 
measure  or  his  rhyme.  It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  he  never  al- 
tered a  line  on  account  of  the  necessity  of  rhyme,  but  forced 
another,  or  perhaps  a  third,  into  company  with  it.  For  many 
of  his  faults  no  sufficient  excuse  can  be  made.  But  it  is  can- 
did to  remember  that  Dante,  writing  almost  in  the  infancy 
of  a  language  which  he  contributed  to  create,  was  not  to  an- 
ticipate that  words  which  he  borrowed  from  the  Latin  and 
from  the  provincial  dialects  would  by  accident,  or  through 
the  timidity  of  later  writers,  lose  their  place  in  the  classical 
idiom  of  Italy.  If  Petrarch,  Bembo,  and  a  few  more,  had 
not  aimed  rather  at  purity  than  copiousness,  the  phrases 
which  now  appear  barbarous,  and  are  at  least  obsolete,  might 
have  been  fixed  by  use  in  poetical  language. 

The  great  characteristic  excellence  of  "Dante  is  elevation 
of  sentiment,  to  which  his  compressed  diction  and  the  em- 
phatic cadences  of  his  measure  admirably  correspond.  We 
read  him  not  as  an  amusing  poet,  but  as  a  master  of  moral 
wisdom,  with  reverence  and  awe.  Fresh  from  the  deep  and 
serious,  though  somewhat  barren,  studies  of  philosophy,  and 
schooled  in  the  severer  discipline  of  experience,  he  has  made 
of  his  poem  a  mirror  of  his  mind  and  life,  the  register  of  his 
solicitudes  and  sorrows,  and  of  the  speculations  in  which  he 
sought  to  escape  their  recollection.  The  banished  magis- 
trate of  Florence,  the  disciple  of  Brunetto  Latini,  the  states- 
man accustomed  to  trace  the  varying  fluctuations  of  Italian 
faction,  is  forever  before  our  eyes.  For  this  reason,  even  the 
prodigal  display  of  erudition,  which  in  an  epic  poem  would 
be  entirely  misplaced,  increases  the  respect  we  feel  for  the 
poet,  though  it  does  not  tend  to  the  reader's  gratification. 
Except  Milton,  he  is  much  the  most  learned  of  all  the  great 
poets,  and,  relatively  to  his  age,  far  more  learned  than  Mil- 
ton. In  one  so  highly  endowed  by  nature,  and  so  consum- 
mate by  instruction,  we  may  well  sympathize  with  a  resent- 
ment which  exile  and  poverty  rendered  perpetually  fresh. 


668  DANTE.  Chap.  IX.  Part  I L 

The  heart  of  Dante  was  naturally  sensible,  and  even  tender; 
his  poetry  is  full  of  simple  comparisons  from  rural  life ;  and 
the  sincerity  of  his  early  passion  for  Beatrice  pierces  through 
the  veil  of  allegory  which  surrounds  her.  But  the  memory 
of  his  injuries  pursues  him  into  the  immensity  of  eternal 
light;  and,  in  the  company  of  saints  and  angels,  his  unfor- 
giving spirit  darkens  at  the  name  of  Florence. 

This  great  poem  was  received  in  Italy  with  that  enthusi- 
astic admiration  which  attaches  itself  to  works  of  genius 
only  in  ages  too  rude  to  listen  to  the  envy  of  competitors  or 
the  fastidiousness  of  critics.  Almost  every  library  in  that 
country  contains  manuscript  copies  of  the  Divine  Comedy, 
and  an  account  of  those  who  have  abridged  or  commented 
upon  it  would  swell  to  a  volume.  It  was  thrice  printed  in 
the  year  1472,  and  at  least  nine  times  within  the  fifteenth 
century.  The  city  of  Florence  in  ISYS,  with  a  magnanimity 
which  almost  redeems  her  original  injustice,  appointed  a 
public  professor  to  read  lectures  upon  Dante;  and  it  was 
hardly  less  honorable  to  the  poet's  memory  that  the  first 
person  selected  for  this  oftice  was  Boccaccio.  The  universi- 
ties of  Pisa  and  Piacenza  imitated  this  example :  but  it  is 
probable  that  Dante's  abstruse  philosophy  was  often  more 
regarded  in  their  chairs  than  his  higher  excellences.  Italy 
indeed,  and  all  Europe,  had  reason  to  be  proud  of  such  a 
master.  Since  Claudian,  there  had  been  seen  for  nine  hun- 
dred years  no  considerable  body  of  poetry,  except  the  Span- 
ish poem  of  the  Cid,  of  which  no  one  had  heard  beyond  the 
peninsula,  that  could  be  said  to  pass  mediocrity;  and  we 
must  go  much  farther  back  than  Claudian  to  find  any  one 
capable  of  being  compared  with  Dante.  His  appearance 
made  an  epoch  in  the  intellectual  history  of  modern  nations, 
and  banished  the  discouraging  suspicion  which  long  ages 
of  lethargy  tended  to  excite,  that  nature  had  exhausted  her 
fertility  in  the  great  poets  of  Greece  and  Rome.  It  was  as 
if,  at  some  of  the  ancient  games,  a  stranger  had  appeared 
upon  the  plain,  and  thrown  his  quoit  among  the  marks  of 
former  casts  which  tradition  had  Hscribed  to  the  demigods. 
But  the  admiration  of  Dante,  though  it  gave  a  general  im- 
pulse to  the  human  mind,  did  not  produce  imitators.  I  am 
unaware,  at  least,  of  any  writer,  in  whatever  language,  who 
can  be  said  to  have  followed  the  steps  of  Dante:  I  mean  not 
so  much  in  his  subject  as  in  the  character  of  his  genius  and 
style.  His  orbit  is  still  all  his  own,  and  the  track  of  his 
wheels  can  never  be  confounded  with  that  of  a  rival. 

§  30.  In   the   same   year  that  Dante  was  expelled  from 


State  of  Society.  PETE  ARCH.  "  669 

Florence,  a  notary,  by  name  Petracco,  was  involved  in  a  sim- 
ilar banishment.  Retired  to  Arezzo,  he  there  became  the 
father  of  Francis  Petrarch.  This  great  man  shared  of  course, 
during  his  early  years,  in  the  adverse  fortune  of  his  family, 
which  he  was  invincibly  reluctant  to  restore,  according  to 
his  father's  wish,  by  the  profession  of  jurisprudence.  The 
strong  bias  of  nature  determined  him  to  polite  letters  and 
poetry.  These  are  seldom  the  fountains  of  wealth  ;  yet  they 
would  perhaps  have  been  such  to  Petrarch,  if  his  temper 
could  have  borne  the  sacrifice  of  liberty  for  any  worldly  ac- 
quisitions. At  the  city  of  Avignon,  where  his  parents  had 
latterly  resided,  his  graceful  appearance  and  the  reputation 
of  his  talents  attracted  one  of  the  Colonna  family,  then  Bish- 
op of  Lombes,  in  Gascony.  In  him,  and  in  other  members 
of  that  great  house,  never  so  illustrious  as  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  he  experienced  the  union  of  patronage  and  friend- 
ship. This,  however,  was  not  confined  to  the  Colonnas. 
Unlike  Dante,  no  poet  was  ever  so  liberally  and  sincerely  en- 
couraged by  the  great ;  nor  did  any,  perhaps,  ever  carry  to 
that  perilous  intercourse  a  spirit  more  irritably  independent, 
or  more  free  from  interested  adulation.  He  praised  his 
friends  lavishly  because  he  loved  them  ardently  ;  but  his 
temper  was  easily  susceptil)le  of  ofiense,  and  there  must  have 
been  much  to  tolerate  in  that  restlessness  and  jealousy  of 
reputation  which  is  perhaps  the  inevitable  failing  of  a  poet. 
But  every  thing  was  forgiven  to  a  man  who  was  the  ac- 
knowledged boast  of  his  age  and  country.  Clement  VI. 
conferred  one  or  two  sinecure  benefices  upon  Petrarch,  and 
would  probably  have  raised  him  to  a  bishopric  if  he  had 
chosen  to  adopt  the  ecclesiastical  profession.  But  he  never 
took  orders,  the  clerical  tonsure  being  a  sufficient  qualifica- 
tion for  holding  canonries.  The  same  pope  even  afforded 
him  tjie  post  of  apostolical  secretary,  and  this  was  repeated 
by  Innocent  VI.  I  know  not  whether  we  should  ascribe  to 
magnanimity  or  to  a  politic  motive  the  behavior  of  Clement 
VI.  towards  Petrarch,  who  had  pursued  a  course  as  vexa- 
tious as  possible  to  the  Holy  See.  For  not  only  he  made  the 
residence  of  the  supreme  pontiflfs  at  Avignon,  and  the  vices 
of  their  court,  the  topic  of  invectives,  too  well  founded  to  be 
despised,  but  he  had  ostentatiously  put  himself  forward  as 
the  supporter  of  Nicola  di  Rienzi  in  a  project  which  could 
evidently  have  no  other  aim  than  to  Avrest  the  city  of  Rome 
from  the  temporal  sovereignty  of  its  bishop.  Nor  was  the 
friendship  and  society  of  Petrarch  less  courted  by  the  most 
respectable  Italian  princes ;  by  Robert,  king  of  Naples,  by 


670  PETRAKCH.  Chap.  IX.  Part  It. 

the  ViscoDti,  the  Correggi  of  Parma,  the  famous  doge  of 
Venice,  Andrew  Dandolo,  and  the  Carrara  family  of  Padua, 
under  whose  protection  he  spent  the  latter  years  of  his  life. 
Stories  are  related  of  the  respect  shown  to  him  by  men  in 
humbler  stations  which  are  perhaps  still  more  satisfactory. 
But  the  most  conspicuous  testimony  of  public  esteem  was 
bestowed  by  the  city  of  Rome,  in  his  solemn  coronation  as 
laureate  poet  in  the  Capitol.  This  ceremony  took  place  in 
1341 ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  Petrarch  had  at  that  time 
composed  no  works  which  could,  in  our  estimation,  give  him 
pretensions  to  so  singular  an  honor. 

The  moral  character  of  Petrarch  was  formed  of  disposi- 
tions peculiarly  calculated  for  a  poet.  An  enthusiast  in  the 
emotions  of  love  and  friendship,  of  glory,  of  patriotism,  of 
religion,  he  gave  the  rein  to  all  their  impulses ;  and  there 
is  not,  perhaps,  a  page  in  his  Italian  writing  which  does  not 
bear  the  trace  of  one  or  other  of  these  affections.  By  far 
the  most  predominant,  and  that  which  has  given  the  great- 
est celebrity  to  his  name,  is  his  passion  for  Laura.  Twenty 
years  of  unrequited  and  almost  unaspiring  love  were  light- 
ened by  song ;  and  the  attachment,  which,  having  long  sur- 
vived the  beauty  of  its  object,  seems  to  have  at  one  time 
nearly  passed  from  the  heart  to  the  fancy,  was  changed  to 
an  intenser  feeling,  and  to  a  sort  of  celestial  adoration,  by 
her  death.  Laura,  before  the  time  of  Petrarch's  first  acci- 
dental meeting  with  her,  was  united  in  marriage  with  an- 
other; a  fact  which,  besides  some  more  particular  evidence, 
appears  to  me  deducible  from  the  whole  tenor  of  his  poetry." 
Such  a  passion  is  undoubtedly  not  capable  of  a  moral  de- 
fense ;  nor  would  I  seek  its  palliation  so  much  in  the  preva- 
lent manners  of  his  age,  by  which,  however,  the  conduct  of 
even  good  men  is  generally  not  a  little  influenced,  as  in  the 
infirmity  of  Petrarch's  character,  which  induced  him  both  to 
obey  and  to  justify  the  emotions  of  his  heart.  The  lady,  too, 
whose  virtue  and  prudence  we  are  not  to  question,  seems  to 
have  tempered  the  light  and  shadow  of  her  countenance,  so 
as  to  preserve  her  admirer  from  despair,  and  consequently  to 
prolong  his  sufferings  and  servitude. 

The  general  excellences  of  Petrarch  are  his  command  over 
the  music  of  his  native  language,  his  correctness  of  style, 
scarcely  two  or  three  words  that  he  has  used  having  been 
rejected  by  later  writers,  his  exquisite  elegance  of  diction, 
improved  by  the  perpetual  study  of  Virgil ;  but,  far  above 
all,  that  tone  of  pure  and  melancholy  sentiment,  which  has 

2«  See  Note  II.,  "  Petrarch's  Laura." 


State  of  Society.         ENGLISH  LANGUAGE.  671 

something  in  it  unearthly,  and  forms  a  strong  contrast  to  the 
amatory  poems  of  antiquity.  Most  of  these  are  either  licen- 
tious or  uninteresting  ;  and  those  of  Catullus,  a  man  endow- 
ed by  nature  with  deep  and  serious  sensibility,  and  a  poet,  in 
my  opinion,  of  greater  and  more  varied  genius  than  Petrarch, 
are  contaminated  above  all  the  rest  with  the  most  degrad- 
ing grossness.  Of  this  there  is  not  a  single  instance  in  the 
poet  of  Vaucluse ;  and  his  strains,  diffused  and  admired  as 
they  have  been,  may  have  conferred  a  benefit  that  criticism 
can  not  estimate,  in  giving  elevation  and  refinement  to  the 
imaginations  of  youth.  The  great  defect  of  Petrarch  was 
his  want  of  strong  original  conception,  which  prevented  him 
from  throwing  off  the  affected  and  overstrained  manner 
of  the  Proven9al  troubadours,  and  of  the  earlier  Italian 
poets. 

§  31.  None  of  the  principal  modern  languages  was  so  la*,e 
in  its  formation,  or  in  its  application  to  the  purposes  of  liter- 
ature, as  the  English.  This  arose,  as  is  well  known,  out  of 
the  Saxon  branch  of  the  great  Teutonic  stock  spoken  in  En- 
gland till  after  the  Conquest.  From  this  mother  dialect  our 
English  differs  much  less  in  respect  of  etymology  than  of 
syntax,  idiom,  and  flexion.  In  so  gradual  a  transition  as 
probably  took  place,  and  one  so  sparingly  marked  by  any 
existing  evidence,  we  can  not  well  assign  a  definite  origin 
to  our  present  language.  The  question  of  identity  is  almost 
as  perplexing  in  languages  as  in  individuals.  But  in  the 
reign  of  John,  a  version  of  Wace's  poem  of  Brut,  by  one  Lay- 
amon,^'  a  priest  of  Ernly-upon-Severn,  exhibits,  as  it  were,  the 

''  The  entire  work  of  Layamon  contains  a  small  number  of  words  taken  from  the 
French ;  about  fifty  in  the  original  text,  and  about  forty  more  in  that  of  a  manuscript 
perhaps  half  a  century  later,  and  very  considerably  altered  in  consequence  of  the 
progress  of  our  language.  Many  of  these  words  derived  from  the  French  express 
new  ideas,  as  admiral,  astronomy,  baron,  mantel,  etc.  "  The  language  of  Layamon," 
says  Sir  Frederick  Madden,  "belongs  to  that  transition  period  in  which  the  ground- 
work of  Anglo-Saxon  phraseology  and  grammar  still  existed,  although  gradually 
yielding  to  the  influence  of  the  popular  forms  of  speech.  We  find  in  it,  as  in  the 
later  portion  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  marked  indications  of  a  tendency  to  adopt 
those  terminations  and  sounds  which  characterize  a  language  in  a  state  of  change, 
and  which  are  apparent  also  in  some  other  branches  of  the  Teutonic  tongue.  The 
use  of  a  as  an  article— the  change  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  terminations  a  and  an  into  e 
and  en,  as  well  as  the  disregard  of  inflections  and  genders— the  masculine  forms  given 
to  neuter  nouns  in  the  plural— the  neglect  of  the  feminine  terminations  of  adjectives 
and  pronouns,  and  confusion  between  the  definite  and  indefinite  declensions— the 
introduction  of  the  preposition  to  before  infinitives,  and  occasional  use  of  weak  pret- 
erits of  verbs  and  participles  instead  of  strong— the  constant  recurrence  of  er  for  or 
in  the  plurals  of  verbs— together  with  the  uncertainty  of  the  rule  for  the  government 
of  prepositions— all  these  variations,  more  or  less  visible  in  the  two  texts  of  Laya- 
mon, combined  with  the  vowel-changes,  which  are  numerous,  though  not  altogether 
arbitrary,  will  show  at  once  the  progress  made  in  two  centuries,  in  departing  from 
the  ancient  and  purer  grammatical  forms,  as  found  in  Anglo-Saxon  manuscripts."-— 
Preface,  p.  xxviii. 


672  SLOW  PROGRESS  OF        Chap.  IX.  Fart  II. 

chrysalis  of  the  English  language,  in  a  very  corrupt  modifi- 
cation of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Very  soon  afterwards  the  new 
formation  was  better  developed  ;  and  some  metrical  pieces, 
referred  by  critics  to  the  earlier  part  of  the  thirteenth  centu- 
ry, difier  but  little  from  our  legitimate  grammar.  About  the 
beginning  of  Edward  I.'s  reign,  Robert,  a  monk  of  Glouces- 
ter, composed  a  metrical  chronicle  from  the  history  of  Geof- 
frey of  Monmouth,  which  he  continued  to  his  own  time.  This 
work,  with  a  similar  chronicle  of  Robert  Manning,  a  monk  of 
Brunne  (Bourne),  in  Lincolnshire,  nearly  thirty  years  later, 
stands  at  the  head  of  our  English  poetry.  The  romance  of 
Sir  Tristrem,  ascribed  to  Thomas  of  Erceldoune,  surnamed 
the  Rhymer,  a  Scottish  minstrel,  has  laid  claim  to  somewhat 
higher  antiquity.  In  the  fourteenth  century  a  great  number 
of  metrical  romances  were  translated  from  the  French.  It 
requires  no  small  portion  of  indulgence  to  speak  fjivorably 
of  any  of  these  early  English  productions.  A  poetical  line 
may  no  doubt  occasionally  be  found  ;  but  in  general  the  nar- 
ration is  as  heavy  and  prolix  as  the  versification  is  unmusical. 
The  first  English  writer  who  can  be  read  with  approbation 
is  William  Langland,  the  author  of  Piers  Plowman's  Vision, 
a  severe  satire  upon  the  clergy.  Though  his  measure  is  more 
uncouth  than  that  of  his  predecessors,  there  is  real  energy  in 
■  his  conceptions,  which  he  caught  not  from  the  chimeras  of 
knight-errantry,  but  the  actual  manners  and  opinions  of  his 
time. 

The  very  slow  progress  of  the  English  language  as  an  in- 
strument of  literature  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  effects 
of  the  Norman  conquest,  in  degrading  the  native  inhabitants 
and  transferring  all  power  and  riches  to  foreigners.  The 
barons,  without,  perhaps,  one  exception,  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  gentry,  were  of  French  descent,  and  preserved 
among  themselves  the  speech  of  their  fathers.  This  contin- 
ued much  longer  than  we  should  naturally  have  expected ; 
even  after  the  loss  of  Normandy  had  snapped  the  thread  of 
French  connections,  and  they  began  to  pride  themselves  in 
the  name  of  Englishmen,  and  in  the  inheritance  of  tradition- 
ary English  privileges.  Robert  of  Gloucester  has  a  remark- 
able passage,  which  proves  that  in  his  time,  somewhere  about 
1290,  the  superior  ranks  continued  to  use  the  French  lan- 
guage. Ralph  Higden,  about  the  early  part  of  Edward  III.'s 
reign,  though  his  expressions  do  not  go  the  same  length,  as- 
serts that  "  gentlemen's  children  are  taught  to  speak  French 
from  the  time  they  are  rocked  in  their  cradle ;  and  uplandish 
(country)  or  inferior  men  will  liken  themselves  to  gentlemen, 


State  of  Society.      THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE.  673 

and  learn  with  great  business  for  to  speak  French,  for  to  be. 
the  more  told  of."  Notwithstanding,  however,  this  predom- 
inance of  French  among  the  higher  class,  I  do  not  think  that 
some  modern  critics  are  warranted  in  concluding  that  they 
were  in  general  ignorant  of  the  English  tongue.  Men  living 
upon  their  estates  among  their  tenantry,  whom  they  w  }1- 
comed  in  their  halls,  and  whose  assistance  they  were  per- 
petually needing  in  war  and  civil  frays,  w^ould  hardly  hive 
permitted  such  a  barrier  to  obstruct  their  intercourse.  .VTor 
we  can  not,  at  the  utmost,  presume  that  French  was  so  well 
known  to  the  English  commonalty  in  the  thirteenth  century 
as  English  is  at  present  to  the  same  class  in  Wales  and  the 
Scottish  Highlands.  It  may  be  remarked,  also,  that  the  insti- 
tution of  trial  by  jury  must  have  rendered  a  knowledge  of 
English  almost  indispensable  to  those  who  administered  jus- 
tice. There  is  a  proclamation  of  Edward  I.  in  Rymer,  where 
he  endeavors  to  excite  his  subjects  against  the  King  of 
France  by  imputing  to  him  the  intention  of  conquering  the 
country  and  abolishing  the  English  language  (linguam  delere 
Anglicanam),  and  this  is  frequently  repeated  in  the  procla- 
mations of  Edward  III.  In  his  time,  or  perhaps  a  little  be- 
fore, the  native  language  had  become  more  familiar  than 
French  in  common  use,  even  with  the  court  and  nobility. 
Hence  the  numerous  translations  of  metrical  romances,  which 
are  chiefly  referred  to  his  reign.  An  important  change  was 
effected  in  1362  by  a  statute,  which  enacts  that  all  pleas  iii 
courts  of  justice  shall  be  pleaded,  debated,  and  judged  in  En- 
glish. But  Latin  was  by  this  act  to  be  employed  in  draw- 
ing the  record;  for  there  seems  to  have  still  continued  a  sort 
of  prejudice  against  the  use  of  English  as  a  written  language. 
The  earliest  English  instrument  known  to  exist  is  said  to 
bear  the  date  of  1343.  And  there  are  but  few  entries  in  our 
own  tongue  upon  the  rolls  of  Parliament  before  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,  after  whose  accession  its  use  becomes  very  com- 
mon." Sir  John  Mandeville,  about  1356,  may  pass  for  the 
father  of  English  prose,  no  original  work  being  so  ancient  as 
his  Travels.  But  the  translation  of  the  Bible  and  other  writ- 
ings by  Wicliife,  nearly  thirty  years  afterwards,  taught  us 
the  copiousness  and  energy  of  which  our  native  dialect  was 
capable  ;  and  it  w^as  employed  in  the  fifteenth  century  by 
two  winters  of  distinguished  merit.  Bishop  Pecock  and  Sir 
John  Fortescue, 

§  32.  But  the  principal  ornament  of  our  English  literature 
was  Geoifrey  Chaucer,  who,  with  Dante  and  Petrarch,  fills  up 
98  See  Note  J'J«.  "  The  Legislative  Use  of  the  English  Language." 
29 


674  CHAUCER.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

the  triumvirate  of  great  poets  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Chaucer 
was  born  in  1328,  and  his  life  extended  to  the  last  year  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  That  rude  and  ignorant  generation 
was  not  likely  to  feel  the  admiration  of  native  genius  as 
warmly  as  the  compatriots  of  Petrarch  ;  but  he  enjoyed  the 
favor  of  Edward  III.,  and  still  more  conspicuously  of  John, 
duke  of  Lancaster ;  his  fortunes  were  far  more  prosperous 
than  have  usually  been  the  lot  of  poets ;  and  a  reputation  was 
established  beyond  competition  in  his  lifetime,  from  which 
no  succeeding  generation  has  withheld  its  sanction.  I  can 
not  in  my  own  taste  go  completely  along  with  the  eulogies 
that  some  have  bestowed  upon  Chaucer,  who  seems  to  me  to 
have  wanted  grandeur,  where  he  is  original,  both  in  concep- 
tion and  in  language.  But  in  vivacity  of  imagination  and 
ease  of  expression  he  is  above  all  poets  of  the  middle  time, 
and  comparable  perhaps  to  the  greatest  of  those  who  have 
followed.  He  invented,  or  rather  introduced  from  France, 
and  employed  with  facility  the  regular  iambic  couplet ;  and 
though  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  he  should  perceive 
the  capacities  latent  in  that  measure,  his  versification,  to 
which  he  accommodated  a  very  licentious  and  arbitrary 
pronunciation,  is  uniform  and  harmonious.  It  is  chiefly,  in- 
deed, as  a  comic  poet,  and  a  minute  observer  of  manners  and 
circumstances,  that  Chancer  excels.  In  serious  and  moral 
poetry  he  is  frequently  languid  and  diffuse  ;  but  he  springs 
like  AntsBus  from  the  earth  when  his  subject  changes  to 
coarse  satire  or  merry  narrative.  Among  his  more  elevated 
compositions,  the  Knight's  Tale  is  abundantly  sufficient  to 
immortalize  Chaucer,  since  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  any- 
where a  story  better  conducted,  or  told  with  more  animation 
and  strength  of  fancy.  The  second  place  may  be  given  to 
his  Troilus  and  Creseide,  a  beautiful  and  interesting  poem, 
though  enfeebled  by  expansion.  But  perhaps  the  most  emi- 
nent, or  at  any  rate  the  most  characteristic,  testimony  to  his 
genius  will  be  found  in  the  prologue  to  his  Canterbury  Tales; 
a  work  entirely  and  exclusively  his  own,  which  can  seldom 
be  said  of  his  poetry,  and  the  vivid  delineations  of  which  per- 
haps very  few  writers  but  Shakspeare  could  have  equalled. 
As  the  first  original  English  poet,  if  we  except  Langland,  as 
the  inventor  of  our  most  approved  measure,  as  an  improver, 
though  with  too  much  innovation,  of  our  language,  and  as  a 
faithful  witness  to  the  manners  of  his  age,  Chaucer  would 
deserve  our  reverence,  if  he  had  not  also  intrinsic  claims  for 
excellences  which  do  not  depend  upon  any  collateral  consid- 
erations. 


Statu  of  Society.     REVIVAL  OF  ANCIENT  LEARNING.  675 

§  33.  (IV.)  Revival  of  Ancient  Learning.  —  The  last 
circumstance  which  I  shall  mention,  as  having  contributed 
to  restore  society  from  the  intellectual  degradation  into 
which  it  had  fallen  during  the  Dark  Ages,  is  the  revival  of 
classical  learning.  The  Latin  language,  indeed,  in  which  all 
legal  instruments  were  drawn  up,  and  of  which  all  ecclesias- 
tics availed  themselves  in  their  epistolary  intercourse,  as  well 
as  in  their  more  solemn  proceedings,  had  never  ceased  to  be 
familiar.  Though  many  solecisms  and  barbarous  words  oc- 
cur in  the  writings  of  what  were  called  learned  men,  they  pos- 
sessed a  fluency  of  expression  in  Latin  which  does  not  often 
occur  at  present.  During  the  Dark  Ages,  however,  properly 
so  called,  or  the  period  from  the  sixth  to  the  eleventh  centu- 
ry, we  chiefly  meet  with  quotations  from  the  Vulgate  or  from 
theological  writers.  Nevertheless,  quotations  from  the  Latin 
poets  are  hardly  to  be  called  unusual.  Virgil,  Ovid,  Statins, 
and  Horace  are  brought  forw.-^rd  by  those  who  aspired  to 
some  literary  reputation,  especially  during  the  better  periods 
of  that  long  twilight,  the  reigns  of  Charlemagne  and  his  son 
in  France,  part  of  the  tenth  century  in  Germany,  and  the 
eleventh  in  both.  The  prose  writers  of  Rome  are  not  so  fa- 
miliar, but  in  quotations  we  are  apt  to  find  the  poets  pre- 
ferred ;  and  it  is  certain  that  a  few  could  be  named  who  were 
not  ignorant  of  Cicero,  Sallust,  and  Livy.  A  considerable 
change  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  twelfth  century.  The 
polite  literature,  as  well  as  the  abstruser  science  of  antiquity, 
became  the  subject  of  cultivation.  Several  writers  of  that 
age,  in  diff*erent  parts  of  Europe,  are  distinguished  more  or 
less  for  elegance,  though  not  absolute  purity,  of  Latin  style, 
and  for  their  acquaintance  with  those  ancients  who  are  its 
])rincipal  models.  Such  were  John  of  Salisbury,  the  acute 
and  learned  author  of  the  Polycraticon,  William  of  Malms- 
bury,  Giraldus  Carabrensis,  Roger  Hoveden,  in  England ;  and 
in  foreign  countries,  Otho  of  Frisingen,  Saxo  Grammaticus, 
and  the  best  perhaps  of  all  I  have  named  as  to  style,  Falcan- 
dus,  the  historian  of  Sicily.  In  these  we  meet  with  frequent 
quotations  from  Livy,  Cicero,  Pliny,  and  other  considerable 
writers  of  antiquity.  The  poets  were  now  admired  and  even 
imitated.  All  metrical  Latin  before  the  latter  part  of  the 
twelfth  century,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  is  of  little  value  ;  but 
at  this  time,  and  early  in  the  succeeding  age,  there  appeared 
several  versifiers  who  aspired  to  the  renown  of  following  the 
steps  of  Virgil  and  Statins  in  epic  poetry.  Joseph  Iscanus, 
an  Englishman,  seems  to  have  been  the  earliest  of  these;  his 
poem  on  the  Trojan  war  cont.'iining  an  address  to  Ht^ury  IL 


676  LIBRARIES.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

He  wrote  another,  entitled  Antiocheis,  on  the  third  crusade, 
most  of  which  has  perished.  The  wars  of  Frederick  Barba- 
rossa  were  celebrated  by  Gunther  in  his  Ligurinus  ;  and  not 
long  afterwards  Guillelmus  Brito  wrote  the^Philippis,  in  hon- 
or of  Philip  Augustus,  and  Walter  de  Chatillon  the  Alexan- 
dreisj  taken  from  the  popular  romance  of  Alexander.  None 
of  these  poems,  I  believe,  have  much  intrinsic  merit ;  but 
their  existence  is  a  proof  of  taste  that  could  relish,  though 
not  of  genius  that  could  emulate,  antiquity. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  there  seems  to  have  been  some 
decline  of  classical  literature,  in  consequence  probably  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  which  was  then  in  its  greatest  vigor; 
at  least  we  do  not  find  so  many  good  writers  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding age.  But  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth,  or  per- 
haps a  little  sooner,  an  ardent  zeal  for  the  restoration  of  an- 
cient learning  began  to  display  itself  The  copying  of  books, 
for  some  ages  slowly  and  sparingly  performed  in  monaster- 
ies, had  already  become  a  branch  of  trade;  and  their  price 
was  consequently  reduced.  Tirabosclii  denies  that  the  in- 
vention of  making  paper  from  linen  rags  is  older  than  the 
middle  of  that  century;  and  although  doubts  may  be  justly 
entertained  as  to  the  accuracy  of  this  position,  yet  the  confi- 
dence with  which  so  eminent  a  scholar  advances  it  is  at  least 
a  proof  that  paper  manuscripts  of  an  earlier  date  are  very 
rare.  Princes  became  fiir  more  attentive  to  literature  when 
it  was  no  longer  confined  to  metaphysical  theology  and  canon 
law.  I  have  already  mentioned  the  translations  from  clas- 
sical authors,  made  by  command  of  John  and  Charles  V.  of 
France.  These  French  translations  diffused  some  acquaint- 
ance with  ancient  history  and  learning  among  our  own  coun- 
trymen. The  public  libraries  assumed  a  more  respectable 
appearance.  Louis  IX.  had  formed  one  at  Paris,  in  which 
it  does  not  appear  that  any  work  of  elegant  literature  was 
found.  At  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  only 
four  classical  ma'nuscripts  existed  in  this  collection  —  of 
Cicero,  Ovid,  Lucan,  and  Boethius.  The  academical  library 
of  Oxford,  in  1300,  consisted  of  a  few  tracts  kept  in  chests 
under  St.  Mary's  Church.  That  of  Glastonbury  Abbey,  in 
1240,  contained  four  hundred  volumes,  among  which  were 
Livy,  Sallnst,  Lucan,  Virgil,  Claudian,  and  other  ancient 
writers.  But  no  other,  probably,  of  that  age  was  so  numer- 
ous or  so  valuable.  Richard  of  Bury,  chancellor  of  England, 
and  Edward  III.,  spared  no  expense  in  collecting  a  library, 
the  first,  perhaps,  that  any  private  man  had  formed.  But  the 
scarcity  of  valuable  books  was  still  so  great,  that  he  gave 


State  of  Society.  MANUSCRIPTS.  677 

the  Abbot  of  St.  Albans  fifty  pounds'  weight  of  silver  for  be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  volumes.  Charles  V.  increased  the 
royal  library  at  Paris  to  nine  hundred  volumes,  which  the 
Duke  of  Bedford  purchased  and  transported  to  London.  His 
brother  Humphrey,  duke  of  Gloucester,  presented  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford  with  six  hundred  books,  which  seem  to 
have  been  of  extraordinary  value,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
of  them  having  been  estimated  at  one  thousand  pounds. 
This,  indeed,  was  in  1440,  at  which  time  such  a  library  would 
not  have  been  thought  remarkably  numerous  beyond  the 
Alps;  but  England  had  made  comparatively  little  progress 
in  learning.  Germany,  however,  was  probably  still  less  ad- 
vanced. Louis,  elector  palatine,  bequeathed,  in  1421,  his  li- 
brary to  the  University  of  Heidelberg,  consisting  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  volumes.  Eighty-nine  of  these  related  to 
theology,  twelve  to  canon  and  civil  law,  forty-five  to  medi- 
cine, and  six  to  philosophy. 

Those  who  first  undci'took  to  lay  open  the  stores  of  an- 
cient learning  found  inci'edible  difiiculties  from  the  scarcity 
of  manuscripts.  So  gross  and  supine  was  the  ignorance  of 
the  monks  within  whose  walls  these  treasures  were  con- 
cealed, that  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain,  except  by  indefat- 
igable researches,  the  extent  of  what  had  been  saved  out  of 
the  great  shipwreck  of  antiquity.  To  this  inquiry  Petrarch 
devoted  continual  attention.  He  spared  no  means  to  pre- 
serve the  remains  of  authors  who  were  perishing  from  neg- 
lect and  time.  This  danger  was  by  no  means  past  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  A  treatise  of  Cicero  upon  Glory,  which 
had  been  in  his  possession,  was  afterwards  irretrievably  lost. 
He  declares  that  he  had  seen  in  his  youth  the  works  of  Var- 
ro ;  but  all  his  endeavors  to  recover  these  and  the  second 
Decade  of  Livy  were  fruitless.  He  found,  however,  Quintil- 
ian,  in  1350,  of  which  there  was  no  copy  in  Italy.  Boccaccio, 
and  a  man  of  less  general  fame,  CoUuccio  Salutato,  were  dis- 
tinguished in  the  same  honorable  task.  The  diligence  of 
these  scholars  was  not  confined  to  searching  for  manuscripts. 
Transcribed  by  slovenly  monks,  or  by  ignorant  persons  who 
made  copies  for  sale,  they  required  the  continual  emendation 
of  accurate  critics.  Though  much,  certainly,  was  left  for  the 
more  enlightened  sagacity  of  later  times,  we  owe  the  first 
intelligible  text  of  the  Latin  classics  to  Petrarch,  Poggio, 
and  their  contemporary  laborers  in  this  vineyard  for  a  huU' 
dred  years  before  the  invention  of  printing. 

What  Petrarch  began  in  the  fourteenth  century  was  car- 
ried on  by  the  new  generation  with   nnabating  industry. 


678  MANUSCRIPTS.  Chap.  IX.  Part  II, 

The  whole  lives  of  Italian  scholars  in  the  fifteenth  century 
were  devoted  to  the  recovery  of  manuscripts  and  the  revival 
of  philology.  For  this  they  sacrificed  their  native  language, 
which  had  made  such  surprising  shoots  in  the  preceding  ao-e, 
and  were  content  to  trace  in  humble  reverence  the  footsteps 
of  antiquity.  For  this,  too,  they  lost  the  hope  of  permanent 
glory,  which  can  never  remain  with  imitators,  or  such  as  trim 
the  lamp  of  ancient  sepulchres.  No  writer,  perhaps,  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  except  Politian,  can  aspire  at  present  even 
to  the  second  class  in  a  just  marshalling  of  literary  reputa- 
tion. But  we  owe  them  our  respect  and  gratitude  for  their 
taste  and  diligence.  This  discovery  of  an  unknown  manu- 
script, says  Tiraboschi,  was  regarded  almost  as  the  conquest 
of  a  kingdom.  The  classical  writers,  he  adds,  were  chiefly 
either  found  in  Italy,  or  at  least  by  Italians  ;  they  were  first 
amended  and  first  printed  in  Italy,  and  in  Italy  they  were 
first  collected  in  public  libraries.  This  is  subject  to  some 
exception,  when  fairly  considered  ;  several  ancient  authors 
were  never  lost,  and  therefore  can  not  be  said  to  have  been 
discovered ;  and  we  know  that  Italy  did  not  always  antici- 
pate other  countries  in  classical  printing.  But  her  superior 
merit  is  incontestable.  Poggio  Bracciolini,  who  stands,  per- 
haps, at  the  head  of  the  restorers  of  learning  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  discovered  in  the  monastery  of 
St.  Gall,  among  dirt  and  rubbish,  in  a  dungeon  scarcely  fit 
for  condemned  criminals,  as  he  describes  it,  an  entire  copy  of 
Quintilian  and  part  of  Valerius  Flaccus.  This  was  in  1414  ; 
and  soon  afterwards  he  rescued  the  poem  of  Silius  Itali- 
cus,  and  twelve  comedies  of  Plautus,  in  addition  to  eight  that 
were  previously  known  ;  besides  Lucretius,  Columella,  Ter- 
tullian,  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  and  other  writers  of  inferior 
note.  A  bishop  of  Lodi  brought  to  light  the  rhetorical  trea- 
tises of  Cicero.  Not  that  we  must  suppose  these  books  to 
have  been  universally  unknown  before  ;  Quintilian,  at  least, 
is  quoted  by  English  writers  much  earlier.  But  so  little  in- 
tercourse prevailed  among  different  countries,  and  the  monks 
had  so  little  acquaintance  with  the  riches  of  their  conventual 
libraries,  that  an  author  might  pass  for  lost  in  Italy  who  was 
familiar  to  a  few  learned  men  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  To 
the  name  of  Poggio  we  may  add  a  number  of  others,  distin- 
guished in  this  memorable  resurrection  of  ancient  literature, 
and  united,  not  always,  indeed,  by  friendship,  for  their  bitter 
animosities  disgrace  their  profession,  but  by  a  sort  of  com- 
mon sympathy  in  the  cause  of  learning  :  Filelfo,  Laurentins 
Valla,  Niccolo  Niccoli,  Ambrogio  Traversari,  more  commonly 
called  II  Camaldolense,  and  Leonardo  Aretino. 


State  of  Society.  GREEK  LANGUAGE.  679 

§  34.  From  the  subversion  of  the  Western  Empire,  or  at 
least  from  the  time  when  Rome  ceased  to  pay  obedience  to 
the  exarchs  of  Ravenna,  the  Greek  language  and  literature 
had  been  almost  entirely  forgotten  within  the  pale  of  the 
Latin  Church.  A  very  few  exceptions  might  be  found,  es- 
pecially in  the  earlier  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  while  the 
Eastern  emperors  retained  their  dominion  over  part  of  Italy. 
Thus  Charlemagne  is  said  to  have  established  a  school  for 
Greek  at  Osnaburg.  John  Scotus  seems  to  have  been  well 
acquainted  with  the  language.  And  Greek  characters  may 
occasionally,  though  very  seldom,  be  found  in  the  writings 
of  learned  men  ;  such  as  Lanfranc,  or  William  of  Malmsbury. 
It  is  said  that  Roger  Bacon  understood  Greek ;  and  that  his 
eminent  contemporary,  Robert  Grostete,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
had  a  sufficient  intimacy  with  it  to  translate  a  part  of  Suidas. 
Since  Greek  was  spoken  with  considerable  purity  by  the  no- 
ble and  well-educated  natives  of  Constantinople,  we  may  won- 
der that,  even  as  a  living  language,  it  was  not  better  known 
by  the  Western  nations,  and  especially  in  so  neighboring  a 
nation  as  Italy.  Yet  here  the  ignorance  was,  perhaps,  even 
more  complete  than  in  France  or  England.  In  some  parts, 
indeed,  of  Calabria,  which  had  been  subject  to  the  Eastern 
Empire  till  uq£.v  the  year  1100,  the  liturgy  was  still  performed 
in  Greek;  and  a  considerable  acquaintance  with  the  language 
was  of  course  preserved.  But  for  the  scholars  of  Italy,  Boc- 
caccio positively  asserts  that  no  one  understood  so  much  as 
the  Greek  characters.  Nor  is  there,  probably,  a  single  line 
quoted  from  any  poet  in  that  language  from  the  sixth  to  the 
fourteenth  century. 

The  first  to  lead  the  way  in  restoring  Grecian  learning  in 
Europe  were  the  same  men  who  had  revived  the  kindred 
muses  of  Latium,  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio.  Barlaam,  a  Cala- 
brian  by  birth,  during  an  embassy  from  the  Court  of  Con- 
stantinople in  1335,  was  persuaded  to  become  the  preceptor 
of  the  former,  with  whom  he  read  the  works  of  Plato.  Leon- 
tius  Pilatus,  a  native  of  Thessalonica,  was  encouraged  some , 
years  afterwards  by  Boccaccio  to  give  public  lectures  upon 
Homer  at  Florence.  Whatever  might  be  the  share  of  gen 
eral  attention  that  he  excited,  he  had  the  honor  of  instruct- 
ing both  these  great  Italians  in  his  native  language.  Nei- 
ther of  them,  perhaps,  reached  an  advanced  degree  of  profi 
ciency;  but  they  bathed  their  lips  in  the  fountain,  and  en 
joyed  the  pride  of  being  the  first  who  paid  the  homage  ol 
a  new  posterity  to  the  father  of  poetry.  For  some  time  lit- 
tle fruit,  apparently,  resulted  from  their  example ;  but  Italy 


680  LEARNING  AMONG  THE  GREEKS.     Chaf.  IX.   Van  Ii. 

had  imbibed  the  desire  of  acquisitions  in  a  new  sphere  of 
knowledge,  which,  after  some  interval,  she  was  abundantly 
able  to  realize.  A  few  years  before  the  termination  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  Emanuel  Chrysoloras,  whom  the  Em- 
peror John  Palseologus  had  previously  sent  into  Italy,  and 
even  as  far  as  England,  upon  one  of  those  unavailing  embas- 
sies by  which  the  Byzantine  Court  strove  to  obtain  sympa- 
thy and  succor  from  Europe,  returned  to  Florence  as  a  pub- 
lic teacher  of  Grecian  literature.  His  school  was  afterwards 
removed  successively  to  Pavia,  Venice,  and  Rome;  and  dur- 
ing nearly  twenty  years  that  he  taught  in  Italy  most  of 
those  eminent  scholars  whom  I  have  already  named,  and 
\vho  distinguish  the  first  half  of  that  century,  derived  from 
his  instruction  their  knowledge  of  the  Greek  tongue.  Some, 
not  content  with  being  the  disciples  of  Chrysoloras,  betook 
themselves  to  the  source  of  that  literature  at  Constantino- 
ple ;  and  returned  to  Italy  not  only  with  a  more  accurate 
insight  into  the  Greek  idiom  than  they  could  have  attained 
at  home,  but  with  copious  treasures  of  manuscripts,  few,  if 
any,  of  which  probably  existed  previously  in  Italy,  where 
none  had  ability  to  read  or  value  them ;  so  that  the  principal 
authors  of  Grecian  antiquity  may  be  considered  as  brought 
to  light  by  these  inquirers,  the  most  celebrated  of  whom  are 
Guarino  of  Verona,  Aurispa,  and  Filelfo.  The  second  of 
these  brought  home  to  Venice,  in  1423,  not  less  than  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-eight  volumes. 

The  fall  of  that  Eastern  Empire,  which  had  so  long  out- 
lived all  other  pretensions  to  respect  that  it  scarcely  retained 
that  founded  upon  its  antiquity,  seems  to  have  been  provi- 
dentially delayed  till  Italy  was  ripe  to  nourish  the  scattered 
seeds  of  literature  that  would  liave  perished  a  few  ages  ear- 
lier in  the  common  catastrophe.  From  the  commencement  of 
the  fifteenth  century  even  the  national  pride  of  Greece  could 
not  blind  her  to  the  signs  of  approaching  ruin.  It  was  no 
longer  possible  to  inspire  the  European  republic,  distracted 
by  wars  and  restrained  by  calculating  policy,  with  the  gen- 
erous fanaticism  of  the  Crusades ;  and  at  the  Council  of 
Florence,  in  1439,  the  court  and  churcli  of  Constantinople 
had^the  mortification  of  sacrificing  their  long-cherished  faith, 
without  experiencing  any  sensible  return  of  protection  or  se- 
curity. The  learned  Greeks  were  perhaps  the  first  to  antici- 
pate, and  certainly  not  the  last  to  avoid,  their  country's  de- 
struction. The  Council  of  Florence  brought  many  of  them 
into  Italian  connections,  and  held  out  at  least  a  temporary 
accommodation  of  their  conflicting  opinions.    Though  the  Ro- 


STATij  OF  Society.     LEARNING  AMONG  THE  GREEKS.  681 

man  pontiffs  did  nothing,  and  probably  could  have  done  noth- 
ing, effectual  for  the  empire  of  Constantinople,  they  were  very 
ready  to  protect  and  reward  the  learning  of  individuals.  To 
Eugenius  IV.,  to  Nicolas  V.,  to  Pius  IL,  and  some  other  popes 
of  this  age,  the  Greek  exiles  were  indebted  for  a  patronage 
which  they  repaid  by  splendid  services  in  the  restoration  of 
their  native  literature  throughout  Italy.  Bessarion,  a  dispu- 
tant on  the  Greek  side  in  the  Council  of  Florence,  was  well 
content  to  renounce  the  doctrine  of  single  procession  for  a 
cardinal's  hat— a  dignity  which  he  deserved  for  his  learning, 
if  not  for  his  pliancy.  Theodore  Gaza,  George  of  Trebizond, 
and  Gemistus  Pletho  might  equal  Bessarion  in  merit,  though 
not  in  honors.  They  all,  however,  experienced  the  patron- 
age of  those  admirable  protectors  of  letters  Nicolas  V.,  Cos- 
mo de'  Medici,  or  Alfonso,  king  of  Naples,  These  men  emi- 
grated before  the  final  destruction  of  the  Greek  Empire; 
Lascaris  Musurus,  whose  arrival  in  Italy  was  posterior  to 
that  event,  may  be  deemed  perhaps  still  more  conspicuous ; 
but  as  the  study  of  the  Greek  language  was  already  restored, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  the  subject  any  farther. 

The  Greeks  had  preserved,  through  the  coui-se  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  their  share  of  ancient  learning  with  more  fidelity 
and  attention  than  was  shown  in  the  west  of  Europe.  Gen- 
ius, indeed,  or  any  original  excellence,  could  not  well  exist 
along  with  their  cowardly  despotism  and  their  contemptible 
theology,  more  corrupted  by  frivolous  subtleties  than  that 
of  the  Latin  Church.  The  spirit  of  persecution,  naturally  al- 
lied to  despotism  and  bigotry,  had  nearly,  during  one  period, 
extinguished  the  lamp,  or  at  least  reduced  the  Greeks  to  a 
level  with  the  most  ignorant  nations  of  the  West.  In  the 
age  of  Justinian,  who  expelled  the  last  Platonic  philosophers, 
learning  began  rapidly  to  decline ;  in  that  of  Heraclius  it  had 
reached  a  much  lower  point  of  degradation  ;  and  for  two  cen- 
turies, especially  while  the  worshippers  of  images  were  perse- 
cuted with  unrelenting  intolerance,  there  is  almost  a  blank  in 
the  annals  of  Grecian  literature.  But  about  the  middle  of 
the  ninth  century  it  revived  pretty  suddenly,  and  with  consid- 
erable success.  Though,  as  I  have  observed,  we  find  in  very 
few  instances  any  original  talent,  yet  it  was  hardly  less  im- 
portant to  have  nad  compilers  of  such  erudition  as  Photius, 
Suidas,  Eustathius,  and  Tzetzes.  With  these,  certainly,  the 
Latins  of  the  Middle  Ages  could  not  place  any  names  in 
comparison.  They  possessed,  to  an  extent  which  we  can  not 
precisely  appreciate,  many  of  those  poets,  historians,  and  ora- 
tors of  ancient  Greece,  whose  loss  we  have  long  regretted  and 

29* 


682  CLASSICAL  LITERATURE.     Chap.  IX.  Part  II. 

must  continue  to  deem  irretrievable.  Great  havoc,  however, 
was  made  in  the  libraries  of  Constantinople  at  its  capture  by 
the  Latins — an  epoch  from  which  a  rapid  decline  is  to  be 
traced  in  the  literature  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  Solecisms 
and  barbarous  terms,  which  sometimes  occur  in  the  old  By- 
zantine writers,  are  said  to  deform  the  style  of  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries.  The  Turkish  ravages  and  destruction 
of  monasteries  ensued ;  and  in  the  cheerless  intervals  of  im- 
mediate terror  there  was  no  longer  any  encouragement  to 
preserve  the  monuments  of  an  expiring  language,  and  of  a 
name  that  was  to  lose  its  place  among  nations. 

That  ardor  for  the  restoration  of  classical  literature  which 
animated  Italy  in  the  first  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  was 
by  no  means  common  to  the  rest  of  Europe.  Neither  England, 
nor  France,  nor  Germany,  seemed  aware  of  the  approaching 
change.  We  are  told  that  learning,  by  which  I  believe  is 
only  meant  the  scholastic  ontology,  had  begun  to  decline  at 
Oxford  from  the  time  of  Edward  III.  And  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, from  wliatever  cause,  is  particularly  barren  of  writers 
in  the  Latin  hinguage.  The  study  of  Greek  was  only  intro- 
duced by  Grocyn  and  Linacer  under  Henry  VII.,  and  met 
with  violent  opposition  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  where 
the  unlearned  party  styled  themselves  Trojans,  as  a  pretext 
for  abusing  and  insulting  the  scholars.  Nor  did  any  clas- 
sical work  pi'oceed  from  the  respectable  press  of  Caxton. 
France,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  age,  had  several 
eminent  theologians;  but  the  reigns  of  Charles  VII.  and  Lou- 
is XL  contributed  far  more  to  her  political  than  her  literary 
renown.  A  Greek  professor  was  first  appointed  at  Paris  in 
1458,  before  which  time  the  language  had  not  been  publicly 
taught,  and  was  little  understood.  Much  less  had  Germany 
thrown  off  her  ancient  rudeness,  ^neas  Sylvius,  indeed,  a 
deliberate  flatterer,  extols  every  circumstance  in  the  social 
state  of  that  country  ;  but  Campano,  the  papal  legate  at 
Ratisbon  in  1471,  exclaims  against  the  barbarism  of  a  nation 
where  very  few  possessed  any  learning,  none  any  elegance. 
Yet  the  progress  of  intellectual  cultivation,  at  least  in  the 
two  former  countries,  was  uniform,  though  silent ;  libraries 
became  more  numerous,  and  books,  after  the  happy  invention 
of  paper,  though  still  very  scarce,  might  be  copied  at  less  ex- 
pense. Many  colleges  were  founded  in  the  English  as  well 
as  foreign  universities  during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries.  Nor  can  I  pass  over  institutions  that  have  so  em- 
inently contributed  to  the  literary  reputation  of  this  country, 
and  that  still  continue  to  exercise  so  conspicuous  an  influ- 


State  of  Society.      INVENTION  OF  PRINTING.  683 

ence  over  her  taste  and  knowledge,  as  the  two  great  schools 
of  grammatical  learning,  Winchester  and  Eton  —  the  one 
founded  by  William  of  Wykeham,  bishop  of  Winchester,  in 
1373  ;  the  other  in  1432,  by  King  Henry  VI. 

§  35.  But  while  the  learned  of  Italy  were  eagerly  explor- 
ing their  recent  acquisitions  of  manuscripts,  deciphered  with 
difficulty  and  slowly  circulated  from  hand  to  hand,  a  few 
obscure  Germans  had  gradually  perfected  the  most  important 
discovery  recorded  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  The  inven- 
tion of  printing,  so  far  from  being  the  result  of  philosophical 
sagacity,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  suggested  by  any  re- 
gard to  the  higher  branches  of  literature,  or  to  bear  any 
other  relation  than  that  of  coincidence  to  their  revival  in 
Italy.  The  question  why  it  was  struck  out  at  that  particular 
time  must  be  referred  to  that  disposition  of  unknown  causes 
which  we  call  accident.  Two  or  three  centuries  earlier,  we 
can  not  but  acknowledge,  the  discovery  would  have  been  al 
most  equally  acceptable.  But  the  invention  of  paper  seems 
to  have  naturally  preceded  those  of  engraving  and  printing. 
It  is  generally  agreed  that  playing-cards,  which  have  been 
traced  far  back  in  the  fourteenth  century,  gave  the  first  no- 
tion of  taking  oif  impressions  from  engraved  figures  upon 
wood.  The  second  stage,  or  rather  second  application  of 
this  art,  was  the  representation  of  saints  and  other  religious 
devices,  several  instances  of  which  are  still  extant.  Some  of 
these  are  accompanied  with  an  entire  page  of  illustrative  text, 
cut  into  the  same  wooden  block.  This  process  is  indeed  far 
removed  from  the  invention  that  has  given  immortality  to 
the  names  of  Faust,  Schoeffer,  and  Gutenberg,  yet  it  proba- 
bly led  to  the  consideration  of  means  whereby  it  might  be 
rendered  less  operose  and  inconvenient.  Whether  movable 
wooden  characters  were  ever  employed  in  any  entire  work 
is  very  questionable — the  opinion  that  referred  their  use  to 
Laurence  Coster,  of  Haarlem,  not  having  stood  the  test  of 
more  accurate  investigation.  They  appear,  however,  in  the 
capital  letters  of  some  early  printed  books.  But  no  expe- 
dient of  this  kind  could  have  fulfilled  the  great  purposes  of 
this  invention,  until  it  was  perfected  by  founding  metal 
types  in  a  matrix  or  mould,  the  essential  characteristic  of 
printing,  as  distinguished  from  other  arts  that  bear  some 
analogy  to  it. 

The  first  book  that  issued  from  the  presses  of  Faust  and  his 
associates  at  Mentz  was  an  edition  of  the  Vulgate,  commonly 
called  the  Mazarine  Bible,  a  copy  having  been  discovered  in 
the  library  that  owes  its  name  to  Cardinal  Mazarin  at  Paris. 
This  is  supposed  to  have  been  printed  between   the  years 


684  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING.      Chap.  IX.  Pakt  IL 

1450  and  1455.  In  1457  an  edition  of  the  Psalter  appeared, 
and  in  this  the  invention  was  announced  to  the  world  in  a 
boasting  colophon,  though  certainly  not  unreasonably  bold. 
Another  edition  of  the  Psalter,  one  of  an  ecclesiastical  book, 
Durand's  account  of  liturgical  offices,  one  of  the  Constitu- 
tions of  Pope  Clement  V.,  and  one  of  a  popular  treatise  on 
general  science,  called  the  Catholicon,  filled  up  the  interval 
till  1462,  when  the  second  Mentz  Bible  proceeded  from  the 
same  printers.  This,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  is  the  earliest 
book  in  which  cast  types  were  employed — those  of  the  Maza- 
rine Bible  having  been  cut  with  the  hand.  But  this  is  a  con- 
troverted point.  In  1465  Faust  and  Schoeffer  published  an 
edition  of  Cicero's  Offices,  the  first  tribute  of  the  new  art  to 
polite  literatiire.  Two  pupils  of  their  school,  Sweynheim 
and  Pannartz,  migrated  the  same  year  into  Italy,  and  print- 
ed Donatus's  grammar  and  the  works  of  Lactantius  at  the 
monastery  of  Subiaco,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rome.  Venice 
had  the  honor  of  extending  her  patronage  to  John  of  Spira, 
the  first  who  applied  the  art  on  an  extensive  scale  to  the 
publication  of  classical  writers.  Several  authors  came  forth 
from  his  press  in  1470;  and  during  the  next  ten  years  a  mul- 
titude of  editions  were  published  in  various  parts  of  Italy. 
Though,  as  we  may  judge  from  their  present  scarcity,  these 
editions  were  by  no  means  numerous  in  respect  of  impres- 
sions, yet,  contrasted  with  the  dilatory  process  of  copying 
manuscripts,  they  were  like  a  new  mechanical  power  in  ma- 
chinery, and  gave  a  wonderfully  accelerated  impulse  to  the 
intellectual  cultivation  of  mankind.  From  the  era  of  these 
first  editions  proceeding  from  the  Spiras,  Zarot,  Janson,  or 
Sweynheim  and  Pannartz,  literature  must  be  deemed  to  have 
altogether  revived  in  Italy.  The  sun  was  now  fully  above 
the  horizon,  though  countries  less  fortunately  circumstanced 
did  not  immediately  catch  his  beams ;  and  the  restoration 
of  ancient  learning  in  France  and  England  can  not  be  con- 
sidered as  by  any  means  effectual  even  at  the  expiration  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  At  this  point,  however,  I  close  the 
present  chapter.  The  last  twenty  years  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
according  to  the  date  which  I  have  fixed  for  their  termina- 
tion in  treating  of  political  history,  might  well  invite  me  by 
their  brilliancy  to  dwell  upon  that  golden  morning  of  Italian 
literature.  But,  in  the  history  of  letters,  they  rather  apper- 
tain to  the  modern  than  the  middle  period  ;  nor  would  it  be- 
come me  to  trespass  upon  the  exhausted  patience  of  ray  read- 
ers by  repeating  what  has  been  so  often  and  so  recently  told, 
the  story  of  art  and  learning,  that  has  employed  the  compre- 
hensive research  of  a  Tiraboschi,a  Gingucne,  and  a  Roscoe. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  IX. 


685 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  IK—Pakt  II. 


I.  DOMESTIC  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  best  accoaut  of  domestic  architec- 
ture hitherto  given  is  in  an  article  with 
this  title  in  the  Glossary  of  Ancient  Archi- 
tecture by  Mr,  Twopeuy.  "  There  is  am- 
ple evidence  yet  remaining  of  the  domestic 
architecture  in  this  country  during  the 
twelfth  century.  The  ordinary  manor- 
houses,  and  even  houses  of  greater  con- 
sideration, appear  to  have  been  generally 
built  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram,  two 
stories  high,  the  lower  story  vaulted,  with 
no  internal  communication  between  the 
two,  the  upper  story  approached  by  a  flight 
of  steps  on  the  outside  ;  and  in  that  story 
was  sometimes  the  only  fire-place  iu  the 
whole  building.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  this  was  the  usual  style  of  houses  in 
the  preceding  century."  Instances  of 
houses  partly  remaini  ig  are  then  given. 
We  may  add  to  those  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Twopeny  one,  perhaps  older  than  auy,  and 
better  preserved  than  some,  in  his  list.  At 
Southampton  is  a  Norman  house,  perhaps 
built  iu  the  first  part  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. It  is  nearly  a  square,  the  outer  walls 
tolerably  perfect ;  the  principal  rooms  ap- 
pear to  have  been  on  the  first  (or  upper) 
floor ;  it  has  in  this  also  a  fire-place  and 
chimney,  and  four  windows,  placed  so  as  to 
indicate  a  division  into  two  apartments ; 
but  there  are  no  lights  below,  nor  any 
appearance  of  an  interior  staircase.  The 
sides  are  about  forty  feet  in  length.  An- 
other house  of  the  same  age  is  near  to  it, 
but  much  worse  preserved.  There  were 
in  the  twelfth  century  other  considerable 
houses  not  bi\iltin  the  form  of  a  parallelo- 
gram, but  of  these  so  few  remains  are  to 
be  found  that  nothing  can  be  said  of  their 
plan,  except  that  there  was  on  the  ground- 
floor  a  considerable  hall,  which  was  di- 
vided by  columns  and  arches  into  a  centre 
and  two  side  aisles,  an  arrangement  which 
was  continued  to  a  later  period. 

The  parallelogram  house,  seldom  con- 
taining more  than  four  rooms,  with  no 
access  frequently  to  the  upper,  which  the 
family  occupied,  except  on  the  outside, 
was  gradually  replaced  by  one  on  a  diff"er- 
ent  type  :  the  entrance  was  on  the  ground, 
the  staircase  within  ;  a  kitchen  and  other 
offices,  originally  detached,  were  usually 
connected  with  the  hall  by  a  passage  run- 
ning through  the  house ;  one  or  more 
apartments  on  the  low^"  floor  extended 


beyond  the  hall ;  there  was  seldom  or 
never  a  third  floor  over  the  entire  house, 
but  detached  turrets  for  sleeping-rooms 
rose  at  some  of  the  angles.  This  was  the 
typical  form  which  lasted,  as  we  know,  to 
the  age  of  Elizabeth,  or  even  later.  The 
superior  houses  of  this  class  were  some- 
times quadrangular,  that  is,  including  a 
court-yard,  but  seldom,  perhaps,  with  more 
than  one  side  allotted  to  the  main  dwell- 
ing ;  offices,  stables,  or  mere  walls  filled 
the  other  three. 

Many  dwellings  erected  in  the  fourteenth 
century  may  be  found  iu  England;  but 
neither  of  that  nor  the  next  age  are  there 
more  than  a  very  few  which  are  still,  in 
their  chief  rooms,  inhabited  by  gentry. 
But  houses  which,  by  their  marks  of  deco- 
ration, or  by  external  proof,  are  ascer- 
tained to  have  been  formerly  occupied  by 
good  families,  though  now  in  the  occu- 
pation of  small  farmers,  aud  built  ap- 
parently from  the  reign  of  the  second  to 
that  of  the  fourth  Edward,  are  comraou  in 
many  counties.  They  generally  bear  the 
napie  of  court,  hall,  or  grange  ;  sometimes 
only  the  surname  of  some  ancient  occu- 
pant ;  and  very  frequently  have  been  the 
residence  of  the  lord  of  the  manor. 

The  most  striking  circumstance  in  the 
oldest  houses  is  not  so  much  their  pre- 
cautions for  defense  in  the  outside  stair- 
case, and,  when  that  was  disused,  the  bet- 
ter safeguard  against  robbery  in  the  moat 
which  frequently  environed  the  walls,  the 
strong  gate-way,  the  small  window  broken 
by  miillions,  which  are  no  more  than  we 
should  expect  in  the  times,  as  the  paucity 
of  apartments,  so  that  both  sexes,  and  that 
even  in  high  rank,  must  have  occupied  the 
same  room.  The  progress  of  a  regard  to 
decency  in  domestic  architecture  has  been 
gradual,  and  in  some  respects  has  been  in- 
creasing up  to  our  own  age.  But  the  me- 
dieval period  shows  little  of  it ;  though, 
in  the  advance  of  wealth,  a  greater  di- 
vision of  apartments  distinguishes  the 
houses  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries  from  those  of  an  earlier  period. 

11.  PETRARCH'S  LAURA. 

The  Abbe  de  Sade,  in  his  memoirs  of  the 
life  of  Petrarch,  endeavored  to  establish 
his  own  descent  from  Laura,  as  the  wife  of 
Hughes  de  Sade,  and  born  in  the  family  de 
Noves.    This  hypothseis  has  since  been 


686 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  IX. 


received  with  general  acquiescence  by  lit- 
erary men;  aud  Tirabobcai  in  particular, 
whose  taleut  lay  in  these  petty  biograph- 
ical researches,  and  who  had  a  prejudice 
against  every  thing  that  came  from  France, 
seems  to  consider  it  as  decisively  proved. 
But  it  has  been  called  in  question  in  a 
modern  publication  by  the  late  Lord  Wood- 
houselee  ("Essay  on  the  Life  and  Charac- 
ter of  Petrarch,"  1810).  I  shall  not  offer 
any  opinion  as  to  the  identity  of  Petrarch's 
mistress  with  Laura  de  Sade  ;  but  the  main 
position  of  Lord  W.'s  essay,  that  Laura  was 
an  unmarried  woman,  and  tlie  object  of  an 
honorable  attachment  in  her  lover,  seems 
irreconcilable  with  the  evidence  that  his 
writings  supply.  1.  There  is  no  passage 
in  Petrarch,  whether  of  poetry  or  prose, 
that  alludes  to  the  virgin  chai'acter  of 
Laura,  or  gives  her  the  usunl  appellations 
of  unmarried  women— puella  in  Latin,  or 
donzella  in  Italian ;  even  in  the  Trioufo 
della  Castita,  where  so  obvious  an  oppor- 
tunity occurred.  Yet  this  was  naturally 
to  be  expected  from  so  etliereal  an  imagi- 
nation as  that  of  Petrarch,  always  inclined 
to  invest  her  with  the  halo  of  celestial 
purity.  2.  The  coldness  of  Laura  towards 
80  passionate  and  deserving  a  lover,  if  no 
iusunuountableobstacle  intervened  (luring 
his  twenty  years  of  devotion,  would  be  at 
least  a  mark  that  his  attachment  was  mis- 
placed, aud  show  him  in  rather  a  ridiculous 
light  It  is  not  surprising  that  persons 
believing  Laura  to  be  unmarried,  as  seems 
to  have  been  the  case  with  the  Italian  com- 
mentators, should  have  thought  his  pas- 
sion affected,  and  little  more  than  poetic- 
al. But,  upon  the  contrary  supposition,  a 
thread  runs  through  the  whole  of  his  poet- 
ry, and  gives  it  consistency.  A  love  on 
the  one  side,  instantaneously  conceived, 
and  retained  by  the  susceptibility  of  a 
tender  heart  and  ardent  fancy;  nourished 
by  slight  encouragement,  and  seldom  pre- 
suming to  hope  for  more ;  a  mixture 
of  prudence  and  coquetry  on  the  other, 
kept  within  bounds  either  by  virtue  or  by 
the  want  of  mutual  attachment,  yet  not 
dissatisfied  with  fame  more  brilliant  aud 
flattery  more  refined  than  had  ever  before 
been  the  lot  of  woman  —these  are  surely 
pretty  natural  circumstances,  and  such  as 
do  not  render  the  story  less  intelligible. 
Unquestionably  such  a  passion  is  not  inno- 
cent But  Lord  Woodhouselee,  who  is  so 
much  scandalized  at  it,  knew  little,  one 
would  think,  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
His  standard  is  taken,  not  from  Avignon, 
but  from  Edinburgh,  a  much  better  place, 
no  doubt,  and  where  the  moral  barometer 
stands  at  a  very  different  altitude.  In  one 
passage  (p.  188)  he  carries  his  strictness  to 


an  excess  of  prudery.  From  all  we  kuovr 
of  the  age  of  Petrarch,  the  only  matter  of 
astonishment  is  the  persevering  virtue  of 
Laura.  The  troubadours  boast  of  much 
better  success  with  Provenpal  ladies.  3. 
But  a  passage  from  Petrarch's  dialogues 
with  St.  Augustiu,  the  work,  as  is  well 
known,  where  he  most  unbosoms  himself, 
leaves  no  doubt,  I  think,  that  his  passion 
could  not  have  been  gratified  consistently 
with  honor  ("  De  Contempiu  Mundi,"  Dia- 
log. 3,  p.  367,  edit.  1581). 

III.   EARLY   LEGISLATIVE   USE  OF  ENGLISH. 

The  progress  of  onr  language  in  pro- 
ceedings of  the  legislature  is  described  in 
the  preface  to  the  authentic  edition  of 
Statutes  of  the  Realm,  published  by  the 
Record  Commission : 

"  The  earliest  instance  recorded  of  the 
use  of  the  English  language  in  any  parlia- 
mentary proceeding  is  in  36  Edward  IIL 
The  style  of  the  roll  of  that  year  is  iu 
French,  as  usual,  but  it  is  expressly  stated 
that  the  causes  of  summoning  the  Parlia- 
ment were  declared  en  Englou;  and  the 
like  circumstance  is  noted  in  37  aud  38 
Edward  III.*  In  the  5th  year  of  Richard 
II.  the  chancellor  is  stated  to  have  made 
un  hone  collacion  en  Englcys  (introductory, 
as  was  then  sometimes  the  usage,  to  the 
commencement  of  business),  though  he 
made  use  of  the  common  French  form  for 
opening  the  Parliament.  A  petition  from 
the  'Folk  of  the  Mercerye  of  London,'  in 
the  10th  year  of  the  same  reign,  is  in  En- 
glish ;  and  it  appears  also  that  in  the  17th 
year  the  Earl  of  Arundel  asked  pardon  of 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster  by  the  award  of 
the  king  and  Lords,  in  their  presence  in 
Parliament  in  a  form  of  English  words. 
The  cession  and  renunciation  of  the  crown 
by  Richard  II.  is  stated  to  have  been  read 
before  the  estates  of  the  realm  and  the 
people  in  Westminster  Hall,  first  in  Latin 
and  afterwards  in  English,  but  it  is  entered 
on  the  Parliament  roll  only  in  Latin.  And 
the  challenge  of  the  crown  by  Henry  IV., 
with  his  thanks  after  the  allowance  of  his 
title,  in  the  same  assembly,  are  recorded 
in  English,  which  is  termed  his  maternal 
tongue.  So  also  is  the  speech  of  Lord 
William  Thyrning,  the  chief-justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  to  the  late  King  Richard, 
announcing  to  him  the  sentence  of  his 
deposition,  and  the  yielding  up,  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  of  their  fealty  and  alle- 
giance. In  the  6th  year  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  IV.  an  English  answer  is  given  to 
a  petition  of  the  Commons,  touching  a 


*  References  are  given  to  the  Rolls  of  ParliamenI 
throughout  this  extract. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTEU  IX. 


687 


proposed  resumption  of  certain  grants  of 
the  crown,  to  the  intent  the  king  might 
live  of  his  own.  The  English  language 
afterwards  appears  occasionally,  through 
the  reigns  of  Henry  IV.  and  V.  lu  the 
first  and  second  and  subsequent  years  of 
Henry  VI.  the  petitions  or  bills,  and  in 
many  cases  the  answers  also,  on  which  the 
statutes  were  afterwards  framed,  are  found 
frequently  in  English ;  but  the  statutes 
are  entered  on  the  roll  in  French  or  Latin. 
From  the  23d  year  of  Henry  VI.  these 
petitions  or  bills  are  almost  universally  in 
English,  as  is  also  sometimes  the  form  of 
the  royal  assent;  but  the  statutes  con- 
tinued to  be  enrolled  in  French  or  Latin. 
Sometimes  Latin  and  French  are  used  in 
the  same  statute,*  as  in  8  Henry  VI.,  27 
Henry  VL,  and  39  Henry  VI.     The  last 


*  All  the  acts  passed  in  the  same  session  are  legally 
one  statute  ;  the  difference  of  language  wau  in  separate 
'jhapter*  or  acts. 


I  statute  wholly  in  Latin  on  record  is  33 
I  Henry  VI.,  c.  2.    The  statutes  of  Edward 
I IV.  are  entirely  in  French.    The  statutes 
of  Richard  III.  are  in  many  manuscripts 
j  in  French  in  a  complete  statute  form  ;  and 
they  were  so  printed  in  his  reign  and  that 
of  his  successor.    In  the  earlier  English 
editions  a  translation  was  inserted  in  the 
same  form ;  but  in  several  editions,  since 
1618,  they  have  been  printed  in  English,  in 
a  different  form,  agreeing,  so  far  as  relates 
i  to  the  acts  printed,  with  the  enrollment  in 
1  chancery  at  the  Chapel  of  the  Rolls.    The 
'  petitions  and  bills  in  Parliament,  during 
I  these  two  reigns,  are  all  in  English.    The 
I  statutes  of  Henry  VII.  have  always,  it  is 
believed,  been  published  in  English  ;  but 
there  are  manuscripts  containing  the  stat- 
utes of  the  first  two  Parliaments,  in  his 
first  and  third  year,  in  French.    From  the 
fourth  year  to  the  end  of  his  reign,  and 
from  thence  to  the  present  time,  they  are 
)  universally  in  English." 


INDEX. 


ABBASSIDES. 


ANGLO-SAXONS. 


A^bbassides,  encouragement 
of  science  and  art  by  the, 
305.  Progress  of  their  dy- 
nasty, ib.  Its  decadence, 
ib. 

Abdalrahman  proclaimed 
caliph  of  Cordova,  305. 

Abelard  (Peler),  enthusiasm 
excited  by  the  teachings  of, 
651.    His  erratic  career,  ib. 

Acre,  consequences  to  com- 
merce by  the  capture  of, 
600. 

Adorni  and  Fregosi  factions, 
disruption  of  Geuoabytiie, 
207. 

Adolphus  of  Nassau  elected 
Emperor  of  Germany,  281. 

Adrian  IV.  (the  only  English 
pope),  insolence  of,  to- 
wards Frederick  Barba- 
rossa,  340.  His  system  of 
mandats,  35G. 

Adventurers  (military).  {See 
Military  Systems.) 

.^neas  Sylvius  (afterwards 
Pius  II.),  aliets  the  war 
against  the  Turks,  314.  He 
obtains  the  repeal  of  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  .381. 

Agriculture,  cause  of  the  low 
state  of,  589,  618.  Superi- 
or cultivation  of  Church 
lauds,  018.  Agricultural 
colonies,  ib.  Early  inclos- 
ures  and  clearances,  019. 
Exportation  of  corn,  020. 
How  limited,  ib.  High 
state  of  Italian  agriculture, 
ib.  Effects  of  pestilence, 
621.  Excellence  of  the 
Italian  gardens,  ib.  Neg- 
lect of  horticulture  in  En- 
gland, ib. 

Alaric,  defeated  by  Clovis,  8. 
Laws  compiled  by  his  or- 
der, 048. 

Albert  I.  of  Germany,  281. 
His  rule  in  Switzerland, 
297,  298.  His  expulsion 
andassassination,298.  The 
French  crown  offered  to 
him,  300. 

Albert  II.  succeeds  Sigis- 
mund  as  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, 285. 


Albigensian  heresy,  spread 
of  the,  28.  Massacre  of 
the  Albigeois,  ib.  (See  Re- 
ligious Sectfe.) 

Albizi,  ascendency  in  Flor- 

.  ence  regained  by  the,  229. 
Cosmo  deMedici  banished 
at  their  instigation,  230. 
Their  overthrow,  ib.  Ex- 
clusion of  their  family 
from  the  magistracy,  231. 

Alcuin  teaches  Charle- 
magne, C50.  He  discour- 
ages secular  learning,  ib. 

Alexander  II.  (pope),  elec- 
tion of,  339.  He  deposes 
the  English  prelates,  409, 
note. 

III.    (pope),    supports 

Thomas  a  Becket,  347. 
Adopts  the  system  of  man- 
dats, 350. 

V.  elected   pope,   374. 

His  successor,  ib. 

.  III.  king  of  Scotland, 

opposition  to  papal  domi- 
nation by,  359. 

Alexius  Comnenus  attacks 
the  Turks,  309.  He  re- 
covers the  Greek  terri- 
tories, ib. 

Alfonso  I.  of  Aragon  be- 
queaths his  kingdom  to 
the  Knights  Templars, 
241. 

III.  of  Aragon,  261. 

V.  of  Aragon  (the  Mag- 
nanimous), 220.  Adopted 
by  Joanna  II.  of  Naples, 
ib.  She  revokes  the  adop- 
tion, ib.  His  accession,  ib. 
His  imprisonment  by  the 
Genoese,  ib.  His  alliance 
with  Milan,  227.  His  vir- 
tues and  patronage  of  lit- 
erature, 228.  His  love  of 
Naples,.260. 

VII.  of  Castile,  unwise 

division  of  his  dominions 
by,  242. 

X.  of  Castile,  scientific 

acquirements  and  govern- 
mental deticiencies  of,  244. 
His  election  as  Emperor 
of  Germany,  277. 

XI.  of  Castile,  245. 

Alfred  the  Great,  rescue  of 
the     Anglo-Saxon     mon- 


archy by,  385.  His  alleged 
division  of  the  kingd(mi 
into  c(Hinties,  390.  Ascrip- 
tion of  trial  by  jury  to  him, 
393.  Extent  of  his  ac- 
quaintance vith  Latin,  573. 
His  declaration  of  the  ig 
norance  of  the  clergy,  574. 

Aliens  held  liable  for  each 
other's  debts,  005. 

Allodial  tenure,  characteris- 
tics of,  77,  and  note.  Con- 
verted into  feudal  tenure, 
87. 

Almamim  and  Almansor, 
caliphs  of  Bagdad,  patron- 
age of  letters  by,  305. 

Alvaro  de  Luna.    {See  Luna.) 

Amadeus  (diike  of  Savoy), 
elected  poi)e,  377. 

Amalfi,  early  commercial 
eminence  of,  600.  Its  de- 
cline, ib.  Alleged  inven- 
tion of  the  mariner's  com- 
pass there,  002.  Discovery 
of  the  Pandects,  048. 

Amurath  I.,  progresses  of 
the  Turkish  arms  under, 
312. 

II.,  rout  of  the  Hunga- 
rians by,  295.  Reunion  of 
the  Ottoman  monarchy 
under  him,  313.  He  per- 
fects the  institution  of  the 
Janizaries,  315. 

Auastasius  confers  the  dig- 
nity of  consulship  on  Clo- 
vis, 8. 

Andalusia,  conquest  of,  by 
Ferdinand  IIL,  242. 

Andrew  of  Hungary  mar- 
ried to  Joanna  of  Naples, 
223.  His  murder  imputed 
to  Joanna,  ib. 

Anglo-Normans.  {See  En- 
gland.) 

Anglo-Saxons,  divisions  of 
England  under  the,  384. 
Their  Danish  assailants, 
ib.  Alfred  and  his  suc- 
cessors, 385.  Descent  of 
the  crown,  380.  Influence 
of  provincial  governors, 
.387.  Thanes  and  ceorls, 
388.  Condition  of  the  ce- 
orls, ib.  Privileges  an- 
nexed to  their  pospession 
of  land,  ib.    Position  of 


690 


ANJOU. 


INDEX. 


BARONS. 


the  socage  tenants,  3S9. 
Condition  of  the  British 
natives,  ib.  Constitution 
of  the  Witenagemot,  390, 
404.  Administration  of 
justice,  and  divisions  of  the 
land  for  the  purpose,  390. 
Hundreds  and  their  prob- 
able origin,  ib.,  391.  The 
tithing-mau  and  alder- 
man, ?io<e,  392.  TheConuty 
Court  and  its  jurisdiction, 
?6.,  393.  Trial  by  jury  and 
its  antecedents,  ib.,  394. 
Introduction  of  the  law  of 
frank-pledge,  ?b.  Progress 
of  the  system  of  frank- 
pledges, ib.,  395,  Respon- 
sibilities and  uses  of  the 
tithings,  ib.  Probable  ex- 
istence of  feudal  tenures 
before  the  Conquest,  396- 
899.  Observations  ou  the 
change  of  the  heptarchy 
into  a  monarchy,  400,  401. 
Consolidation  of  the  mon- 
archy, 401.  Condition  of 
the  eorlsand  ceorls  further 
elucidated,  402-404.  Ju- 
dicial functions  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  kings,  429. 
Analogy  between  the 
French  and  Anglo-Saxon 
monarchies,  ib.  Peculiar 
jurisdiction  of  the  King's 
Court,  16.-431. 

Anjou  (Louis,  duke  of),  his 
attempt  on  the  crown  of 
Naples,  and  death,  52.  {See 
Charles  of  Anjou.) 

Anselm  (archbishop),  cause 
of  his  quarrel  with  Wil- 
liam II.  and  Henry  I.,  345, 
Descartes's  argument  ou 
the  Deity  anticipated  by 
him,  C55. 

Appanages,  effect  of  the  sys- 
tem of,  63. 

Aquinas  (Thomas),  meta 
physical  eminence  of,  654. 

Aquitaine,  extent  of  the  do- 
minions so  called,  72 
Character  of  its  people,  ib 

Arabia  and  the  Arabs.  {See 
Mohammed.) 

Aragon,  bequest  of  to  the 
Templars  by  Alfonso  I., 
and  reversal  thereof,  242 
Rise  of  the  kingdom  in 
political  importance,  251 
Struggle  for  the  succes- 
sion to  its  crown,  258,  259 
Points  of  interest  in  its 
form  of  government,  260. 
Privilegesof  itsnobles  and 
people,  ib.  Its  natural  de 
lects  and  political  advan- 
tages, ib.  Grant  of  the 
''privilege  of  union,"  261 
Supersession  thereof,  ib. 
262.  The  office  of  justi- 
ciary, ib.    Instances  of  the 


submission  of  kings  to  his 
decrees,  264, 265.  Duration  | 
and  responsibilities  of  the 
office,  265, 266.  The  Cortes 
of  Aragon,  266,  267.  Its 
union  with  Castile,  268. 

Archers  (English),  invinci- 
bility of  the,  at  Crecy  and 
Poitiers,  46.  {See  Military 
Systems.) 

Architecture,  as  illustrative 
of  domestic  progress,  611. 
Early  castles  in  England, 
ib.  Improvements  there- 
on, ib.  Early  houses,  ib. 
Revival  of  the  use  of  bricks, 
613.  Arrangement  of  ordi- 
nary mansion-houses,  ib. 
Dwellings  in  France  and 
Italy,  614.  Iniroduction  of 
chimneys  and  glass  win- 
dows, ib.,  615,  and  notes. 
House  furniture  and  do- 
mestic conveniences,  615. 
Fa  rm-  houses  and  cottages, 
616.  Ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture, its  grandeur  and 
varieties,  616-618.  Domes- 
tic architecture  of  the  12th 
and  14tii  centuries,  685 

Aribert  declared  king  of 
Aquitaine,  72. 

Aristocracy.    (See  Nobilit}'. ) 

Aristotle,  writings  of,  how 
tirst  knownin  Europe,  655. 
Ignorance  of  his  transla- 
tors, 655.  Character  of  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy 
a56.  Its  influence  on  re- 
ligion, ib. 

Armaguac  (count  of)  oppo- 
ses the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
53.  Massacre  of  himself 
and  partisans,  54.  Assas 
sination  of  a  later  Count 
of  Armagnac,  63. 

Armagnacs,  rise  of  the  fac- 
tion of  the,  53.  Tactics  of 
the  dauphin towardsthem, 
ib.  Their  league  with  Hen- 
ly  IV.  of  England,  54. 
Their  defeat  by  the  Sw' 
300. 

Armorial  bearinsrs,  general 
introduction  of,  99. 

Armorican  republic,  7.  Sup 
posed  extent  of  its  terri 
tories,  71. 

Armor.  {See  Military  Sys 
tems.) 

Arundel  (bishop  and  arch 
bishop),  deprived  of,  and 
reinvested  with,  the  great 
seal,  471.  His  subsequent 
deprivation  and  banish 
ment,  474. 

(earl  of,  temp.  Richard 

II.),  his  conduct  as  a  lord 
appellant,  470.  His  breach 
with  the  Duke  of  Lancas 
ter,  472.  Refuses  to  aid  in 
legitimating     Lancaster's 


children,  ib.    His  decapi- 
tation, 474. 

Aschafi'euburg,  concordats 
of,  380. 

Assize,  Justices  of,  431. 
—  of  Clarendon,  439.  Text 
of,  550. 

Athens  (duke  oO-  {See  Bri- 
enne.) 

Augustin  (St.),  specimen  of 
the  verses  of,  570,  iwte. 

Aulic  council,  powers  and 
jurisdiction  of  the,  291. 

Auspicius  (bishop  of  Toul), 
character  of  the  poetry  of, 
570.  Specimen  thereof,  ib., 
note. 

Anstrasia,  characteristics  of 
the  people  of,  11. 

Auxiliary  verb  active,  prob- 
able cause  of  the,  56S. 

Averroes,  tendency  of  his 
commentaries,  656. 

Avignon,  removal  of  the  pa- 
pal court  to,  368.  Rapaci- 
ty of  its  popes,  370,  371. 
Its  abandonment  by  the 
popes,  372. 

Aziucourt  (battle  of),  55. 

B. 

Bacon  (Roger),  his  acquaint- 
ance with  mathematics, 
658.  Parallel  between  him 
and  Lord  Bacon,  ib,,  note. 
His  knowledge  of  Greek, 
679. 

Bagdad,  celebrity  of  the  early 
caliphs  of,  304.  Character 
of  its  later  caliphs,  305. 
Frequency  of  their  assas- 
sination, 306.  Defection 
of  its  provinces,  ib. 

Bajazet,  military  successes 
of,  312.  Defeated  and  cap- 
tured by  the  Tartars,  313. 

Baltic  trade.     {See  Trade.) 

Banks  and  bankers  of  Italy, 
607. 

Barbiano  (Alberic  di),  mili- 
tary eminence  of,  216.  His 
pupils,  217. 

Barcelona,  13.  Its  early  com- 
mercial eminence,  601.  Its 
code  of  maritime  laws,  603. 
And  of  marine  insurance, 
607,  note.  Its  bank  of  de- 
posit, ib. 

Bardi,  Florentine  bankers, 
English  customs  farmed 
by  the,  607. 

Barons  (in  France),  occa- 
sional assemblies  of  the, 
117.  Consequences  of 
their  non-attendance  at 
the  royal  council,  118. 
They  become  subject  to 
the  monarch,  ib.  Their 
privileires  curtailed  by 
Philip  IV.,  119.  {See  No- 
bility.) 


BARRISTERS. 


INDEX. 


CHARLEMAGNE.      691 


Barristers'  fees  in  the  15th 
ceutury,  6-24. 

Basle,  council  of.  {See  Coun- 
cil.) 

Beauraanoir,  definition  of 
the  three  conditions  of 
men  by,  104,  lOG. 

Bedford  (duke  of),  regent  for 
Henry  VI.,  56.  His  char- 
acter, ift.  His  successes  in 
France,  57.  Overthrow  of 
his  forces  by  Joan  of  Arc, 
58. 

Belgrade,  siege  and  relief  of, 
296. 

Benedict  XL  reconciles  Phil- 
ip the  Fair  to  the  holy  see, 
367.  He  rescinds  the  bulls 
of  Boniface  VIII.,  368. 

XII.,  his  rapacity,  370. 

XIII.  elected  pope  by 

the  Avignon  cardinals,  373. 
Deposed  by  the  council  of 
Pisa,  374.  Spain  supports 
him,  ib. 

Benefices,  grants  of  land  so 
called,  84.  Conditions  an- 
nexed to  them,  85.  Their 
extent,  ib.  Character  of 
hereditary  benefice.*,  1)8. 

Benevolences,  by  whom  first 
levied  in  England,  544. 

Berenger  I.  and  II.  (See 
Italy.) 

BermudoIII.  (king  of  Leon), 
killed  in  battle,  238. 

Berry  (duke  of),  appointed 
guardian  of  Charles  VI 
51.    His  character,  52. 

Bianchi.  (See  Superstiticm.s.) 

Bianchi  and  Neri,  factions 
of,  665. 

Bigod  (Roger,  earl  of  Nor 
folk),  patriotism  of,  442. 

Bills.     {See  Parliament.) 

Birth,  privileges  of.  (See 
Nobility.) 

Bishops.    {See  Church,  Cler 

gy-) 

Blanche  of  Castile,  acts  as 
regent  during  the  minori 
tyofLouisIX.,  29.  Qnells 
the  rebellion  of  the  bar- 
ons, ib. 

Boccaccio,  appointed  to  lee 
ture  on  Dante,  668. 

Boccanegra  (Simon),  first 
doge  of  Genoa,  story  of 
the  election  of,  206. 

Bocland,  nature  of,  396. 

Bohemia,  nature  of  its  con- 
nection with  Germany 
292.  Its  polity,  ib.  The 
Hussite  controversy  and 
its  results,  293,  294. 

Bohun  (Humphrey,  earl  of 
Hereford),  patriotism  of, 
442. 

Bolingbroke  (earl  of  Derby 
and  duke  of  Hereford) 
made  lord  appellant,  470. 
He  Bides  with  the  king. 


472.  His  quarrel  with  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  476.  Ad- 
vantage taken  of  it  by 
Richard  II.,  ib.  His  ac- 
cession to  the  throne,  477. 
{See  Henry  IV.) 

Bologuese  law-schools,  648. 

Boniface  (St.).  {See  Wiu- 
frid.) 

—  VIII.  suspected  of  fraud 
towards  Ceiestine  V.,  364. 
His  extravagant  preten- 
sions, ib.,  and  Tiote.  Dis- 
regard of  his  bulls  by  Ed- 
ward I.,  365.  His  disputes 
with  Philip  the  Fair,  365- 
367.  Success  of  Philip's 
stratagem  '  against  him, 
367.  His  death,  ib.  Re- 
scindment  of  his  bulls,  368. 

—  IX.,  elected  pope,  373. 
His  traffic  in  benefices, 
376.  His  rapacity  in  En- 
gland checked,  580. 

Books  and  booksellers.  {See 
Learning.) 

Boroughs.  {See  Municipal 
Institutions,  Parliament, 
Towns.) 

Braccio  di  Montone,  rivalry 
of,  with  Sforza,  217. 

Brienne  (Walter  de,  duke  of 
Athens),  invested  with  ex- 
treme powers  in  Florence, 
194.  His  tyranny  and  ex- 
cesses, ib.  His  overthrow 
ib. 

Brittany,  origin  of  the  peo 
pie  of,  69.  Its  annexation 
to  the  crown,  ib. 

Bruneliaut,  queen  of  Austra 
sia,  9.  Her  character  and 
conduct,  ib.  She  falls  into 
the  hands  of  Clotaire  II. 
and  is  sentenced  to  death, 
ib. 

Burdett  (Thomas),  cause  of 
the  execution  of,  543. 

Burgesses.  (S^e« Parliament.) 

of  the  palisades,  origin 

of  the,  287. 

Bnrgundians,  Roman  prov- 
inces occupied  by  the,  7. 
Their  mode  of  dividing 
conquered  provinces,  77. 

Burgundy  {Eudes,  duke  of), 
undertakes  the  protection 
of  his  niece  Jane,  40.  He 
betrays  her  cause,  41. 

(duke  of),  named  guard- 
ian of  Charles  VL,  51 
Loses  his  ascendency  ovei 
the  king,  52.  Regains  it 
ib.    His  death,  53."^ 

{John,  duke  of,  "  Sans 

Eeur"),  assassinates  the 
luke  of  Orleans,  53.  Ob 
tains  pardon  for  the  crime, 
ib.  Consequence  of  his 
reconciliation  with  the 
court,  64.  Is  assassinated, 
56. 


Burgundy  {Philip,  duke  of), 
allies  himself  with  Henry 
v.,  56.  His  French  pred- 
ilections, 59.  And  treaty 
with  Charles  VIL,  ib. 
Splendor  of  his  court,  64. 

—  {Charles,  duke  of),  char- 
acter and  ambitious  de- 
signs of,  65.  His  contuma- 
cious subjects,  ib.  His 
rash  enterprises  and  fail- 
ures, 66.  Is  defeated  and 
killed,  ib. 

—  {Mary,  duchess  of),  de- 
fends her  rights  against 
Louis  XL,  67.  Marries 
Maximilian  of  Austria ; 
her  death,  ib. 

—  (kingdom  of),  74. 
(law  of),  145. 

C. 

Caballcros  of  Spain,  privi- 
leges enjoyed  by  the,  241. 

Calais,  47,  50. 

Calixtins,  tenets  of  the,  294. 

Calixtus  II.  (pope),  compro- 
mise eff"cctcd  by,  342.  He 
abolishes  feudal  services 
by  bishops,  343. 

Cambridge  university,  first 
mention  «if,  652. 

Canon  law,  promulgation  of 
the,  350.  Its  study  made 
imperative,  351. 

Capet  (Hugh),  usurpation  of 
the  JJ'rench  throne  by,  19. 
State  of  France  at  his  ac- 
cession, '23.  His  sources 
of  revenue.  111. 

Carlovingian  dynasty,  ex- 
tinction of  the,  19. 

Carrara  (Francesco  da),  Ve- 
rona seized  by,  212.  Kill- 
ed in  prison,  213. 

Castile  and  Leon  united  into 
one  kingdom,  238.  Their 
subsequent  redivision  and 
reunion,  242.  Composition 
and  character  of  the  Cortes 
of  Castile  {see  Cortes),  the 
council  and  its  functions, 
253-255.  Administration 
of  justice,  256.  Similarity 
of  "its  polity  to  that  of  En- 
gland, ib. 

Catalonia,  character  of  th<? 
people  of,  267. 

Catharists,  religious  tener 
held  by  the,  630. 

Ceiestine  V.,  fraud  of  Bou 
face  VIII.  towards,  364. 

Champ  de  Mars.  (.See  Fiev 
of  March.) 

Charlemagne,  reunltm  of  tne 
Frankish  empire  under,13. 
His  victories  in  Italy  and 
Spain,  ib.  Obstinate  re- 
sistance and  ultimate  sub- 
mission of  the  Saxons  to 
his  rule,  ib.    His  Sclavo- 


G92 


CHaRLES. 


INDEX. 


CHURCH. 


nian  conquests,  14.  Ex- 
tent of  his  dominions,  ib.\ 
His  coronation  as  emper-; 
or,  ib.,  and  note.  Its  con- 
sequences, 15.  His  intel- 
lectual acquirements  and 
domestic  improvements, 
ib.  His  vices,  cruelties, 
relictions  edicts,  ib.  His 
son's  and  successors,  IG, 
17.  His  control  over  the 
clergy,  17.  Degeneracy  of 
his  descendants,  19.  State 
of  the  people  under  his 
rule,  21.  His  dread  of  the 
Normans,  22.  His  alleged 
election  by  the  Romans  a& 
emperor  discussed,  73.  Pe- 
culiarities of  his  legisla- 
tive assemblies,  113,  114. 
His  capituldry  relative  to 
tithes,  319.  His  authority 
over  the  popes,  338.  State 
of  his  education,  573,  and 
note.  His  library,  577,  note. 
His  encouragement  of  or- 
deals, 57S.  His  agricultu- 
ral colonies,  CIS.  Public 
schools  in  France  due  to 
him,  650.  Becomes  a  dis- 
ciple of  Alcuin, ib. 

Charles  the  Bad.  {See 
Charles  of  Navarre.) 

• the  Bald,  share  of  em- 
pire allotted  to,  17,  and 
note  on  IS.  Ravages  of 
the  Normans  during  his 
reign,  22.  His  slavish  sub- 
mission to  the  Church,  326, 
334. 

the  Fat,  accession  and 

depositnm  of,  IS.  Position 
of  Germany  at  his  death, 
270. 

the  Simple,  policy   of 

towards  the  Normans,  23. 

IV.  (the  Fair)  ascends 

the  throne  pursuant  to  the 
Salic  law,  42.  Conduct  of 
Edward  III.  of  England 
after  his  death,  ib. 

V.  (the  Wise)  submits 

to  the  peace  of  Bretigni, 
48.  His  summons  to  Ed- 
ward the  Black  Prince,  49. 
His  successes  against  the 
English,  60.  His  prt^ma- 
ture  death  and  character, 
51.  His  conflicts  with  the 
States -General,  121.  He 
imposes  taxes  without 
their  consent,  ib. 

VI.,  accession    of,  51. 

State  of  France  during  his 
reign,  ib.  Defeats  the  cit- 
izens of  Ghent,  ib.  Mis- 
application of  taxes  dur- 
ing his  minority,  52.  His 
seizuie  with  insanity,  ib. 
Disgraceful  conduct  of  his 
queen,  56,  and  note.  His 
death,  ib.    His  submission 


to  the  remonstrances  of 
the  States-General,  122. 

Charles  VII.,  state  of  France 
at  the  accession  of,  57.  His 
impoverished  exchequer, 
ib.  His  character,  and 
choice  of  favorites,  58. 
Change  wrought  in  his 
fortunes  by  Joan  of  Arc, 
ib.  His  connection  with 
Agnes  Sorel,  59,  note.  Re- 
stores Richemont  to  pow- 
er, ib.  Is  reconciled  with 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  ib. 
Reconquers  the  provinces 
ceded  to  the  Englisli 
crown,  GO.  Cousolidatitm 
of  his  power,  ib.  Insur- 
rection of  Guienue  against 
taxation,  61.  His  conduct 
relative  to  the  States-Gen 
eral,  124.  He  levies  taxes 
of  his  own  will,  125.  He 
enacts  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction  of  Bourges,  3S1. 

VIII.,  accession   of,  69 

Contest  for  the  regency 
during  his  minority,  70, 
Marries  Anne  of  Brittany, 
ib.  Proceedings  of  the 
States-General  during  his 
minority,  125. 

of  Anj(m  (I.  of  Naples) 

seizure  of  the  crown  of  Na- 
ples by,  180.  He  puts  Con 
radin,  the  heir,  to  death 
ib.  He  defeats  the  Ghibe 
lins  and  governs  Tuscany 
ISl.  Revolt  of  his  sub 
jccts,  1S3. 

II.  of  Naples,  war  of  the 

Sicilians  against,  222.  His 
death,  223. 

of  Durazzo  (III.  of  Na- 
ples), 224.  Puts  Queen  Jo- 
anna to  death,  ib.  His  as- 
sassination, 225. 

IV.  of  Germany,  singu- 
lar character  of,  2S3.  His 
Golden  Bull,  284.  He  al- 
ienates the  imperial  do- 
mains, 288.  Advancement 
of  Bohemia  under  his  rule, 
293. 

Martel,  conquest  of  the 

Saracens  by,  11.  His  spo- 
liation of  the  Church,  SO. 

of  Navarre  (the  Bad), 

tumults  in  France  excited 
bv,  47.  His  crimes,  48, 
Allies  himself  with  Ed 
ward  III.,  49. 

Charter  of  Henry  I.  and  his 
successors,  421.  Text  of 
the  Charter  of  Henry  I., 
548.  The  Great  Charter, 
422,  552. 

Chartered  towns.  {See 
Municipal  Institutions, 
Towns.) 

Chaucer  (Geoffrey),  testimo- 
ny borne  by  his  writin 


520,  note.    Character  of  his 

works,  073,  674. 
Chiklebert  (son  of  Clovis), 

dominions  allotted  to,  9. 
Chilperic,  guilty  conduct  of 

Fredegonde,  the  queen  of, 

9.    His  attempts  at  poetry, 

570.     His   attack    on    the 

sanctuary,  583. 
Chilperic  III.,  deposition  of. 

Chimneys.  {See  Architect- 
ure.) 

Chivalry,  as  a  school  of  mor- 
al discipline,  634.  Remote- 
ness of  its  origin,  ib.  In- 
dividual honor  its  key- 
stone, 635.  Types  of  clnv- 
alrj',  ib.  Its  original  ccm- 
uection  with  feudal  serv- 
ice, ib.  Effect  of  the  Cru- 
sades, 636.  Its  connection 
with  religion,  ib.  Entliu- 
siasm  insjiired  by  gallant- 
ry, 637-639.  Licentious- 
ness incident  to  chivalry, 
638.  Virtues  inculcated 
by  it,  639.  Practice  of 
courtesy,  liberality,  and 
justice,  ib.,  641.  Obliga- 
tions of  chivalry  to  the 
East,  641.  Its  attendant 
evils,  642.  Education  pre- 
paratory to    knighthood, 

643.  Chivalric  festivals, 
ib.  Tournaments  and 
their  dangers,  ib.,  644. 
Privileges  of  knighthood, 

644.  Who  were  admissi- 
ble thereto,  645.  Military 
service:  knights  and  bach- 
elors, ib.  Causes  of  the 
decline  of  chivalry,  (346. 
Influences  by  which  it  was 
superseded,  647. 

Church,  wealth  of  the,  under 
the  empire,  318.  Its  posi- 
tion after  the  irruption  of 
the  barbarians,  ib.  Source 
of  its  legitimate  wealth, 
ib.  Its  religious  extor- 
tions, ib.,  319.  Privileges 
attached  to  its  property, 
319.  Institution  of  tithes, 
319,  320,  and  notes.  Liabil- 
ity of  Church  property  to 
^  spoliation,  320.  Origin  of 
'  precarice,ib.,7wte.  Extent 
of  the  Church's  landed  pos- 
sessions, 321,  and  no<e.  Its 
participation  in  the  admin- 
istration of  justice,  322. 
Limitations  interposed  by 
Justinian,  ib.  Its  jiolitic- 
al  influence,  323.  Source 
thereof,  ib.  Its  subjection 
to  the  state,  324.  Charle- 
magne's edicts  relative  to 
its  aft'airs,  ib.  Its  assump- 
tion of  authority  over  the 
French  kings,  325.  Obse- 
quiousness of  England  to 


CITIES. 


INDEX. 


COUNCIL. 


G93 


its  pretensions,  32C.  lu 
vestiture  of  its  bishops 
witli  their  temporalities, 
337.  Their  simouiacal 
practices,  ib.  Caucus  and 
chapters,  344.  Liberties  of 
the  Gallicau  Church,  3S'2. 
Privileges  of  sanctuary, 
583.  (See  Clergy,  Monas- 
teries, Papal  Power.) 

Cities.  {See  Municipal  Insti- 
tutions and  Towns.) 

Civil  Law.     {See  Laws.) 

Clarence  (duke  of),  put  to 
death  by  Edward  IV.,  543. 

Clarendon,  constitutions  of, 
301.  Their  influence  on 
Thomas  a  Becket's  quar- 
rel with  Henry  IL,  362. 
Text  of,  549. 

Assize  of,  439.    Text  of, 

550. 

Clement  IV.,  effect  of  a  bull 
promulgated  by,  357.  Op- 
position of  the  Scotch  king 
to  his  edict,  350. 

v.,  his  maxim  relative 

to  benefices,  357.  He  re- 
moves the  papal  court  to 
Avignon,  30S.  England 
remonstrates  with  him, 
371. 

VI.  acquits  Joanna  of 

Naples  of  murder,  224. 
His  licentiousness,  370. 

VII.,  circumstances  rel- 
ative to  his  election  as 
pope,  373,  Division  of 
the  papacy  thereupon,  ib. 
Proceedings  after  his 
death,  ib. 

Clergy,  their  privileges  un- 
der the  feudal  system, 
102.  Fighting  prelates,  ib. 
Their  participation  in  leg- 
islative proceedings,  114. 
Immense  territorial  pos- 
sessions of  the  clergy,  321. 
Their  acquisition  of  polit- 
ical power,  323.  Their  neg- 
lect of  the  rule  of  celibacy, 
335.  Sufferings  of  the  mar- 
ried clergy,  336.  Lax  mo- 
rality of  the  English  cler- 
gy, ib.,  note.  Practice  of 
simony,  ib.  Consent  of 
the  laity  required  in  the 
election  of  bishops,  ib. 
Interference  of  the  sover- 
eigns therein,  337.  Taxa- 
tion of  the  clergy  by  the 
kings,  358.  Tribute  levied 
on  them  by  the  popes,  ib. 
Their  disaffection  towards 
Rome,  359.  Their  exemp- 
tion from  temporal  juris- 
diction, 361.  Extortions 
of  Edward  I.,  365.  Ef- 
fects of  Wicliff's  princi- 
ples, 380.  Spiritual  peers 
m  the  English  Parliament, 
444.    Their  qualifications, 


498.  Clergy  summoned  to 
send  representatives,  503. 
Cause  of  their  being  suu:- 
moned,  504.  Result  of 
their  segregating  them- 
selves from  the  commons, 
505.  Instances  of  their 
Parliamentary  existence, 
500,  507.  Their  ignorance 
of  letters,  573,  574.  Their 
monastic  vices,  583.  {See 
Church,  Monasteries,  Pa- 
pal Power,  Superstition.) 

Clisson  (constable  de),  52. 

Clodomir  (son  of  Clovis),  do- 
minions allotted  to,  9. 

Clotairc,  portion  of  domin- 
ions allotted  to,  9.  LTnion 
of  the  whole  under  him, 
ib.  Re-divisiou  among  his 
sons,  ib. 

IL,    reunion    of    the 

French  dominions  under, 
9. 

Clotilda  converts  her  hus- 
band to  Christianity,  8 ; 
her  sons,  9. 

Clovis  invades  Gaul  and  de- 
feats Syagrius,  8.  Accepts 
the  title  of  consul,  ib.,  and 
note.  Defeats  the  Aleman- 
ni,  ib.  His  conversion  to 
Christianity,  ib.  Defeats 
Alaric,  ib.  His  last  ex- 
ploits and  sanguinary  pol- 
icy, ib.  Division  of  his  do- 
minions among  his  sons, 
9.  His  alleged  subjection 
to  the  emperors  discussed, 
note  IIL,  71.  His  limited 
authority :  story  of  the 
vase  of  Soissons,  82. 

IL,  10. 

Cobham,  lord  (temp.  Rich- 
ard II. ),  banished,  474. 

Coining,  extensive  practice 
of  among  the  French  no- 
bles, 109.  Debased  money 
issued  by  them,  ib.  Sys- 
tematic adulteration  of 
coin  by  the  kings,  112. 
Measures  adopted  for  rem- 
edying these  frauds,  ib. 

Coloni,  characteristics  and 
privileges  of  the,  146. 

Combat.     {See  Trial.) 

Commodianus,  literary  re- 
mains of,  509.  Specimen 
thereof,  570,  note. 

Common  Pleas,  Court  of, 
431. 

Comnenus.    (See  Alexius.) 

Confirmatio  chartarum,  483. 
Text  of,  557. 

Conrad  (duke  of  Franconia) 
elected  emperor  of  Germa- 
ny, 271. 

II.  (the  Salic),  impor- 
tant edict  of,  relative  to 
feuds,  87.  Elected  emper- 
or of  Germany,  272. 

IIL  joins  in  the  second 


crusade,  34.  Elected  em- 
peror of  Germany,  274. 

Conrad  IV.,  accession  of, 
172.  His  struggles  for 
dominion  in  Italy,  and 
death,  ib.  His  difficulties 
in  Germany,  277. 

Conradin  (son  of  Conrad  IV.) 
attempts  to  regain  his  in- 
heritance, 180.  Put  to 
death  by  Charles  of  An- 
jou,  ib. 

Constance,  council  of.  {Se« 
Council.) 

,  treaty  of,  102. 

Constantine  V.  dethroned  by 
his  mother,  73. 

Constantinople,  advanta- 
geous position  of,  307.  Its 
resistance  to  the  Moslem 
assaults,  ib.  Its  capture 
by  the  Latins,  307.  Its  re- 
capture by  the  Greeks,  ib. 
Besieged  by  Bajazet,  312; 
and  by  Amurath,  313.  At- 
tacked by  Mohammed  IL, 
314.  Its  fall,  ib.  Unreal- 
ized schemes  for  its  recov- 
ery, ib. 

Constitution  of  England, 
(.b'ee  English  Constitution.) 

Cordova  taken  from  the 
Moors,  242. 

Corn.  {See  Agriculture, 
Trade.) 

Cortes  of  Castile,  oi-iginal 
composition  of  the,  249 ; 
dwindling  down  of  their 
numbers,  ib.  Their  re- 
monstrance against  cor- 
ruption, 250.  Spiritual  and 
temporalnobility,t6.  Con- 
trol of  the  Cortes  over  the 
taxes,  251.  Their  resolute 
defense  of  their  right,  252. 
Their  control  over.expend- 
iture,  ib.  Its  active  exer- 
cise, ib.  Their  forms  of 
procedure,  253.  Their  leg- 
islativerights  andattempt- 
ed  limitations  thereon  by 
the  kings,  ib.,  254.  Their 
right  to  a  voice  in  the  dis- 
posal of  the  crown,  255. 

Corvinus  (Matthias)  elected 
king  of  Hungary,  290.  His 
patronage  of  literature,  ib. 

Council,  Great,,  of  Enefland, 
419,  429,  439.  {See  King's 
Council,  and  Justice.) 

of  Basle,  enmity  of  the, 

towards  the  papal  court, 
377.  Reforms  effected  by 
it,?6.    Its  indiscretion s,t&. 

of  Constance  condemns 

John  Hues  and  Jerome  of 
Prague  to  be  burned,  293. 
Deposes  John  XXIIL,  374. 
Preponderance  of  Italian 
interests  therein, 375.  Tac- 
tics of  the  cardinals,  376. 
National  divisions  in  th« 


694 


COUNCIL. 


INDEX. 


ENGLAND. 


council,  ib.  Its  breach  of 
faith  relative  to  Huss  and 
Jerome  canvassed, 3TS,  and 
note. 

Council  of  Frankfort  con- 
voked by  Saint  Boniface, 
329.  Its  importance  in  pa- 
pal history,  330. 

of  Lyons,  1T2. 

of  Pavia,  376. 

of  Pisa,  proceedings  at 

the,  374. 

Cours  plonicres,  character  of 
the,  117. 

Court,  King's,  429. 

of  Conimon  Pleas,  431. 

of  Exchequer,  430. 

of  King's  Bench,  430. 

Crecy,  battle  of,  40. 

Crusades,  origin  of  the,  31. 
Energetic  appeals  of  Peter 
the  Hermit,  32.  Induce- 
ments offered  to  those  who 
joined  in  them,  ib.  Crimes 
and  miseries  attendant  on 
them,  3.3.  Results  of  the 
flrst  Crusade,  34.  Second 
Crusade,  ib.  Its  failure,  ib. 
Origin  of  the  third  Cru- 
sade, 35.  Its  famous  com- 
manders and  inconclusive 
results,  t6.  Crusades  of  St 
Louis  and  their  miserable 
ending,  36,  37.  Cause  of 
the  cessation  of  Crusades, 
584.  Their  demoralizing 
influence,  5S5. 

Curia  Regis,  429. 


Dagobert  I.,  insiguiflcance 
of  the  successors  of,  10. 

Damascus,  degeneracy  of  the 
caliphs  of,  304. 

Danes,  English  first  infested 
by  the,  22. 

Dante  Alighieri  expelled 
fiom  Florence,  17S.  His 
birth, 005.  Characteristics 
of  his  great  poem,  000-068, 
Enthusiasm  which  attend- 
ed its  publication,  068. 

Dauphine  annexed  to  the 
French  crown,  70.  Its  or- 
igin, ib.i  note. 

Decuriones,  146. 

Defensor  Civitatis,  146. 

Defiance,  institution  of  the 
right  of,  289.  Its  aboli- 
tion, 290. 

De  la  Mare  (Peter),  opposes 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  465. 
Conduct  of  the  citizens 
on  his  imprisonment,  460, 
Elected  speaker  of  the 
Commons,  467. 

Derby  (earl  of).  {See  Boling' 
broke.) 

Diet.     (See  Council.) 

Diet  of  Worms,  important 
changes  effected  by   the 


289.  Abolishes  the  right 
of  defiance,  290.  Estab- 
lishes the  imperial  cham- 
ber, ib.,  291. 

Domestic  life  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  008-611.  Income 
and  style  of  living,  623. 

Doomsday-book,  619. 

Duelling,  introduction  of 
the  practice  of,  578,  and 
note. 

Du  Guescliu  (Bertrand),  pro- 
ceeds to  Castile,  48.  His 
character,  50.  He  serves 
against  Peter  the  Cruel, 
245.  Is  taken  prisoner, 
246. 

Dunstan  and  Odo,  and  their 
treatment  of  Ed  wy  and  El- 
giva,  326. 


Earl,  origin  of  the  title  of, 

388,  note. 
Ebroin,  exercise  of  supreme 

power  by,  10. 
Eccelin  da  Romano,  tyran 

nic  exercise  of  power  by, 

170. 
Ecclesiastical    jurisdiction, 

(See  Church,  Clergy,  Papal 

Power.) 
Edward  the  Confessor,  pop 

ularity  of  the  laws  of,  420, 

439. 
I.  offends  Philip  IV.  of 

France,  37.      His  breather 

Edmund      outwitted     by 

Philip,  38.     He  curbs  the 

gower  of  the  clergy,  362. 
[istyrannytowards  them, 
366.  His  reign  a  constitu 
tional epoch, 442.  Hisdes 
potic  tendencies,  ib.  He 
confirms  the  charters,  443, 
and  7iote. 

II.   marries  Isabel  of 

France,  40.  He  yields  to 
the  pope,  371. 

HI.  lays  claim  to  the 

French  throne,  42.  Its  in- 
justice shown,  ?■&.  His  pol- 
icy prior  to  resorting  to 
arms,  43.  Principal  fea- 
tures in  his  character,  46, 
Extent  of  his  resources, 
ib.,  46.  Excellence  of  his 
armies,  46.  His  acquisi- 
tion after  the  battles  of 
Crecy  and  Poitiers,  47, 
His  alliance  with  Charles 
the  Bad,  48.  Conditions 
of  the  peace  of  Bretigni, 
49.  His  opposition  to  the 
pope,  371.  Progress  of 
Parliamentunder  him,  458 
Ascendency  of  Lancaster 
and  Alice  Perrers  over  him 
464.  Ordinance  against  Al- 
ice, 465.  Repeal  thereof, 
466.    Revival  of  the  pros- 


ecution against  her,  467. 
His  debts  to  Italian  bauk- 
ei-8,  607. 

Edward  the  Black  Prince, 
character  of,  45,  His  vic- 
tory at  Poitiers,  46,  His 
impolitic  conduct  in  Gui- 
eune,  49.  Summoned  be- 
fore the  peers  of  France, 
ib.  Machinations  relative 
to  his  heir,  465.  His  jeal- 
ousy of  the  Dnke  of  Lan- 
caster, ib.    His  death,  400. 

IV,  accepts  a  pension 

from  Louis  XL,  63,  His 
military  force,  ib.  Louis's 
reasons  for  declining  a  vis- 
it from  him,  ib.  His  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  543. 
His  inexcusable  barbari- 
ties, ib.  Popularity  of  his 
government,  544.  His  sys- 
tem of  benevolences,  ib. 

Edwy  and  Elgiva.  (See  Dun> 
Stan.) 

England,  first  invested  by 
the  Danes,  22.  Its  re- 
sources under  Edward 
III.,  40.  Causes  of  the 
success  of  its  armies,  ib. 
High  payment  to  its  men- 
at-arms,  57,  note.  Discom- 
fiture of  its  troo[)s  by  Joan 
of  Arc,  58.  Deprived  of 
its  French  possessions  l)y 
Charles  VII.,  00.  Its  ob- 
sequiousness to  the  hie- 
rarchy, 327.  Its  opposi- 
tion to  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction, 301,  362.  Its  pro- 
test against  the  exactions 
of  the  Church,  371.  Its 
eharein  theCouncil  of  Con- 
stance, 375.  Enactment  of 
the  statute  of  prsemnnire, 
379,  Eflect  of  Wicliff's 
principles,  3S0.  Progress 
of  the  country  under  the 
Anglo-Saxons.  (iS'ee  An- 
glo-Saxons.) Its  state  at 
the  period  of  the  Norman 
conquest,  408,  409.  Fruit- 
less resistance  of  its  peo- 
ple to  Norman  rule,  409, 
and  note.  Expulsion  of  its 
prelates  and  maltreatment 
of  its  nobles,  ib.,  410,  and 
note.  Wholesale  spolia- 
tion of  property,  410.  Ab- 
ject condition  of  English 
occupiers,  ib.,  411.  Vast- 
ness  of  the  Norman  es- 
tates explained,  411.  Con- 
quered England  compared 
with  conquered  Gaul,  412. 
Forest  devastations  and 
forest  laws,  ib.  Depopu- 
lation of  the  towns,  413. 
Establishment  of  feudal 
customs,  414.  Preserva- 
tion of  the  public  peace, 
415,     Difference  between 


ENGLISH. 


INDEX. 


riRK-ARMS. 


695 


feudalism  in  Euglaud  and  Ethelwolf,  tyrant  of,  relative 

in  France,  ib.,  416.      Ha-!     to  tithes,  320,  note. 

tred  by  the  English  of  the  Eudes  (duke  of  Burgundy). 

Normans,    416.       Oppres-I     (.%e  Burgundy.) 

sions  and  exactions  of  the  Eudon  signally  defeats  the 


Norman  government,  ib 
417.  Nature  of  the  taxes 
then  levied,  41T-419.  Laws 
and  charters  of  the  Nor- 
man kings,  420,  421.  Ban- 
ishment of  Longchamp  by 
the  barons,  421.  Estab- 
lishment of  Magna  Char- 
ta,  422.  Difficulty  of  over- 
rating its  value,  ib.  Out- 
line of  its  provisions,  423 


Saracens,  72.  Receives  aid 
from  Charles  Martel,  ib. 

Eugenius  IV.  (cardinal  Ju- 
lian). His  contests  with 
the  councils,  377. 

Exchequer,  Court  of,  430. 


False  Decretals, 
dore.) 


(See  Isi 


Couflrmation    thereof  bylFelixV.  (pope),  election  and 


Henry  III.,  424.  Constitu- 
tional ,  struggles  between 
him  and  his  barons,  426, 
427.  Limitations  on  the 
royal  prerogative,  426,  42S. 
Institution  of  the  various 
courts  of  law,  429-431. 
Origin  of  the  common  law, 

432,  433.  Character  and 
defects  of  the  English  law, 

433,  434.  Hereditary  right 
of  the  crown  established, 

434,  435.  Legal  position 
of  the  gentry,  436,  437. 
Causes  of  civil  equality, 
437,  438.  Character  of  its 
government,  513.  Prerog- 
atives of  its  kings,  513-515. 
Mitigation  of  the  forest 
laws,  515.  Jurisdiction  of 
its  constable  and  marshal, 
ib.  Its  customs  farmed  by 
Italian  bankers,  607. 

English  constitution,  char- 
acter of  the,  516.  Sir  John 
Fortescue's  doctrine,  517, 

518.  Hume's  erroneous 
views    regarding    it,  518, 

519.  Causes  tending  to 
its  formation,  520, 521.  Ef- 
fect of  the  loss  of  Norman- 
dy, 521.  Real  source  of 
English  freedom,  521,  522. 
Princijile  involved  in  the 
relationship  between  lords 
and  their  vassals,  523 
Right  of  distress  on  the 
king's  property,  ib.  Feu 
dal  sources  of  constitu 
tional  liberty,  524.  Influ- 
ence of  the  nobility,  ib. 
Salutary  provisions  of  Ed- 
ward I.,  526.    Nature  and 

f gradual  extinction  of  vil- 
en age,  528-534.  Instances 
of  regencies  and  principles 
whereon  they  are  founded 
535-537.  Doctrine  of  pre- 
rogative, 539.  {Sp£  Anglo- 
Saxons,  England,  Feudal 
System,  Parliament.) 

English  language  and  liter- 
nture,  671,  672. 

Erigena.  {See  Scotus  — 
John.) 


ipersession  of,  377 

Ferdinand  confirmed  in  his 
succession  to  the  crown 
of  Naples,  228.  Attempt 
of  John  of  Calabria  to 
oust  him,  228.  His  odious 
rule,  233. 

I.  of  Aragon,  independ 

ence  of  the  Catalans  to- 
wards, 267 

II.  of  Aragon,  marries 

Isabella  of  Castile,  248. 
They  succeed  to  the  Cas- 
tilian  throne,  ib.  Ferdi- 
nand invested  with  the 
crownof  Aragon,  259.  Ar- 
rangement of  the  united 
governments,  268.  Con 
quest  of  Granada,  269. 

III.  of  Castile,  capture 

of  Cordova  by,  242. 

IV.  of  Castile,  preva- 
lence of  civil  dissensions 
in  the  reign  of,  245. 

Feudal  system,  rise  of  the, 
76.  Nature  of  allodial  and 
salic  lands,  77,  78,  and 
notes.  Distinction  of  laws, 
80.  Origin  of  nobility,  83. 
Fiscal  lands  or  benefices, 
their  nature,  condition, 
and  extent,  84,  85.  Intro- 
duction ofsubinfeudation, 
85.  Origin  of  feudal  ten- 
ures, 86.  Custom  of  per- 
sonal commendation,  ib. 
Its  character,  ib.  Edict  of 
Conrad  II.,  87.  Principle 
of  a  feudal  relation 
Rights  and  duties  of  vas- 
sals, ib.  Ceremonies  of 
homage,  fealty,  and  in- 
vestiture, ib.  Obligations 
of  the  vassal  to  his  lord, 

89.  Military  service,  its 
conditions  and  extent,  ib.. 
and  note.  Feudal  inci 
dents :    Origin   of  reliefs, 

90.  Offiues  on  alienation, 

91.  Escheats  and  forfeit 
ures,  ib.  Objects  for  which 
aids  were  levied,  ib.  Lim- 
itations thereof  by  Magna 
Charta,  ib.  Institution  of 
wardships,  92.    Their  vex 


atious  character  in  later 
times,  ib.  Extortionate 
and  oppressive  practices 
relative  to  marriages,  ib. 
Introduction  of  improper 
feuds,  93.  Fiefs  of  office, 
their  nature  and  variety, 
94,  and  note.  Feudal  law- 
books, ib.  Difference  be- 
tween that  and  the  French 
and  English  systems,  ib. 
The  feudal  system  not  of 
Roman  origin,  96.  Local- 
ities over  which  it  extend- 
ed, 97,  98.  Privileges  of 
nobility,  98-100.  Difler- 
ence  between  a  French  ro- 
turier  and  an  English  com- 
vioner,  100,  note.  Condi- 
tion of  the  clergy,  102.  Of 
the  classes  below  the  gen- 
try, 103,  104.  Assemblies 
of  the  barons,  117.  The 
cours  pleuieres,  ib.  Leg- 
islative and  judicial  as- 
semblies {see  Legislation, 
States  -  General, '  Justice). 
Decline  of  the  feudal  sys- 
tem, 132.  Its  causes :  In- 
crease of  the  domains  of 
the  crown,  135.  Rise  of 
the  chartered  towns,  136- 

138  {see  Towns).  Commu- 
tation of  military  service, 

139  {see  Military  Systems). 
Decay  of  feudal  principles, 
141.  Influence  of  feudal- 
ism upon  the  institutions 
of  England  and  France, 
143.  Civil  freedom  pro- 
moted by  it,  ib.  Its  tend- 
ency to  exalt  warlike  hab- 
its, ib.  Its  value  as  an 
element  of  discipline,  ib. 
And  as  producing  senti- 
ments of  loyalty,  145. 
Question  of  the  existence 
of  feudal  tenures  in  En- 
gland prior  to  the  Con- 
quest, 396-399.  Feudalism 
under  the  Normans,  413. 
Innovation  introduced  by 
William  L,  414.  Differ- 
ence between  the  feudal 
policy  of  England  and 
France,  415.  Tenure  of 
folcland  and  bockland, 
396.  Abuses  of  feudal 
rights,  515. 

Fiefs.  {See.  Benefices,  Feud- 
al System.) 

Field  'of  March  (or  Champ 
de  Mars),  origin  of  the  as- 
semblies so  termed,  113, 
Their  character,  ib. 

Field  Sports.     {See  Sports.) 

Fines,  extent  and  singu- 
larity of,  under  the  An- 
glo-Norman kings,  417, 
418. 

Fire-arms.  {See  Military 
Systems.) 


696 


FISCAL. 


INDEX. 


GERMANY. 


Fiscal  lauds.  (See  Benefi- 
ces.) 

Flanders,  3S.  Successful  re- 
sistauce  of  its  people,  ih. 
Their  commerce  with  En- 
gland, 46.  Their  rebellion 
against  Count  Louis,  51. 
Their  woollen  manufac- 
ture, 593,  594.  Their  set- 
tlement in  England,  595. 
Its  policy  relative  thereto, 
ib.    {See  Trade.) 

Florence  :  exclusion  of  the 
Ghibelins  from  offices  of 
trust,  189.  Dante's  simile 
relative  to  its  unsettled 
state,  ib.  Corporations  of 
the  citizens,  190.  Its  mag- 
istracy, ib.  Curious  mode 
of  election,  ib.  The  Con- 
siglio  di  popolo,  191.  De- 
fiance of  law  by  the  nobil- 
ity, 192.  Giano  del  la  Bel- 
la reduces  them  to  obe- 
dience, ib.  Kise  of  the 
plebeian  aristocracy,  193. 
Walter  de  Brieune  in- 
vested with  extraordinary 
powers,  ib.  His  tyranny 
and  excesses,  104.  His 
overthrow,  ib.  Singular 
ordinances  relative  to  the 
nobles,  ib.  Machinations 
of  the  Guelfs  and  persecn- 
tions  of  the  Ghibelins,  105, 
19G.  Prostration  of  the 
Guelfs,  198.  Insurrection 
of  the  Ciompi  and  eleva- 
tion of  Lando,  197.  His 
judicious  administration, 
198.  Restoration  of  the 
Guelfs,  ib.  Comparative 
security  of  the  Floren- 
tines, ib.  Their  territo- 
rial acquisitions,  revenue, 
population,  etc.,  ib.,  199. 
Pisa  bought  by  them,  201. 
Further  disqixietudes  in 
their  government,  229. 
Rise  of  the  Medici  (see 
Medici),  ib.  Florentine 
bankers  and  their  transac- 
tions, GOT. 

Polcland,  nature  of,  396. 

Foreigners  invested  with 
))ower  in  Italian  states, 
180,187,190,194,204. 

Forest  laws  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman  kings,  412.  Mit- 
igation of  their  severity, 
515.  Punishments  inflict- 
ed, 588. 

Fortestfue  (Sir  John),  on  the 
English  constitution,  517. 

France,  policy  observed  in 
the  territorial  division  of, 
8,  9.  Insignificance  of  its 
early  monarch?,  10,  and 
iMte.  Loss  of  the  English 
possessions  in,  27.  In- 
crease of  the  French  do- 
mains, 37,  38.     Its  state  at 


the  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities by  Edward  IIL,  44. 
Its  condition  after  the! 
battle  of  Poitiers,  47.  As- 
sembly of  the  States-Gen- 
eral, 47, 48.  Desolation  of 
the  kingdom  by  famine, 
48,  and  note.  Ravaged  by 
banditti,  ib.  The  Jacque- 
rie insurrection,  ib.  State 
of  the  country  under 
Charles  V.  and  VI.,  50-54. 
Under  Charles  VIL,  57-61. 
Consolidation  of  its  do- 
minions, 70.  Its  histori- 
ans, 75.  Its  progress  from 
weakness  to  strength,  108. 
Revenue  of  its  kings,  how 
raised,  111,  112.  Its  coin- 
age, 112.      Taxation,  111, 

112.  Designs  of  its  kings 
upon  Naples,  233. 

Franconia,  rise  of  the  house 
of,  272.   Its  extinction,  279. 

Frankfort,  council  of.  {See 
Council.) 

Franks,  territories  occupied 
by  the,  S,  and  7wte.  Their 
probable  origin,  71.  Their 
position  under  Pepin,  11. 
Character  of  their  ChurcJi 
dignitaries,  78.  Increase 
of  the  power  (,f  their 
kings,  S3.  SeiTd  'm  and 
villenage  amoi.g  them, 
105.  Extent  to  which  they 
participated  in  legislation, 

113.  Origin  of  the  Ripu- 
arian  Franks  and  Salian 
Franks,  79,  145.  Their 
numbers  during  the  reign 
of  Clovis,  SO. 

Fredegonde,  queen.  {See 
Chilperic.) 

Frederick  I.  (Frederick  Bar- 
barossa),  third  crusade  un- 
dertaken by,  85.  Com- 
mencement of  his  career 
in  Italy,  158.  He  besieL:es 
Milan,  ib.  Subjugation 
and  second  rise  of  its  citi- 
zens, 159.  Destrnction  of 
their  city,  ib.  League  of 
Lombardv    against    him, 

160.  His  defeat  and  flight, 

161.  Peace  of  Constance, 

162.  His  i)olicy  relative  to 
Sicily,  ib.  His  accession 
to  the  German  throne,  275. 
Henry  the  Lion's  ingrati- 
tude towards  him,  275. 
He  institutes  the  law  of 
defiance,  289.     His  forced  I 


Gregory  IX.,  168.  Result 
of  his  cru^;ade,  ib.  Hisr 
wars  with  the  Lombards, 
ib.  His  successes  and  de- 
feats, 171.  Animosity  of 
the  popes  towards  him,  ib. 
Sentence  of  the  Council  of 
Lyons  against  him,  172. 
His  accession  to  the  Ger- 
man  throne,  276.  His 
deposition,  277. 
Frederick  III.  of  Germany, 
character  of  the  reign  of, 

285.  His  significant  motto, 

286,  note.  Objects  of  his 
diets,  290.  He  betrays  the 
empire  to  the  pope,  380. 

Freemen,  103.  Consequence 
of  their  marriage  with 
serfs,  106. 

Fregosi  and  Adorni  factious, 
207. 


G. 

Gaudia  (duke  of),  claims  the 
throne  of  Ara^cm,  258. 

Gaul  invaded  by  Clovis,  8. 
Condition  of  its  Roman 
natives,  78.  Privileges  of 
the  "con viva  regi.^,"  ib. 
Retention  of  their  own 
laws  by  the  Romans,  ib. 
Their  cities,  ib.  Their 
subjection  to  taxation,  ib. 
Their  accession  to  high  of- 
fices, 82. 

Genoa,  early  history  of,  200. 
Her  wars  with  Pisa  and 
Venice,  ib.,  2Ul.  Victory 
of  her  fleet  over  Pisani, 
202.  Insolence  of  her  ad- 
miral towards  the  Vene- 
tian ambassadors,  203. 
Her  subsequent  reverses, 
204.  Surrender  of  her 
forces  to  Venice,  ib.  De- 
cline of  her  power,  205. 
Her  government  and  its 
various  changes,  ib.  Dis- 
sensions of  the  Guelfs  and 
Ghibelins,  ib.  Her  first 
doge,  ib.  Frequent  revo- 
lutions of  her  citizens,  206. 
The  Adorni  and  Fregosi 
facticms,  207.  Commercial 
dealiufrs  of  the  Genoese, 
599.  Their  position  in  Con- 
stantinople, 601.  Their 
manufactures,  ib.  Their 
money  transactions,  605, 
607.  State  security  taken 
by  their  bankers,  ib.,  608. 


submission  to  Pope  Adri-:Germany      conquered      by 


an  IV.,  346.  His  limita- 
tion on  the  acquisition  of  I 
property  by  the  clergy,  363. 
His  patronage  of  learning, 
434. 

—  II.,  position  of,  at  hisl 
accession,  167.  Cause  of  j 
his  excommuuication  by| 


Charlemagne,  13.  Passes 
away  frorn  his  family,  18. 
Its  Hungarian  assailants, 
22.  Political  state  of  an- 
cient Germany,  76.  Lands 
in  conquered  prorinces, 
how  divided,  77.  Custcms 
respecting  allodial  and  sal- 


GHENT, 


INDEX. 


6i)< 


ic  lands,  ib.,  78,  and  iiote^, 
Superior  position  of  its 
rulers  as  compared  with 
those  of  France,  107,  108. 
Its  position  at  the  death  of 
Charles  the  Fat,  270,  271. 
Election  of  its  emperors, 
in  whom  vested,  278,  280. 
Partitions  of  territory 
among  its  princes,  282, 
283.  Importance  of  its 
free  cities,  286.  Privileges 
conferred  on  them,  ib. 
Their  warfare  with  the 
nobles,  287.  The  sanctu- 
ary of  the  palisades,  ib. 
League  of  the  cities,  ib. 
Polity  of  the  principali- 
ties, 288.  Extent  of  the 
imperial  domains,  ib. 
Their  gradual  alienation 
by  the  emperors,  ib.  The 
Diet  of  Worms  and  its  re- 
sults, 290.  '  Limits  of  the 
German  empire  at  various 
periods,  291,  292.  Absence 
of  towns,  589.  Pre-emi 
uence  of  its  robber  chiefs, 
590.     (S'ffe  Diet,  Justice.) 

Ohent,  impregnability  of,  60 
Its  tradnig  eminence,  594 

Ghibelins,  origin  of  the 
word,  165.    {See  Guelfs.) 

Gloucester,  duke  of  (temp. 
Richardll.),  made  lord  ap- 
pellant, 470,  Reinstated 
lu  the  council,  471.  His 
animosity  towards  the 
Duke  of  Lancaster,  472 
His  seizure  by  the  king, 
474.  His  murder  and  pos- 
thumous attainder,  ib. 

Godfrey  of  Boulogne,  East- 
ern domains  assigned  to, 
.^4. 

Granada,  fertility  and  im- 
portance of,  268.  Its  una- 
vailinsr  resistance  to  Fer- 
dinand, 269. 

Gratian,  character  of  the 
Decretum  compiled  by, 
350. 

Greek  empire,  degeneracy 
of  the,  30H.  Revival  of  its 
power,  307.  Exploits  of 
celebrated  usurpers,  308. 
Results  of  the  ttrst  Cru- 
sade, 309.  Expeditions  of 
Alexius  Comnenus,  ib. 
Partition  of  the  empire, 

310.  Its  declining   state, 

311.  Lukewarmness  of 
the    Western    Cyiristians, 

312.  Pall  of  the  empire, 
314.  The  last  of  the  Cse 
ears,  ib.  {See  Constanti- 
nople,) 

Gregory  I,,  character  of,  328 
IV",  and  v.,  submission 

of,  to  imperial  authority, 

338. 
- —  VII.,  projection  of  the 


C  rusades  by,  32.  His  obi  i- 
gations  to  the  countess 
Matilda,  164.  His  ascend- 
ency over  the  clergy,  340.  | 
Elected  pope,  ib.  His  dif-j 
ferences  with,  and  excom-i 
munication  of,  Henry  IV^.j 
of  Geiraanj',  ib.,  341^  and 
iwte.  Rigorous  humilia-! 
tiou  imposed  by  him  on 
Henry,  341.  His  exile  andj 
death,  342.  His  declara- 
tion against  investitures,! 
344.  His  illimitable  am-! 
bition  and  arrogance,  ib. 
His  despotism  towards  ec- 
clesiastics, 345. 

Gregory  IX.,  excommunica- 
tions of  Frederick  II.  bv, 
168,  171.  His  further  de- 
signs against  Frederick, 
171.  Decretals  published! 
by  his  order,  350.  His  en- 
croachments on  the  En-| 
glish  Church,  356.  His  pre- 
text for  levyi)ig  contribu- 
tions, 358.  Immense  sum 
extorted  by  him  from  En- 
gland, ib. 

XI,  reinstates  the  papal 

court  at  Rome,  372. 

XII.  elected  and  de- 
posed, 373,  374. 

Griraoald,  usurpation  of  su- 
preme power  by,  10. 

Grostete  (Robert,  bishop  of 
Lincoln),  G79. 

Guaruieri  (duke),  systematic 
levy  of  contributions  by, 
215.  Success  of  his  ope- 
rations, ib. 

Guelfs  and  Ghibelins,  origin 
of  the  rival  factions  of, 
165.  Their  German  ante- 
cedents, 166.  Characteris- 
tics of  the  two  parties,  ib. 
Irrationality  of  the  dis- 
tinctions, ISO,  Expulsion 
of  the  Ghibelins  from 
Florence,  181,  Revival  of 
their  party,  183.  Origin 
of  the  name  Guelfs,  274. 
(See  Florence,  Genoa.) 

Gui  de  Lusignau,  canse  of 
his  flight  from  France,  33. 

Guienue,  seized  by  Philip 
IV.,  37.  Restored  to  En- 
gland, 38. 

Guiscard  (Robert),  territori- 
al conquests  of,  153.  He 
takes  Leo  IX.  prisoner,  ib. 
His  English  opponents  at 
Constantinople,  410. 

. — -  (Roger),  conquers  Sici» 
ly,  153.  Declared  king  by 
Innocent  II.,  ib.  He  shel- 
ters Gregory  VII.,  342,  He 
subjugates  Amaltl,  600.  He 
introduces  silk  manufac- 
tures at  Palermo,  601. 

Gunpowder.  (See  Military 
Systems.) 

30 


H. 


Hanse  towns,  confederacy 
of  the,  597. 

Haroun  Alraschid,  maguiti- 
cence  of  the  rule  of,  304. 

Hastings,  Lord  (temp.  Ed- 
ward IV.),  receives  bribe.s 
from  Louis  XL,  63. 

Havvkwood  (Sir  John),  mili- 
tary renown  acquired  by, 
215.  Gratitude  of  the  Flo- 
rentines towards  him,  216 
His  skill  as  a  general,  ib. 

Ilaxey  (Thomas),  surrender- 
ed by  the  Commons  to  the 
vengeance  of  Richard  II., 
473,489.  Important  princi- 
ples involved  in  his  cas-e, 
473,  rioted. 

Hem-y  II.  of  Castile  rebels 
against  Peter  the  Cruel, 
245-  His  defeat  and  sub- 
sequent victory,  24(5. 

III.  of  Castile  marries 

John  of  Gaunt's  daughter, 
246. 

IV.  of  Castile,  despica- 
ble character  of,  247.  De- 
posed by  a  conspiracv  of 
nobles,  248.  Futile  efforts 
of  his  daughter  to  succeed 
him,  ib.  Contests  after  his 
death,  ib. 

I.  of  England,  extor- 
tions on  the  Church  bv, 
358. 

II.  marries  the  repudi- 
ated wife  of  Louis  VII.,  26. 
Opposes  the  tyranny  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  361. 
Cause  of  his  dispute  with 
Thomas  a  Becket,  362. 

III.     allows     Italian 

priests  in  English  bene- 
fices, 356.  Abets  papal 
taxation  on  the  clergy, 
858.  Provi.<ion8  contained 
in  his  charter,  423.  Worth- 
lessness  of  his  character, 
424.  His  perjuries,  425. 
His  pecuniary  difficulties 
and  extortions,  426.  His 
expensive  foreign  projects, 
4'i7.  Demands  of  the  pope 
and  resolute  conductof  the 
barons,  427. 

IV.,  policy  and  views 

of,  towards  France,  50, 54. 
Circumstances  attending 
his  succession,  477.  Inva- 
lidity of  his  hereditary  ti- 
tle, 478.  His  tactics  to- 
wards the  Parliament,  479. 
Aid  granted  to  him  in  1400, 
480.  Policy  of  the  Com- 
mons towards  him,  4S1. 
Limitations  imposed  on 
him,  484.  He  comes  to 
terms  with  them,  485.  (See 
Bolingbroke.) 

— -  v.,  his  exorbitant  de* 


698 


HENRY. 


INDEX. 


raands  on  jDroposing  to 
raarx'y  Catherine  of  France, 
55.  Invasion  of  France  bj', 
ib.  His  negotiations  with 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  ib. 
His  marriage  and  death, 
5(5.  Life  subsidies  granted 
to  him,  431.  Improbability 
of  his  alleged  dissolute- 
ue'ss,  4SG.  His  claims  on 
popular  affection,  ib.  His 
clemency  to  the  Earl  of 
March,  541. 

Henry  VI.,  Parliamentary 
policy  during  the  minority 
of,4SG.  Unpopularity  of  his 
marriage,  4S7.  His  con- 
duct on  Suffolk's  impeach- 
ment, 48T,  488.  State  of 
the  kingdom  during  his 
minority,  534.  His  imbe- 
cility, ib.  Solemnities  ob- 
served in  nominatinj^  a  re- 
gency during  his  infancy, 
536,  537.  Provisions  in' 
consequence  of  his  mental 
infirmities,  537,  539. 

VII.,  conductofj  towards 

the  memory  of  his  prede- 
cessors, 544. 

I.,  the   Fowler,  elected 

emperor  of  Germany,  271. 

II.  of  Bavaria,  elected 

emperor  of  Germany,  272. 

III.  of  Germany,  im- 
perial influence  extended 
by,  272.  Instances  of  his 
exercise  of  absolute  pow- 
er, ib.,  289.  His  judicious 
nomination  of  popes,  339. 

IV.  of  Germany,  prima- 
ry cause  of  the  misfortunes 
of,  272.  Conspiracy  against 
him  during  his  infancy,273. 
His  excommunication  and 
its  consequences,  ib.  His 
contests  with  Gregorv 
VJI.,340,341.  His  humili- 
ation by  Gregory,  341.  The 
tables  turned,  342. 

V.  of  Germany,  acces- 
sion and  death  of,  273,  274. 
His  compromise  with  the 
popes,  342. 

VI.  of  Germany,  his  am- 
bitious project,  270.  His 
death,  ib. 

VII.  of  Germany,  ac- 
quires Bohemiaforhisson, 
283.  His  opposition  to  the 
papal  power,  8G8. 

the  Proud,  ancestry  and 

possessions  of,  274.  Con- 
sequences of  his  disobe- 
dience to  the  emperor's 
sumuKHis,  ib. 

" '—  the  Lion  restored  to  his 
birthright,  275.  Fatal  re- 
sults of  his  ingratitude,  ib. 

Hereditary  succession,  disre- 
garded by  the  Anglo-Sax- 
ons, 380.     Establishment 


of  the  principle  in  En 
gland,  434-436. 

Hereford  (earl  and  duke 
of).  See  Bohun,  Boling- 
broke.) 

Hildebrand.  (See  Gregory 
VIL) 

HonorinsIIL,  establishment 
of  mendicant  orders  by, 
352 

Hugh  Capet.    {See  Capet.) 

Hungarians,  ravages  in  Eu- 
rope by  the,  22.  Their  con- 
version to  Christianity, 
294.  Their  wars  with  the 
Turks,  295,  290. 

Hungary,  kings  and  chiefs 
of.  {See  Andrew,  Corvi- 
nus,  Hunniades,  Ladis- 
laus,  Louis  of  Hungary, 
Sigismund,  Uladislaus.) 

Hunniades  (John),  heroic 
career  of,  295.  His  death, 
290. 

Ilnss  (John),  burned  to 
death,  293.  Characteris- 
tics of  his  schism  and  his 
followers,  033. 


InnocentllL, persecution  of 
the  Albigeois  by,  28.  His 
ambitious  policy,  164.  His 
significant  production  of 
tlie  will  of  Henry  VI.  of 
Germany,  ib.  Position  of 
the  Italian  cities  towards 
him,  165.  Use  made  by 
him  of  his  cruardianship 
of  Frederick^.,  107.  In- 
crease oftemporalauthori- 
ty  under  him,  187.  His  ac- 
cession to  the  papal  chair, 
347.  Extravagance  of  his 
pretensions,  ib.  His  de- 
crees and  interdicts,  348. 
His  interference  with  the 
German  emperors,  I'fc.  His 
claim  tonominate  bishops, 
355.  He  levies  taxes  on  the 
clergy,  358.  His  pretext 
for  exercising  jurisdic- 
tion, 300.  He  exempts  the 
clergy  from  criminal  proc- 
ess, 361. 

IV.,  outrageous  pro- 
ceedings of,  against  Fred- 
erick II.,  172.  He  quarters 
Italian  priests  on  England, 
350. 

VI.  elected  pope,  373. 

Interdicts,  333.  {See  Papal 
Power.) 

Ireland  a  mediaeval  slave  de- 
pot, 592. 

Isabel  of  Bavaria  (queen  of 
Charles  VI.),  infamous 
conduct  of,  towards  her 
husband,  52.  Her  hatred 
of  Armagnac,  and  its  con- 
sequences, 54.      Joins   in 


the  treaty  with  Henry  V., 
56. 

Isabel  of  France,  marries 
Edward  II.  of  England,  41. 

Isabella  of  Castile.  (See 
Ferdinand  II.) 

Isidore,  publication  of  the 
False  Decretals  of,  .33(i. 
Theircharacterandohject, 
ib.  Authority  accorded  tu 
them  by  Gratiau,  350. 

Italy,  occupied  by  the  Ostro 
goths,  7.  Its  subjection  uy 
the  Lombards,  12.  Con- 
quests (<  f  Pepin  and  Charle- 
magne, 13.  Its  state  at  tl.e 
end  of  the  ninth  century, 
148.  Authorities  refeired 
to  for  its  history,  234,  note. 
Its  monarchs  Berenger  I. 
and  II.,  148, 149,  and  note. 
Assumption  of  power  by 
Otho  the  Great,  149.  Exe- 
cution of  Crescentius  bv 
Otho  III.,  150.  Election 
and  subsequent  troubles  of 
Ardoin,  ib.  Conditicm  cf 
its  people  under  Henry  II., 
151.  Causeofitssubjectiun 
to  German  princes,  ib.  Ac- 
cession of  Conrad  II.,  and 
consolidation  of  Germanic 
influences,  ib.  Its  Greek 
provinces,  152.  Incursions 
and  successes  of  the  Nor- 
mans, 152,  153.  Progress 
of  the  Lombard  cities.  {See 
Lombards.)  Accession  of 
PrederickBarbarossa,  157. 
{See  Frederick  I.)  Its  do- 
mestic manners,  008,  010. 


Jacqnerie,  insurrection  of 
the,  48. 

James  II.  of  Aragon,  re- 
nounces the  Sicilian 
crown,  222.  Undertakes 
the  conquest  of  Sardinia, 
222. 

Jane  of  Navarre,  treaty  en- 
tered into  on  behalf  i^f, 
40.  Betrayal  of  her  cause 
by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
41. 

Janizaries,  institution  of 
the,  315. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  burned 
to  death,  293. 

Jerusalem,  foundation  of 
the  kingdom  of,  34.  Its 
conquest  by  Saladin,  35. 
Restored  to  the  Christians 
by  the  Saracens,  36.  Title 
of  the  kings  of  Naples  to 
sovereignty  over  it,  16S. 

Jews,  wealth  amassed  and 
persecutions  endured  by 
the,  111.  Their  early  celeb 
rity  as  usurers,  ?ft.  Tl^t-r 
final       expulsion       from 


JOAN   OF  ARC. 


INDEX. 


LEARNING. 


699 


France,  ib.  Ordinances 
against  them,  118.  Exor- 
bitant rates  paid  by  them  in 
England,  417.  Their  mas- 
sacre by  the  Pastoureaux, 
580.  Their  liability  to 
maltreatment,  584.  Their 
early  money  dealings,  G05. 
Toleration  vouchsafed  to 
them,  ib.  Decline  of  their 
trade,  GOG. 

Joan  of  Arc,  character,  suc- 
cesses, and  fate  of,  58.  Her 
name  and  birthplace,  ib. 

Joanuaof  Naples,  married  to 
Andrew  of  Hungary,  223. 
Her  husband's  murder  im- 
puted to  her,  ib.  She  dies 
by  violence,  224. 

. II.  of  Naples,  and  her 

favorites,  22G.  Her  vacil- 
lation relative  to  her  suc- 
cessors, ib. 

John  I.  of  Castile,  accession 
of,  24G. 

- —  II.  of  Castile,  wise  gov- 
ernment by  the  guardians 
of,  during  his  infancy,  24G. 
He  disgraces  and  destroys 
his  favorite  Alvaro  de  Lu- 
na, 247.  His  death, -t'i;.  Its 
results,  248. 

(king  of  England),  cited 

before  Philip  Augustus,  27. 
Results  of  his  contumacy, 
ib.  Singular  fines  levied 
by  him,  418.  His  rapacity 
419.  Magna  Charta,  422, 
423. 

^ —  I.  of  France,  birth  and 
death  of,  41. 

^ —  II.  of  France,  character 
of,  45.  Submits  to  the 
peaceof  Bretigui,  49.  His 
response  to  the  citizens 
of  Kochelle,  ib. 

< of  Procida,  designs  of, 

on  Sicily,  221.  Results  of 
his  intrigues,  ib. 

■ VIII.  (pope),  asserts  a 

right  to  nominate  the  em- 
peror, 3M. 

. XXII.  (pope),  claims  su- 
premacy over  the  empire, 
.3G9.  His  dispute  with 
Louis  of  Bavaria,  ib.  He 
persecutes  the  Francis- 
cans, 370.  His  immense 
treasures,  .371. 

XXIII.  (pope),  convokes 

and  is  deposed  by  the 
Council  of  Constance,  374. 

Judith  of  Bavaria,  marries 
Louis  the  Debonair,  17. 

Julian's  betrayal  of  Spain  to 
the  Moors:  credibility  of 
the  legend,  237. 

Jury.     (See  Trial  by  Jury.) 

Justice,  administration  of, 
under  Charlemagne,  127. 
Various  kinds  of  feudal 
jurisdiction,  ib.    Judicial 


privileges  assigned  to  the 
owners  of  tiefs,  ib.  Trial 
by  combat,  128,  and  note. 
The  establishments  of  St. 
Louis,  129.  Limitations  on 
trial  by  combat,  130.  Roy- 
al tribunals  and  their  ju- 
risdiction, 131.  The  court 
of  peers,  ib.  The  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  and  its  law- 
yers, 131,  132.  Imperial 
chamberofthe  empire,  290. 
Its  functions  and  jurisdic- 
tion, ib.  The  six  circles 
and  the  Aulic  council,  291. 
Character  of  the  king's 
court  in  England,  429.  Im- 
portance of  the  office  of 
chief  justiciary,  ib.,  note. 
Functions  of  the  Ccjurt  of 
Exchequer,  430,  and  7iote. 
Institution  of  justices  of 
assize,  430,  431.  Estab- 
lishment of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  431.  Ori- 
gin of  the  common  law, 
432.  Difference  between 
the  Anglo-Saxon  and  An- 
glo-Norman systems  of 
jurisprudence,  432,  433. 
Complicated  character  of 
English  laws,  433.  Juris- 
diction of  the  king's  coun- 
cil, 508-513.  Rarity  of  in- 
stances of  illegal  condem- 
nation, 519. 


King's  council  (England),  ju- 
risdiction of  the,  508.  Its 
composition,  ib.  Its  en- 
croachments, 509.  Limit- 
ations on  its  power,  510. 
Remonstrances  of  the 
Commons,  ib.  Its  legis- 
lative status,  511.  Its  fre- 
quent junction  with  the 
Lords'  house,  511-513. 

Bench,  court  of,  430. 

Knighthood.  (&e Chivalry.) 

Knights  Templars,  institu- 
tion of  the  order  of,  35. 
Their  large  possessions 
and  rapacity,  ib.  Question 
of  their  guilt  and  inno- 
cence, 38.  Count  Purg- 
stall's  charges  against 
them,  39.  Raynouard's 
attempted  refutation,  40. 
Their  estates  and  remark- 
able influence  in  Spain, 
241. 

Koran,  characteristics  of  the, 
302. 


Laborers,  amount  of  Avages 
paid  to,  G24.  Degree  of 
comfort  thereby  indicated, 
ib. 


Ladislaus  of  Naples,  acces- 
sion of,  225.  Energy  dis- 
played by  him,  ib.  His 
death,  226. 

of  Hungary,  defeat  of 

the  partisans  of,  295.  His 
accession  to  the  throne,  ib. 
His  death,  29G. 

Lancaster  (duke  of),  ascen- 
dency of,  over  Edward 
HI.,  464.  His  ambitious 
projects,  4G5.  Cause  of  his 
.retirement  from  court,  4G7. 
His  quarrel  with  Arundel 
and  Gloucester,  472.  His 
marriage  with  Katherine 
Swineford,  ib.  His  ante- 
nuptial children  by  her, 
ib.  Conduct  of  Richar(? 
II.  on  his  death,  47G. 

Lancastrians  and  Yorkists, 
wars  of  the,  541,  542. 

Lando  (Michel  di),  cause  of 
the  elevation  of,  197.  His 
just  exercise  of  power,  197, 
198. 

Laufranc  (archbishop),  arro. 
gant  conduct  of,  409,  note. 

Languedoc,  spread  of  the 
Albigensian  heresy  in,  28, 
and  note.  Devastation  of 
the  country  by  the  papal 
forces,  28.  Its  cession  to 
the  crown  of  France,  29. 
Its  provincial  assembly, 
124. 

Latimer  (lord),  impeached 
by  the  Commons,  4G5. 

Latin  tongue,  corruption  of 
the,  5G5.     {See  Learning.) 

Laura  (Petrarch's  mistress). 
(See  Petrarch.) 

Laws,  characteristics  of,  at 
certain  periods,  145.  Study 
ofthe  civil  law,  648.  Faiv.e 
of  the  Bolognese  school, 
G49.  Unpopularity  of  the 
Roman  law  in  England, 
ib.     (See  Justice.) 

Learning,  causes  of  the  de- 
cline of,5G0.  Neglect  of  pa- 
gan literature  by  the  early 
Christians,  562.  Blighting 
influence  of  superstition 
and  asceticism,  563.  Cor- 
ruption of  the  Latin 
tongue,  5G5.  Rules  ob- 
served in  its  pronuncia- 
tion, 565, 5GG.  Errors  ofthe 
populace,  566.  Changes 
wrought  by  the  Italians 
and  French,  567.  Neglect 
of  quantity,  569.  Speci- 
mens of  verses  by  St. 
Augustin  and  others,  570, 
noteti.  Change  of  Latin 
into  Rcmiance,  571.  Ital- 
ian corruptions  ofthe  Lat- 
in, 572.  Effect  of  the  dis- 
use of  Latin,  ib.  Extent 
of  Charlemagne's  and  Al- 
fred's  learning,  573,  and 


700 


LEARNING. 


INDEX. 


LOTHAIUE. 


note.  Ignorance  of  the 
elergy,  573,  574.  Scarcity 
of  books,  574.  Erasure  of 
manuscripts,  ib.  Lack  of 
eminent  learned  men,  ib. 
John  ScotUB  and  Silvester 
II.,  570, 577,  and  note.  Pre- 
servative effects  of  relig- 
ion on  tlie  Latin  tongue, 
676,577.  Non-existence  of 
libraries,  577,  note.  Preva- 
lence of  superstitions,  577, 
678.  Revival  of  literature, 
64S.  Study  of  civil  law, 
648,  649.  Establishment 
of  public  schools,  650.  Ab- 
elard  and  the  University 
of  Paris,  651.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity and  its  founders, 
ib.  Rapid  increase  of  uni- 
versities, 652,  653.  Causes 
of  their  celebrity,  654. 
Spread  of  the  scholastic 
phil()s<)phy,  ib.  Its  emi- 
nent disputants,  655.  In- 
fluence of  Aristotle  and 
of  the  Church,  655,  656. 
Unprofitableness  of  the 
scholastic  discussions,  656. 
Labors  of  Roger  Bacon 
and  Albertus  Magnus,  657, 
658,  and  note.  Cultivation 
of  the  new  languages,  658. 
The  troubadours  and  their 
productions,  658-660.  Or- 
igin of  the  French  lan- 
guage, 660.  Early  French 
compositions,  660,  661. 
Norman  tales  and  roman- 
ces, 661.  The  Roman  de 
la  Rose,  662.  French  prose 
writings,  663.  Formation 
of  the  Spanish  language: 
the  Cid,  663,  664.  Rapid 
growth  of  the  Italian  lan- 
guage, 665.  Dante  and  his 
Divine  Comedy,  665,  666. 
Petrarch  and  his  writings, 
669-671.  Dawn  of  the  En- 
glish tongue,  671.  Laya- 
hion's  Brut,  ib.  Robert  of 
Gloucester  and  other  met- 
rical writers,  672.  Merit 
of  Piers  Plowman's  Vis- 
ion, ib.  Cause  of  the  slow 
f)rogress  of  the  English 
auguage,rZ>.  Earliest  com- 
positions in  English,  673. 
Pre-eminence  of  Chaucer, 
673,  674.  Revival  of  clas- 
sical learninsr,  675.  Emi- 
nent cultivators  thereof, 
ib.  Invention  of  paper, 
ib.,  676.  Rarity  and  dear- 
ness  of  books,  ib.  Re- 
covery of  classical  manu- 
scripts, 677.  Eminent  la- 
borers in  this  field,  ib., 
678.  Revival  of  the  study 
of  Greek,  679,  680.  State 
of  learning  in  Greece,  680. 
Services  rendered  by  the 


mediaeval  Greeks,  681. 
Opposition  to  the  study 
of  Greek  at  Oxford,  6S2. 
Fame  due  to  Eton  and 
Winchester  schools,  683. 
Invention  of  printing,  ib. 
First  books  issued  Yrom 
the  press,  ib.  First  print- 
ing-presses in  Italy,  684. 
Earliest  use  of  the  English 
language  in  public  docu- 
ments, 686. 

Legislation  under  the  early 
French  kings,  114.  The 
"Champ  de  Mars,"  or 
Field  of  March,  113.  Par- 
ticipation of  the  people 
in  legislative  proceedings. 
114.  Charlemagne's  leg- 
islative assemblies,  115. 
Cessation  of  national  as- 
semblies, 116.  Assemblies 
of  the  barons,  ib.  The 
cours  pleuicres,  117.  Lim- 
itation of  the  king's  pow- 
er, tb.  Ecclesiastical  coun- 
cils and  their  encroach- 
ments, lis.  Increase  of 
the  legislative  power  of 
the  crown,  and  its  causes, 
ib.  ■  Convocation  of  the 
States-General,  119.  Con- 
stitution of  the  Saxon  wi- 
tenagemot,  390.  Anglo- 
Norman  legislation,  419. 
(See  Justice,  Parliament, 
States-General.) 

Leo  III.  invests  Charle- 
magne with  the  imperial 
insignia,  14.  Charle- 
magne's authority  over 
him,  338. 

VIII.  confers  on  the  em- 
peror the  right  of  nomina- 
ting popes,  338. 

IX.  lends  his  army  in 

person,  153.  Devotion  of 
his  conquerors  towards 
him,  ib.  (See  Papal  Pow- 
er.) 

Leon,  foundation  of  the 
kingdom  of,  238.  Its  king 
killed  in  battle,  ib.  Its 
union  with  Castile,  242. 

Leopold  of  Austria  defeated 
by  the  Swiss,  298. 

Libraries  in  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries, 
676. 

Literature.     (See  Learning.) 

Lollards,  rise  of  the,  6.32. 
Their  resemblance  to  thej 
Puritans,  ib.  \ 

Lombards,  original  settle^ 
ment  of  the,'^12.  Exten- 
sion of  their  dominions, 
ib.  Defeated  by  Pepin  and 
Charlemagne,  13.  Their 
mode  of  legislating,  15. 
Progress  of  their  "cities, 
154,  155.  Frequency  of 
wars  between  them,  155. 


Acquisition  of  territories 
by  them,  156.  Democratic 
tyranny  of  the  larger  cit- 
ies, 157.  Destruction  of 
Lodi  by  the  Milanese,  ib. 
Courage  of  the  citizens  of 
Como,  ib.  Exclusion  of 
royal  palaces  from  Lom- 
bard cities,  ib.  Siege  and 
subjugation  of  Milan  by 
Frederick  Barbarossa,159. 
Efforts  of  the  Milanese  to 
regain  their  freedom,  ib. 
Destruction  of  Milan,  160. 
League  of  the  Lombard  ci  t- 
ies,  ib.  Defeat  and  flight 
of  Barbarossa,  161.  Peace 
of  Constance,  162.  Their 
wars  with  Frederick  II., 
169.  Party  nature  of  these 
struggles,  169.  Arrange- 
ment of  the  Lombard  cit- 
ies, 169,  170.  Checkered 
results  of  their  conflicts 
with  Frederick,  170.  Their 
papal  supporters,  171. 
Causes  of  their  success, 
172.  Their  means  of  de- 
fense, 173.  Internal  gov- 
ernment of  their  cities, 
175.  Revival  of  the  office 
of  podestii,  176.  Position 
of  aristocratic  offenders 
among  them,  175.  Duties 
and  disabilities  of  the  po- 
destii, 176.  Their  internal 
dissensions,  176,  177.  Ar- 
tisan clubs  and  aristocrat- 
ic fortifications,  177.  Vin- 
dictiveness  of  conquerors 
of  all  classes,  ib.  Inflam- 
matory nature  of  private 
quarrels,  and  their  disas- 
trous results,  178.  Moral 
deducible  from  the  fall 
of  the  Lombard  republics, 
182.  The  Visconti  in  Lom- 
bardy,  212,    (S'ee  Visconti.) 

London,  municipal  rights  of, 
546. 

,  early   election   of  the 

magistrates  of,  449,  Its 
municipal  divisions,  546, 
Its  first  lord  mayor,  ib. 
Not  exclusively  a  city  of 
traders,  547. 

Longchamp  (William,  bish- 
op  of  Ely),  constitutional 
precedent  established  by 
the  banishment  of,  421. 

Loria  (Roger  di),  naval  suc- 
cesses of,  222. 

Lothaire  (son  of  Louis  the 
Debonair),  associated  in 
power  with  his  father,  16. 
His  jealousy  of  his  half- 
brother,  17.  Territories 
allotted  to  him,  17,  and 
note.  Cause  of  his  excom- 
munication, 331. 

(duke  of  Saxony),  elect- 
ed emperor  of  Germany, 


LOUIS 


INDEX. 


MILITARY. 


701 


274.  Failure  of  bis  scheme 
of  succession,  ife.  The  pic- 
ture aud  couplet  relative 
to  his  coronation,  346. 
Louis  of  Bavaria,  emperor 
of  Germany,  283.  His  con- 
test with  the  popes,  368. 
He  aids  the  Visconti,  ib. 
He  dies  unabsolved,  369. 

I.  (the  Debonair)  suc- 
ceeds Charlemagne,  16. 
His  character,  ib.  Asso- 
ciates his  sons  in  power 
with  him,  ib.  His  second 
marriage  and  its  conse- 
qtaences,  17.  Enmity  of 
the  clergy  against  him,  ib. 
His  attempted  deposition 
by  the  bishops,  325. 

• of  Germany  (son  of  the 

above)  made  king  of  Ba- 
varia by  his  father,  16. 
Share  of  the  empire  allot- 
ted to  him  on  h'«  <'«ther's 
death,  17.  | 

II.   (the    Stammerer), 

conditions  exacted  by  the 
French  nobles  from,  19. 

v.,  i;). 

VI.,  state  of  France  at 

the  accession  of,  26.  His 
contests  with  the  Norman 
princes,  i ). 

VIL,  untoward  mar- 
riage of,  and  its  conse- 
quences, 26.  Confirms  the 
rights  of  the  clergy,  2T. 
Joins  in  the  second  cru- 
sade, 34.  His  submissive- 
ness  to  Rome,  362. 

VIII.,  opposes  Raymond 

of  Toulouse,  29. 

IX.  (Saint  Louis),  acces- 
sion of,  29.  Revolt  of  the 
barons  against  him,  ib. 
Excellences  of  his  charac- 
ter, his  rare  probity,  etc., 
29,  30.  His  superstition, 
31.  He  embarks  in  the 
Crusades,  ib.  Calamitous 
results  of  his  first  crusade, 
36.  His  seccmd  expedition 
and  death,  ib.  His  Estab- 
lishments, 129.  His  open- 
air  administrations  of  jus- 
tice, ib.  The  Pragmatic 
Sanction  and  its  provis- 
ions, 357.  His  restraint 
on  the  Church  holding 
land,  363. 

■ X.  (Louis  Hutin),  acces 

sion  and  death  of,  40.  He 
renounces  certain  taxes, 
120. 

XL,  accession    of,  61, 

His  character  and  policy, 
61.  Bestows  Normandy 
on  his  brother  as  an  ap 
panage,  62.  And  then  de 
priveshimofit,  63.  Grants 
pensions  to  the  English 
king   and  his  nobles,  ib. 


His  contests  with  Charles  piracy,  603,  604.  Law  of 
of  Burgundy,  65.  And  reprisals,  604. 
with  Mary  of  Burgundy,  Marriages,  capricious  ae- 
67.  His  last  sickness  and  crees  of  the  popes  con- 
its  terrors,  68.  His  belief  cerning,  354.  Dispensa- 
in  relics,  ib.  Court  boast  tions  and  their  abuses,  ib. 
relative  to  his  encroach-  Martin  (prince  of  Aragon) 
ments,  125.      He    lepea^.sl     marries  the  queen  of  Sici- 


the   Pragmatic    SanctiwU, 
381.     His  people   oppose 
the  repeal,  ib. 
Louis  XII.     {See  Orleans.) 
of  Hungary  invades  Na- 
ples, 224. 

of  Anjou   adopted  by 

Joanna    of    Naples,    224. 
His  death,  225. 

II.  of  Anjou  and  Naples, 

accession  of,  225.  Subdued 
by  Ladislaus,  ib. 

III.  of  Anjou  and  Na- 

fles  called  in  by  Joanna 
L,226.     His  death,  ?6. 
Lucius  II.  (pope),  cause  of 

the  death  of,  187. 
Lnna  (Alvaro  de),  influence 


exercised    by,  247. 


Dis- 


graced and  beheaded,  ib. 
(Antonio  de)  assassin- 
ates the  Archbishop  of  Sa- 
ragossa,  259. 

—  (Frederick,  count  of), 
clainis  the  throne  of  Ara- 
gon, 258. 

—  (Peter  de).  (See  Bene- 
dict XIII.) 

M. 

Magna  Charta,  its  principal 
articles,  422.    Text  of,  552. 

Mandats  aud  their  abuses, 
356. 

Manfred,  brave  retention  of 
the  imperial  tliroue  bv 
172.    Killed,  ISO. 

Maniclieans.  {See  Religious 
Sects.) 

Manners.  {See  Chivalrj',  Do- 
mestic Life,  Learning,  Su- 
perstition.) 

Manufactures.     {See  Trade.) 

Manuscripts.  {See  Learn- 
ing.) 

Marcel  (magistrate  of  Paris), 
why  assassinated,  122. 

March  (Roger,  earl  of),  op- 
poses the  Duke  of  Lancas- 
ter, 465.  His  significant 
policy,  466.  His  exclusion 
from  the  throne,  478,  540 
Clemency  of  Henry  V.  to- 
wards him,  541 

Margaret  of  Anjou  married 
to  Henry  VI.,  4S7.  Con 
sequences  of  her  impolicy, 
541,  542.    {See  Henry  VI.) 

Mariner's  compass,  tradition 
of  the  invention  of  the 
602. 

Maritime  laws  of  early 
times,  602.    Prevalence  of 


ly,  226.     His  death,  ib. 

(king  of  Aragon)  suc- 
ceeds to  his  son's  Sicilian 
dominions,  226.  Contests 
for  the  Aragonese  throne 
at  his  death,  258,  259. 

- —  V.  elected  poi)e,  376. 
He  convokes  the  Council 
of  Pavin,  ib.  His  concor- 
dat with  England,  380. 
Powers  reserved  to  him 
by  the  German  concor- 
dats, ib.  Rejection  of  his 
concordat  by  France,  381. 

Mary  of  Burgundy.  {See 
Burgundy.) 

MathiasCorvinus.  {SeeCor- 
vinus.) 

Matilda  (countess)  be- 
queaths her  dominions  to 
Rome,  164. 

Maximilian  of  Austria  mar- 
ries Mary  of  Burgundy,  67. 
Becomes  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans, 286.  Ascends  the 
German  throne,  289.  In- 
stitutes the  Aulic  council, 
291. 

Mayor  of  the  palace,  impor- 
tance of  the  office  of,  10, 72, 
74.  {See  Charles  Martel, 
Pepin,  Heristal,  Ebroin.) 

Medici,  rise  of  the  family, 
229.  Character  of  Giovan- 
ni, ib.  Banishment  and 
recall  of  Cosmo,  230.  His 
death:  his  son  Piero,  231. 
Death  of  Julian  :  popular- 
ity aud  princely  career  of 
Lorenzo,  232.  His  bank- 
ruptcy repaired  at  the  cost 
of  the  state,  ib.  His  title 
to  esteem,  ib. 

Mendicant  friars,  first  ap- 
pearance of  the,  352.  Suc- 
cess of  their  preachings, 
ib.  Their  extensive  priv- 
ileges, 3.53. 

Mercenary  troops.  {See  Mil^ 
itary  Systems.) 

Merovingian  dynasty,  char, 
acter  of  the  times  during 
which  it  ruled,  8,  71,  72. 

Middle  Ages,  period  com. 
prised  under  the  term,  559. 

Milan,  its  siege  bv  Fredericlj 
L ,  158.  Destruction  of  the 
city,  159.  It«  statistics  in 
the  13th  century,  17.3.  Its 
public  works,  ?7>.  Creation 
of  the  duchy  of  Milan,  184. 
{See  Lombards.) 

Military  systems  of  the  Mid. 
die  Ages,  character  of  th« 


702 


MOGULS. 


INDEX. 


OSTROGOTHS, 


English  troops  at  Crecy, 
Poitiers,  and  Aziucourt, 
46,  55.  Disadvautages  of 
teudal  obligations  in  long 
campaigns,  139.  Substitu- 
tion of  mercenaries,  ib. 
Canute's  soldiers,  and  his 
institutes  respecting  them, 
140.  The  mercenaries  of 
the  Anglo-Norman  kings, 
ib.  Advantages  of  merce- 
nary troops,  ib.  High  rate 
of  pay  to  English  soldiers, 
57,  140,  and  iwte.  Estab- 
lishment of  a  regular  force 
by  Charles  VII.,  141.  Mil-j 
iiury  resources  of  the  Ital-! 
iau  cities,  213,  Their  for- 
eign auxiliaries,  214.  Arms 
and  armor,  ?6.  Companies 
of  adventurers:  Guai'nie- 
ri's  systematic  levies,  215. 
Sir  John  Hawk  wood's  ca- 
reer {see  Hawkwood).  Em- 
inent Italian  generals  and 
their  services,  21C,  217. 
Probable  first  instance  of 
half- pay,  ib.  Small  loss 
of  life  in  mediteval  war- 
fare, 218.  Long  bows  and 
cross-bows,  ib.  Advan- 
tages and  disadvantages 
of  armor,  ib.  Introduction 
of  gunpowder,  219.  Clum- 
siness of  early  artillery  and 
fire-arms,  ib.  Increased 
efliciency  of  infantry,  220. 
Moguls,  ravages  of  the,  311, 
312.  Their  exploits  under 
Timur,  313. 
Mohammed,  advent  of,  302. 
State  of  Arabia  at  the  time, 
ih.  Martial  spirit  of  his 
system,  ib.  Career  of  his 
followers.  {See  Abbassi- 
des.  Moors,  Ottomans,  Sar- 
acens, Turks.) 
II.  attacks  the  Vene- 
tians, 227,  Failure  of  his 
assault  upon  Belgrade, 
296.  He  captures  Constan- 
tinople, 314.  Unrealized 
schemes  for  his  expulsion, 
ib.  His  European  success- 
es and  reverses,  315. 
Monasteries,  cultivation  of 
waste  lands  by,  31 R.  Less 
pure  sources  of  income, 
ib.,  319.  Their  exemption 
from  episcopal  control, 
331,  Preservation  of  books 
by  them,  576,  Extent  of 
their  charities,  583,  Vices 
of  their  inmates,  rfc.  Their 
anti- social  influence,  584. 
Their  agricultural  exer-l  dom  of,  238 
tions,  618,  Neustria,  exrent  of  the  do- 
Money,  high  interest  paid!  minions  so  termed,  10, 
for,  605.  Establishment  of  I 
paper  credit,  606.  Banks  of  I 
Italy,  607,  Securities  fori 
publicloaus,608.  Changes! 


in  the  value  of  monej%  622, 
623.  Comparative  table 
value,  623,  7iote.  {See  Coin- 
ing.) 

Montfort  (Simon  de)  heads 
the  crusade  against  the 
Albigeois,  28, 

(Simon  de,  earl  of  Lei- 
cester), his  writs  of  sum- 
mons to  the  towns  of  En-i 
gland,  462.  I 

Moors ,  successes  of  the  Span- ' 
iards  against  the,  237.  Vic- 
tories of  Alfonso  VI.,  239. 
Cordova  taken  from  them, 
242,  Cause  of  their  uou-| 
expulsion  from  Spain,  243. 

Mowbray  (Earl  of  Notting- 
ham andDuke  of  Norfolk), 
made  lord  appellant,  470, 
He  espouses  the  king's  in- 
terest, 472.  His  quarrel 
with  Bolingbroke  and  its 
results,  476. 

Municipal  institutions,  146, 
Municipal  rights  of  Lon- 
don, 546.  Italian  munici- 
palities, 153  {see  Lom- 
bards), Free  cities  of  Ger- 
many. (.See  Germany,  Par- 
liament, Towns,) 

Murder,  gradation  of  fines 
levied  as  punishment  for, 
among  the  Franks,  78. 
Rates  of  compensation 
among  the  Anglo-Saxons, 


N, 

Naples  subjugated  by  Roger 
Guiscard,  153.  Contests  for 
its  crown  between  Man- 
fred and  Charles  of  Anjou, 
ISO.  Murder  of  the  right- 
ful heir  by  Charles,'  ib. 
Schemes  relative  to  the 
severance  of  Sicily,  221 
(see  Sicily).  Accession  of 
Robert,  223,  Queen  Joan- 
na and  her  murdered  hus- 
band, ib.  Louis  of  Anion 
and  Charles  III.,  224,  225. 
Reign  of  Louis  IL,  225. 
Ambition  of  the  young 
King  Ladislans,  ib.  His 
death,  226.  Joanna  II., 
her  vices  and  her  favorites, 
ib.  Career  of  Alfonso,  ib., 
227  {see  Alfonso  V.),  In- 
vasion of  the  kingdom  by 
John  of  Calabria,  228.  His 
failure,  ib.  Ferdinand  se- 
cured on  the  throne,  ib. 
His  odious  rule,  233. 

Navarre,  origin  of  the  king- 


note.  Its  peculiar  features 
as  distinguished  from  Aus- 
trasin,  ib.  When  first 
erected  into  a  kingdom, 


9.  Destruction  of  its  in. 
dependence,  10. 

Nevil  (lord)  impeached  by 
the  Commons,  465. 

Nicolas  IT.  (pope),  innova- 
tions iiitroduced  by,  339. 

Nobility,  origin  of  in  France, 
S3,  98.  Privileges  confer- 
red on  the  class,  100.  Con- 
sequences of  marriage  with 
plebeians,  ib.  Letters  of 
nobility,  when  first  grant- 
ed, ift.  Diff"erent  orders,  and 
rights  belonging  to  each, 
101.  Their  riglit  to  coin 
money,  109.  To  levy  pri- 
vate war,  110.  Exce&ses 
of  the  Florentine  nobili- 
ty, 192.  Turbulence  of  the 
Spanish  nobles,  245.  Con- 
tests of  the  German  nobles 
with  the  cities,  287.  Rural 
nobility,  how  supported, 
ib.  Their  career,  how 
checked,  2S9.  Source  of 
the  influence  of  the  En- 
glish nobility,  524.  Their 
])atrouage  of  robbers,  526. 
German  robber  lords,  590. 
Legislative  province  of  the 
English  nobility.  (S'ecPar- 
liament.) 

Norfolk  (earl  and  duke  of). 
{See  Bigod,  Mowbray.) 

Normans,  piratical  pursuits 
of  the,  22.  Their  plan  of 
warfare,  ib.  Sufferings  of 
the  clergy  at  their  hands, 
23.  Conversion  and  settle- 
ment in  France,  ib.  Their 
incursions  into  Italy,  152. 
Successes  of  their  leaders, 
153.  Their  invasion  of 
England.     {See  England.) 

Nottingham  (earl  of).  {Se« 
Mowbray.) 


Oaths,  papal  dispensations 
from,  355. 

Odo  (archbishop).  (SecDuu- 
stan.) 

Oleron,  laws  of,  603. 

Ordeals,  nature  of,  578. 

Orleans  (Louis,  duke  of),  al-- 
leged  amours  of,  with 
Queen  Isabel,  52,  note. 
Loses  his  popularity,  53 
His  assassination  and  its 
probable  causes,  r6.  Com- 
motions which  ensued,  ib. 

(Louis,  duke  of,  after- 
wards Louis  XII.),  claims 
the  regency  during  the 
minority  of  "Charles  VIII., 
69.  Instigates  the  convo- 
cation of  the  States-Gei> 
eral,  125. 

Ostrogoths,  occupation  of 
Italy  by  the,  7.  Annihila- 
tion of  their  dominion,  14 


othm4.:t. 


INDEX. 


PARLIAMENT,       703 


Othman.     (See  Ottomans.) 

Otho  I.  (the  Great),  beuelits 
couferred  upon  Germany 
by,  271. 

II.  and  III.,  chosen  em 

perors  of  Germany,  '271. 

IV.  aided  by  the  Milan 

ese,  1G6.  Enmity  of  the 
pope  towards  him,  ib.  Its 
consequences,  276.  Ob- 
tains a  dispensation  from 
Innocent  III.,  354.  Rijjhts 
surrendered  by  him  to  In 
uocent,  355. 

Ottoman  dynasty,  founded 
by  Othman,  311.  Their 
European  conquests,  ib. 
Their  reverses  and  revival 
under  Amurath,  312.  They 
capture  Constantinople, 
314.  European  alarm  ex- 
cited thereby,  ib.  Institu- 
tion of  the  Janizaries,  315. 
Suspension  of  Ottoman 
conquests,  ib. 

Oxford  University.  {See 
Learning.) 

P. 

Palermo,  foundation  of  silk 
manufacture  in,  GOl. 

Palestine,  commercial  value 
of  the  settlements  in,  COO. 
{See  Crusades.) 

Pandects,  discovery  of  the, 
G4S. 

Papal  power,  first  germ  of 
the,  327.  Preceded  by  the 
patriarchate,  ib.  Charac- 
ter of  Gregory  I.,  329.  His 
wary  proceedings,  ?6.  Con- 
vocation of  the  synod  of 
Frankfort    by    Boniface, 

329,  330.  Effect  produced 
by    the    False    Decretals, 

330.  Papal  encroachments 
on  the  hierarch}',  331.  Ex- 
emption of  monasteries 
from  episcopal  control,  ib. 
Kings  compelled  to  suc- 
cumb to  papal  supremacy, 
ib.  Origin  of  excommuni- 
cations, 332.  Helpless  po- 
sition of  excommunicated 
persons,??).  Interdicts  and 
their  disastrous  conse- 
quences, 333.  Further  in- 
terference with  regal  rights 
by  the  popes,  ib.  Scandal- 
ous state  of  the  papacy  in 
the  tenth  century,  334. 
Leo  IX.'s  reformatory  ef- 
forts, 330,  337.  Preroga- 
tives of  the  emperors  rel- 
ative to  papal  elections, 
33S.  Innovations  of  Pope 
Nicolas  II.,. 339.  Election 
and  death  of  Alexander  II., 
840,  .341.  Career  of  Grego- 
ry VII.  {ses  Gregory  VII.). 
Contests  of  his  successors 
^ith  Henry  IV.  and  V.  of 


Germany,  342.      Calixtus 

II.  and  the  concordat  of 
Worms,  ib.  Papal  opposi- 
tion to  investitures,  343. 
Abrogation  of  ecclesiastic- 
al independence,  345.  Pa- 
pal legates  and  their  func- 
tions, 345, 346.    Alexander 

III.  and  Thomas  ii  Becket, 
347.  Career  of  Innocent 
III.  {see  Innocent  III.). 
Height  of  the  papal  power 
in  the  13th  century,  349. 
Promulgation  of  the  canon 
law,  350.  Its  analogy  to 
the  Justinian  code,  351. 
Establishment  of  the  men- 
dicant friars,  352.  Dispen- 
sations ('f  marriage,  354. 
Dispensations  from  oaths, 

355.  Encroachments  on 
episcopal  elections,  ib.  ; 
and  on  rights  of  patronage, 

356.  Mandats  and  their 
abuse,  ib.  The  Pragmatic! 
Sanction,  357.  Pretexts! 
for  taxing  the  clergy,  358.  i 
Clericiil  disaffection  to- 
wards the  popes,  359. 
Progress  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  ib.,  360.  Op- 
position thereto  by  En- 
gland, 361.  Careerof  Bon- 
iface VIII.  {see  Boniface 
VIIL).  Decline  of  the  pa- 
pacy, 367.  Removal  of  the 
papal  court  to   Avignon, 

368.  Its  contests  with  Lou- 
is of  Bavaria,  ?&.  Growing 
resistance   to   the    popes, | 

369.  Kapacity  of  the  Avi-j 
gnon  popes,  370.  Partici- 
pation of  the  French  kings 
in  the  plunder,  371,  Inde- 
pendent conduct  of  En- 
gland, ib.  Return  of  the! 
popes  to  Rome,  372.  Con- 
test between  Urban  VI. 
and  Clement  VIL,  373. 
The  two  papal  courts, 
ib.  Three  contemporary 
popes,  ib.  Proceedings  at 
the  Councils  of  Pisa,  Con 
stance,  and  Basle,  374,  376 
{see  Councils).  Reflections 
pertinent  thereto,  37S-3S0. 
Effects  of  the  concordat 
of Aschaffenburg,  380.  Re- 
straints thereon  in  France, 
381.  Further  limits  on 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
882.  Decline  of  papal  in- 
fluence in  Italy,  and  its 
causes,  ib.  {See  Church, 
Clergy,  Monasteries.) 

Paper  from  linen,  when  in- 
vented, 676. 

Paris,  seditions  at,  51.  De- 
feat and  harsh  treatment 
of  its  citizens,  ib.  {See 
Parliament  of  Paris.) 

Parliament  of  England,  con 


stituent  elements  of  the, 
443.  Right  by  which  the 
spiritual  peers  sit,  444. 
Earls  and  barons,  ib.  Ten- 
ants -  in  -  chief  in  Parlia- 
ment, 445.  First  germ  of 
representation,  446,  447. 
County  representation, 
447.  Parliaments  of  Henry 
III.,  ib.  Knights  of  the 
shire,  how  elected,  448. 
First  summoning  of  towns 
to  Parliament,  452.  The 
Parliament  of  Acton  Bur- 
nell,  455.  Cause  of  sum- 
moning deputies  from  bor- 
ough8,453.  Division  of  Par- 
liament into  two  houses, 
454.  I'roper  business  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  455. 
Complaint  of  the  Com- 
mons in  1309,  456.  Rights 
established  by  them,  457. 
Their  struggle  with  the 
king  relative  to  taxation, 
456-461.  Concurrence  of 
both  Houses  in  legislation 
made  necessary,  460.  Dis- 
tinction between  statutes 
and  ordinances,  461-464, 
Interference  of  Parliament 
in  matters  of  war  and 
peace,  464,  Right  to  in- 
quire into  public  abuses, 
ib.  Increase  of  the  power 
of  the  Commons  under 
Richard  II.,  467,  Their 
protests  against  lavi.sh  ex- 
penditure, 469.  Their 
charges  against  the  Earl 
of  Suffolk,  468.  Submis- 
sion of  Richard  to  their 
demands,  470.  They  come 
to  an  understanding  with 
him,  471.  They  fall  under 
his  displeasure,  472,  473, 
Servility  of  their  submis- 
sion, 473.  Necessity  for  de- 
posing Richard,  470.  Cau- 
tious proceedings  of  Par- 
liament thereupon,  478, 
479.  Rights  acquired  by 
the  Commons  during  his 
reign,  479.  Their  consti- 
tutional advances  under 
the  house  of  Lancaster,  ib. 
Their  exclusive  right  of 
taxation,  480.  Their  right 
of  granting  and  control- 
ling supplies,  ib.  And  to 
make  same  depend  on  re- 
dress of  grievances,  481 
Establishment  of  their  leg- 
islative rights,  481,  482, 
Falsification  of  their  in- 
tentions, how  accomplish- 
ed, 482.  Introduction  of 
bills,  public  and  private, 
484.  Parliamentary  inter- 
ference with  royal  expend- 
iture, ib.  Limitations  laid 
on  Henry  I  v.,  484, 485.    Re- 


ro4 


PARLIAMENT. 


INDEX. 


PREROGATIVE. 


establishment  of  a  good'Peers  of  England.    (SeeNo- 
understanding  with  him, I     bility,  Paniameut.) 
486.      Harmony    betweeulPeers    of    France,    original 
Henry  V.  and  the  Parlia-|     constitution  of  the,  131. 
ment,  ib.     Parliamentary! People,    their    lawlessness, 


advice  songht  on  public 
affairs,  ib.  Their  right  to 
impeach  ministers 
Henry  VI.'s  mode  of  evad- 
ing Suffolk's  impeach- 
ment, ib.  Assertion  of  the 
privilege  of  Parliament,  ib. 
Principles  involved  in 
Thorp's  case,  4S8,  489.  In- 
fringements on  liberty  of 
speech,  489.  Privilege  of 
originating  money-bills, 
490,  491.  The  three  es- 
tates of  the  realm,  491, 
note.  Course  of  proceed- 
ings on  other  bills,  492. 
County  franchise,  in  whom 
invested,  ib.  Eepresenta- 
tion  of  towns,  493.  Par- 
tial omission  of  boroughs, 
493, 494,  and  notes.  Reluc- 
tance of  boroughs  to  send 
members,  495.  In  whom 
the  right  to  vote  was  vest- 
ed, 496,  and  iiote.  Status^ 
of  the  members,  ib.  Ex 
elusion  of  lawyers  from 
the  Commons'  House,  ib. 
Members  originally  com- 
pelled to  be  residents,  497. 
Election  irregularities  and 
crown  interference,  ib. 
Constitution  of  tiie  House 
of  Lords,  498.  Qualiflca 
tion  of  spiritual  barons,  ib. 
Barons  by  writ,  499,  500 
Distinction  between  bar 
ons  and  bannerets,  500. 
Creation  of  peers  by  stat 
ute  and  by  patent,  502 
Clergy  summoned  to  send 
representatives,  503-50" 
Remonstrances  of  the 
Commons  against  the  en- 
croachments of  the  Coun- 
cil, 509,  510. 

Parliament  of  Paris,  consti- 
tution and  sittings  of  the, 
131.  Progress  of  its  juris- 
diction, 133.  Enregistra- 
tion  of  royal  decrees  con- 
fided to  it,  133.  Its  spirit- 
ed conduct  in  reference 
thereto,  ib.  Interference 
of  the  kings  with  its  priv- 
ileges, ib.  Establishment 
of  its  independence  by 
Louis  XL,  134.  Its  claims 
on  the  respect  of  posterity, 
ib. 

Paschal  II.  (pope),  opposi- 
tion to  investitures  by, 
348. 

Pastoureaux.  (See  Super- 
stitions.) 

Paulicians.  (See  Religiouc 
Sects.) 


585.      Their   general    im- 
morality, ib. 
Pepin   Heristal,  usurpation 
of  supremacy  by,  10.     He 


qui  si  ti  ons,  ib.  And  siege 
of  Lyons,  ib.  He  taxes 
the  clergy,  304.  He  arrests 
the  pope's  legate,  365.  He 
burns  the  pope's  bulls, 
300.  Retaliation  of  the 
pope,  ib.  His  stratagem 
against  the  pope,  307.  Its 
consequences,  ib. 


restores  the  national  couu- Philip   V.    (the    Long),   as- 


cil,  114 

Pepin  (son  of  Charles  Mar- 
tel),  deposes  ChilpericIIL, 
12.  Ascends  the  throne, 
ib.  Subdues  the  Lom- 
bards, 13.  His  legislative 
assemblies,  114. 

Perjury,  prevalence  of,  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  580. 

Perrers  (Alice).  (See  Ed- 
ward IIL) 

Peter  the  Cruel,  succession 
of,  crimes  perpetrated  by, 
245.  His  discomfiture  and 
death,  240. 

Peter  the  Hermit.  (See  Cru- 
sades.) 

Peter  II.  of  Aragon  surren 
ders  his  kingdom  to  the 
pope,  350,  367 

III.  of  Aragon  assists 

John  of  Procida,  221.  He 
accepts  the  crown  of  Sici- 
ly, 222. 

IV.  of  Aragon,  charac- 
ter and  reign  of,  257.  Con- 
sequences of  his  attempts 
to  settle  the  crown  on  his 
daughter,  258. 

Petrarch,  his  personal  char- 
acteristics, 609,  670.  His 
great  popularity,  670.  His 
passion  for  Laura,  ib. 
Character  of  his  poetry, 
ib.  His  efforts  for  the 
preservation  of  manu- 
scripts, 677.  Was  Laura 
married  or  single?  685, 
686. 

Philip  Augustus,  accession 
of,   20.     He    cites     John 


sumption  of  the  regency 
of  France  by,  4(t.  Violates 
his  treaty  with  his  broth- 
er's widow,  41.  Salic  law 
confirmed  in  his  reign,  42. 
Result  of  his  attempt  at 
an  excise  on  salt,  120. 

VI.  (of  Valois),  regency 

and  coronation  of,  42. 
Sketch  of  his  character, 
45.  His  debasements  of 
the  coin,  112. 

of  Suabia  elected  em- 

Eeror  of  Germany,  276. 
[is  assassination,  ib. 

Piedmont,  comparative  ob- 
scurity of  the  history  of, 
170, 7iote. 

Piracy,  temptations  to  the 
practice  of,  603.  Difliculty 
of  repressing  it,  604. 

Pisa,  early  naval  and  com- 
mercial importance  of,  199. 
Her  wars  with  Genoa,  200. 
Her  reverses  and  sale  to 
Florence,  201.  Effect  of 
the  Crusades  on  her  pros- 
perity, 600. 

Pisani  (Vittor)  defeated  by 
the  Genoese,  and  impris- 
oned by  the  Venetians, 
202.  His  triumphant  re- 
call from  prison,  203. 

Pius  II.  (See  .^neas  Syl- 
vius.) 

Podestii,  peculiarities  of  the 
oflice  of,  175, 176. 

Podiebrad  (George),  vigor- 
ous rule  of  Bohemia  bv, 
294. 

Poetry,  popular,  547. 


king  of  England    before  Poggio  Bracciolini,  services 


him,  27 
English 
French 
Joins   in 


Deprives    the 

crown     of    its 

possessions,    ib. 

the   third   cru- 


)f,  in  the  revival  of  learn- 
ing, 677. 
Poitiers,  battle  of.     (See  Ed- 
ward III.) 


sade,  37.     Pope  Gregory's  Pole  (Michael  de  la,  earl  of 


menaces  towards  him,  344. 
His  fear  of  Innocent  III., 
34S.  Takes  back  his  repu- 
diated wife,  ib. 
IIL  (the  Bold),  acces- 
sion of,  37. 

—  IV.  (the  Fair),  accession 
of,  37.  Policy  adopted  by 
him,  ib.  His  resentment 
against  the  English  king, 
ib.  His  fraudulent  con- 
duct towards  him,  38. 
Successful  resistance  of 
the  Flemings  against  his| 
attacks,  ib.  His  farther  ac-, 


Suffolk),  lord  chancellor, 
468.  His  impeachment 
and  sentence,  ib. 

Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bonr- 
ges,  381.  Repealed  by 
Louis  XL,  ib.  Its  popu- 
larity with  the  people,  ib. 
Liberties  secured  by  it, 
382,  383. 

Sanction  of  St.  Louis, 

enactment  of  the,  357. 

Prague  University,  293.  Fate 
of  its  rector,  ib. 

Prerogative  of  the  kings  of 
England,  observations  on 


PRICES. 


INDEX. 


SCACCAKIO. 


705 


the,  S13,  514.    (See  English 

Coustitiitioii.) 
Prices  of  commodities,  621- 

624. 
Printing,  invention  of,  683. 

First    boolvs    printed,   ib. 

Italian  presses^^  6S4.     (See 

Learning.) 
Provence    annexed    to    the 

French      dominions,     70. 

Note  upon  its  history,  ib. 
Public  weal,  origin   of  the 

war  of  the,  61. 
Purveyance,  oppressive  op- 
eration of  the  prerogative 

of,  514. 


Rachimburgii,  difference  be- 
tween them  and  the  Sca- 
bini,  115,  note. 

Raymond  VI.  (count  of  Tou- 
louse) excommunicated  by 
Innocent  III.,  28.  Re- 
verses of  his  son  Ray- 
mond, 29. 

Regencies,  instances  of  re- 
gencies in  England,  and 
principles  deducible  there- 
from, 535-537. 

Religious  sects,  moral  im- 
provement accelerated  by 
the  growth  of,  627.  Ten- 
ets of  the  Manicheaus 
and  Paulicians,  62S,  and 
note.  The  Albigenses,  and 
controversies  respecting 
them,  629.  Origin  of  the 
Waldenses,  ib.  Maniche- 
ism  of  the  Albigenses,  630. 
Persecutions  at  Oxford,  ib. 
Secret  readings  of  the 
Scriptures,  631.  Permis- 
sions and  prohibitions 
concerning  the  sacred 
writings,  ib.  Continued 
spread  of  heresies,  632. 
Strictnesses  of  Lollard- 
ism,  ib.  Schism  of  the 
Hussites,  633. 

Representatiouof  the  towns. 
(See  Parliament,  States- 
General.) 

Representative  legislation, 
first  germ  of,  115.  (See  Par- 
liament.) 

Revenues  of  the  kings  of 
France,  how  derived.  111. 
(See  Taxation.) 

Richard  L,  non-success  of, 
against  Philip  Augustus, 
27.  Joins  with  Philip  in 
the    Crusades,    35.      His 

Erowess;  terror  excited 
y  his  name,  ib.  Depo- 
sition of  his  chancellor, 
421.  Enactment  of  the 
laws  of  Oleron  imputed  to 
him,  603.  His  character 
as  a  troubadour,  659. 

11.    loseu    ground    in 

Praucft,  50      j>..<  i  corona- 


tion, 466.  His  council 
during  his  minority,  467. 
His  struggles  with  Parlia- 
ment, ib.  Sketch  of  his 
character,  ib.,  468.  His 
dependence  on  favorites, 
468.  Determined  conduct 
of  the  Commons  towards 
him,  ib.  He  yields  to  their 
demands,  469.  His  further 
attempts  at  independent 
rule,  471.  His  complaint 
against  the  Commons,  472. 
Their  submission,  473. 
His  seizure  of  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  and  other  ar- 
bitrary acts,  474-^76.  Ne- 
cessity for  his  deposition, 
ib.  Progress  of  the  con- 
stitution during  his  reign, 
479.  Extent  of  his  mal- 
practices relative  to  the 
raising  of  money,  480. 
His  attack  upon  Haxey, 
473, 489. 

Richard  (earl  of  Cornwall), 
chosen  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, 277.  Absurdity  of 
the  choice,  ib. 

(duke    of   York)     (sa 

York).  Rienzi  (Nicola  di) 
sudden  accession  to  pow 
er  of,  187.  His  exile,  re 
call,  and  death,  ISS. 

Robert  of  Gloucester,  and 
other  metrical  writers,  672. 

of  Naples,  wise  rule  of, 

223. 

(count  palatine)  super- 
sedes Wenceslaus  as  em- 
peror of  Germany,  284. 

Rochelle,  patriotism  of  the 
citizens  of,  49. 

Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  elect 
ed  emperor  of  Germany, 
280.  Austria  conferred 
upon  his  son,  281.  His  as- 
cendency in  Switzerland, 
296. 

Rollo  of  Normandy,  conver- 
sion of,  23. 

Romance  language.  (See 
Learning.) 

Romano  (Eccelin  da).  (See 
Eccelin.) 

Rome,  subversion  of  the  em- 
pire of,  7.  Portion  which 
remained  subject  to  it,  ib. 
Partition  of  its  provinces 
among  their  conquerors, 
77.  Internal  state  in  the 
tenth  century,  149.  Infa- 
mous conduct  of  candi- 
dates for  the  papal  chair, 
150.  Execution  of  the 
consul      Crescentius,     ib.\ 


The  senators  and  their  ju- 
risdiction, 187.  Mutual 
animosities  of  the  nobles, 
ib.  Rise  and  fall  of  Rien- 
zi, 187, 188.  Transient  re- 
vival of  the  republican 
spirit,  189.  (See  Papal 
Power.) 

S. 

Saint  Boniface.  (See  Win- 
frid.) 

Denis,  sum  paid  for  re^ 

deeming  the  abbot  of,  23. 

John    of   Jerusalem, 

knights  of,  35.  Their 
enormous  possessions,  ib. 

Louis.     (See  Louis  IX.) 

Poll  (count  of)  executed 

on  the  scaffold,  63. 

Saiadin,  conquest  of  Jerusa- 
lem by,  35. 

Salic  lands,  characteristics 
of,  77,  78,  and  note. 

Salic  law,  circumstances 
which  led  to  the  confirma- 
tion of  the,  41,  42.  Date 
of  its  enactment,  146.  Its 
incompleteness  as  a  code, 
ib. 

Sancho  the  Great  bestows 
Castile  on  his  second  son, 
238. 

Sancho  IV.,  245. 

Sanctuary,  institution  of  the 
privilege  of,  583. 

Saracens,  expulsion  of  the, 
from  France,  11.  Their 
inroads  upon  Italy,  23. 
Eudon's  great  victory  over 
them,  72.  Their  conflicts 
with  the  Christians  (see 
Crusades).  Thev  conquer 
Spain,  236.  Encroach- 
ments of  the  Christians 
on  their  territories,  237. 
Mainspring  of  their  hero- 
ism, 302,  Their  Eastern 
conquests,  303.  Their  tri- 
umphs in  the  West,  ib. 
Effect  of  their  successes, 
304.  Their  internal  dis- 
sensions, ib.  (See  Cru- 
sades, Moors.) 

Saragossa  taken  from  the 
Moors,  239. 

Sardinia  conquered  by  the 
Pisans,  199.  Its  cession 
to  the  king  of  Aragon,  201. 

Saxons,  obstinate  resistance 
to  Charlemagne  by  the,  13. 
Enormous  number  be- 
headed by  him,  15.  True 
cause  of  their  ware  with 
the  Franks,  72.  (See  An- 
glo-Saxons.) 


Schemes  of  Innocent  III.  Scabini,  representative^char- 

for  aggrandizing  the  holy 

see,  164.    Increase  of  the 

temporal  authority  of  the 

popes,  185.    Exj)ulsiou  of 

popes  by  the  citizens,  186. 


acter  of  the,  115.    Differ- 
ence  between   them  and 
the  Rachimburgii, t6.,  note. 
Their  functions,  127. 
Scaccario,  Dialogus  de  430. 


706 


SCANDERBEG. 


INDEX. 


TOULOUSE. 


Scauderbeg,  protracted  op- 
position to  ttie  Turks  b3% 
315. 

Scandinavia  and  her  sea- 
kings,  3S4,  385. 

Sclavonians,  territories  oc- 
cupied by  the,  21. 

Scotns  (Duns),  notices  of, 
055. 

Scotus  (John),  an  exception 
to  the  ignorance  of  his 
times,  575, 5T6,  and  note. 

Scrope  (lord),  519. 

Serfdom  and  villenage,  dis- 
tinctive features  of,  103, 
107.     {See  Villeins.) 

Sforza  Attendolo,  rise  to  dis- 
tinction of,  217. 

Sforza  (Francesco),  powerful 
position  achieved  by,  217. 
Becomes  Duke  of  Milan, 
ib.  Joins  in  the  quadru- 
ple league,  227.  Accession 
and  assassination  of  his 
son  Galeazzo,  229.  Policy 
of  Ludovico  Sforza,  ih. 
He  directs  the  French 
king's  attention  towards 
Naples,  233.  Short-sight- 
edness of  his  views,  ib. 

Sheriffs,  partiality  of,  in  elec- 
tions, 494.  How  originallv 


appointed,  497. 
Jicily,  conqu 


Sicily,  conquest  of,  by  Roger 
Guiscard,  153.  Its  subse- 
qnent  fortunes,  163.  Its 
rebellion  against  Charles 
of  Anjou,  221.  The  Sicil- 
ian Vespers,  222.  Oppo- 
sition of  the  Sicilians  to 
Charles  II.  of  Naples,  ib. 
Settlement  of  the  crown 
on  Frederick,  ib.  Union 
of  Sicily  with  Aragon,  22G. 

Sigismuud  elected  emperor 
of  Germany,  285.  His  safe- 
conduct  violated,  293.  Ac- 
quires the  crown  of  Hunga- 
ry, 249.  His  conduct  at  the 
Council  of  Constance,  278. 

Silk  manufacture  establish- 
ed in  Palermo,  601. 

Sylvester  II.  (pope),  scien- 
tific acquirements  of,  576, 
twte. 

Bimony.  {Sec  Church,  Cler- 
gy.) 

Slavery,  existence  of,  in  an- 
cient times,  104.  Submit- 
ted to  by  the  poor  for  sub- 
sistence' sake,  105.  Vene- 
tian ani  English  slave- 
trading,  591, 592. 

Society,  state  of.  {See  Archi- 
tecture, Chivalry,  Clergy, 
Feudal  System,  Learning, 
Superstition,  Trade,  Vil- 
lenage.) 

Spain,  character  of  the  Visi- 
gothic  kingdoms  in,  236. 
its  conquest  by  the  Sara- 
iie\ii},ib.    Kingdoms  of  Le- 


on, Navarre,  Aragon,  and! 
Castile,  238.  Reverses  of 
the  Saracens,  239.  Charter- 
ed towns,  240.  Establish- 
ment of  military  orders, 
241.  Non-expulsion  of  the 
Moors,  243.  Its  probable 
cause,  ih.  Alfonso  X.  and 
his  short-comings,  244. 
Frequent  defection  of  the 
nobles,  245.  Peter  the  Cru- 
el, ib.  Accession  of  the 
Trastamare  line,  246.  Dis- 
grace and  execution  of  Al- 
varo  de  Luna,  247.  Con- 
tests after  Henry  IV. 's 
death,  248.  Constitution 
of  the  national  councils, 
248,  249.  Composition  of 
the  Cortes,  250.  Its  trade 
relations  with  England, 
599.  (See  Aragon,  Castile, 
Cortes.) 

Sports  of  the  fiel  d ,  popularity 
of,  587.  Addiction  of  the 
clergy  thereto,  ib.  Evils 
attendant  thereon,  588. 

States-General  of  France, 
memorable  resistance  to 
taxation  bv  the,  47.  Con- 
voked by  Philip  IV.,  119. 
Probability  of  their  earlier 
convocation  canvassed,  ib. 
Philip's  politic  reason  for 
summoning  them,  ib.  Ex- 
tent of  their  rights  as  to 
taxation,  119,  120.  Their 
resolute  proceedings  in 
1355  and  135G,  120,  121. 
Their  protest  against  the 
debasement  of  the  coin, 
121.  Disappointment  oc- 
casioned by  their  proceed- 
ings in  1357,122.  They  com- 
pel Charles  VI.  to  revoke 
all  illegal  taxes,  ib.  Effect 
of  their  limited  functions 
123.  Theoretical  respect 
attached  to  their  sanction, 
ib.  Provincial  estates  and 
theirjurisdiction,124.  En- 
croachments of  Louis  XL, 
125.  The  States-General 
of  Tours,  ib.  Means  by 
which  their  deliberations 
were  jeopardized,  ib.  Un- 
palatable nature  of  their 
remonstrances,  126. 

Stephen  (king),  cruel  treat- 
ment of  the  people  in  his 
reign,  417,  note. 

Succession  to  kingly  and  oth- 
er dignities.  {See  Heredi- 
tary Succession.) 

Snevi,  part  of  the  Roman 
empire  held  by  the,  7. 

Suffolk  (duke  of),  impeach- 
ment of,  487. 

(earl  of).     {See  Pole.) 

Sumptuary  laws,  enactment 
and  disregard  of,  609,  610, 
note. 


Superstition,  learning  dis- 
couraged by,  563.  Its  uni- 
versal prevalence,  577.  In- 
stances of  its  results,  ib. 
Ordeals,  578.  Fanatical 
gatherings :  the  White 
Caps,  579.  The  Pastou- 
reaux,^■6.  TheFlagellants, 
580.  The  Bianchi,  i&.  Pre- 
tended miracles,  and  their 
attendant  evils,  58L  Mira- 
cles ascribed  to  the  Virgin, 
582.  Redeeming  features 
ofthesystem,?&.,583.  Pen- 
ances and  pilgiimages, 
584,  585.  {See  Religious 
Sects.) 

Swineford  (Katherine),  pro- 
ceedings relative  to  the 
marriage  of,  472. 

Switzerland,  early  history 
of,  290.  Ascendency  of 
Rodolph,  ib.  Expulsion 
and  defeat  of  Albert  and 
Leopold,  298.  Formation 
ofthe  Swiss  confederation, 
ib.  Indomitable  heroism 
of  the  Swiss,  299,  300. 
Their  military  excellence, 
300.  Failure  of  Maximil- 
ian's attempt  to  subjugate 
them,  301. 

Syagrius,  Roman  provinces 

foverued  by,  S.    Defeated 
y  Clovis,  ib. 


Taborites,  fanaticism  and 
courage  of  the,  294, 633. 

Tartars.     {See  Moguls.) 

Taxation :  clumsy  substi- 
tutes for  taxes  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  111.  Conditions 
annexed  by  the  States- 
General  to  a  grant  of  tax- 
es, 122.  Taxes  under  the 
Anglo-Norman  kings,  418, 
419,  and  notes.  (See  States- 
General.) 

Temple,  knights  of  the.  {See 
Knights  Templars.) 

Tenure  of  land  under  the 
Anglo-Saxons  and  Anglo- 
Normans,  390-400.  {See 
Feudal  System.) 

Teutonic  knights,  establish- 
ment of  the  order  of,  35. 

Theodoric,  disregard  of 
learning  by,  504. 

Thierry  (son  of  Clovis),  terri- 
tories possessed  by,  9. 

Timur,  conquering  career  of, 
313. 

Tithes,  establishment  of, 
319.  Charlemagne's  ca- 
pitulary relative  thereto, 
319,  320. 

Toledo  taken  from  the 
Moors,  239, 

Torriani.     {See  Visconti.) 

iToulouse,     non-submission 


TOWNS. 


INDEX. 


707 


of  the  couuts  of,  to  the 
kings  of  France,  2T.  Their 
fall,  29.  (,S<?e  Raymond  VI.) 

Towns  and  cities,  earliest 
charters  granted  to,  136. 
Privileges  of  incorporated 
towns,  136, 137.  Their  re- 
lationship towards  the 
crown,  187.  Independence 
of  maritime  towns,  13S. 
Chartered  towns  of  Spain, 
240.  Their  privileges  and 
duties,  241.  Canse  of  their 
importance,  249.  Cities  of 
Germany  {see  Germany). 
Cities  of  Italy.  {See  Flor- 
ence, Genoa,  Milan,  Pisa, 
Venice.) 

, of  England,  progress  of 

the,  448.  Conversion  of  in- 
dividual tributes  into  bor- 
ough rents,  449.  Incorpo- 
ration of  towusby  charter, 
449,450.  Prosperity  of  the 
towns,  450.  Early  impor- 
tance and  populonsness  of 
London,  451.  Participa- 
tion of  its  citizens  in  con- 
stitutional struggles,  452. 
First  summoning  of  towns 
to  Parliament,  ib.  {See 
Municipal  Institutions.) 

Trade  and  commerce,  me- 
diaival  non-existence  of, 
689.  Barriers  to  their 
progress,  590.  Extent  of 
foreign  commerce,  591. 
Home  traffic  in  slaves,  592. 
Woollen  raanufacturesand 
vacillating  policy  of  the 
English  kings  relative 
thereto,  594-590.  Opening 
of  the  Baltic  trade,  597. 
Growth  ,  of  English  com- 
merce, 598.  Opulence  of 
English  merchants,  t6.  In- 
crease of  maritime  traffic, 
598-GOO.  Commercial  emi- 
nence of  the  Italian  states, 
600.  Invention  of  the  mari- 
ner's compass,  602.  Com- 
pilaticni  of  maritime  laws, 

602,  603.  Frequency  and 
irrepressibility  of  piracv, 

603,  604.  Practice  of  re- 
prisals, 604.  Liability  of 
aliens  for  each  other's 
debts,  605.  Trade  profits 
and  rates  of  interest,  ib. 
Price  of  corn  and  cattle, 
620. 

Trial  by  combat,  ceremoni- 
als attending,  128,  note. 

Trial  by  jury  and  its  ante- 
cedents, 393,  394.  Early 
modes  of  trial,  405.  Abo- 
iition  of  trial  by  ordeal, 
40G.  Difference  between 
ancient  and  modern  trial 
by  jury,  ib.  Original  func- 
tions of  juries,  ?&.  Origin 
of  the  modern  system,  407. 


Troubadours  (the)  and  their 
productions,  65S-660. 

Troyes,  conditions  of  the 
treaty  of,  56. 

Turks,  Italian  fears  of  the, 
228.  Triumphant  progress 
of  their  arms,  308.  Their 
defeat  by  the  Crusaders 
and  Alexius,  309.  Their 
settlement  under  Othman, 
311.  War  declared  against 
them  at  Frankfort,  314. 
The  Janizaries,  315.  {See 
Ottomans.) 

Tuscany,  espousal  of  the  pa- 
pal cause,  170.  Progress 
of  its  cities.  {See  Flor- 
ence.) 

U. 

Uladislaus  crowned  king  of 
Hungary,  295.  Violates  his 
treaty  with  the  Turks,  ib. 
Its  fatal  results,  ib. 

Urban  II.,  encouragement 
ofthe  Crusades  by,  32.  His 
concession  to  the  kings  of 
Castile,  343. 

V.  retrausfers  the  papal 

court  to  Avignon,  372. 

VL  aids  Charles  of  Du- 

razzo  in  his  designs  on  Jo- 
anna of  Naples,  224.  His 
contest  with  Clement  VII., 
373. 

Urgel  (count  of)  lays  claim 
to  the  crown  ofAragon, 
259.  Rejection  of  his  pre- 
tensions, ib. 

Usury  treated  as  a  crime, 
600,  607,  note. 

V. 

Valencia,  constitution  of  the 
kingdom  of,  267. 

Vandals,  portions  ofthe  Ro- 
man Empire  possessed  by 
the,  7. 

Vase  of  Soissous,  story  of 
the,  82. 

Vassals  and  Vassalage.  {See 
Feudal  System.) 

Vavassors,  privilegesattach- 
ing  to  the  rank  of,  102,  note. 

Venice,  conflicts  of,  with  Ge- 
noa, 202.  Defeat  of  her 
admiral  by  the  Genoese, 
ib.  Insolence  of  the  latter 
towards  her  ambassadors, 
203.  Successful  tactics  of 
her  doge,  204.  Triumph  of 
her  fleet,  ib.  Her  alleged 
early  independence,  207. 
Her  subjection  to  the  f^m- 
perors,  ib.  Her  Dalmatian 
and  Levantine  acquisi- 
tions, 208.  Her  govern- 
ment: powers  of  the  doge, 
209,  210.  The  great  coun- 
cil, 209.  Checks  to  undue 
influence  on  the  part  ofthe 


doge,  ib.  Singular  com« 
plication  in  ballots  for  the 
dogeship,  210.  Marin  Fa- 
lieri's  treason,  211.  The 
council  of  ten  and  its  se- 
cret proceedings,  ib.  Ter- 
ritorial acquisitions  of 
Venice,  212.  Venetian 
conquests  under  Carmag- 
nola,  213.  Wars  of  the  Re- 
public with  Mohammed 
II.,  227,  228. 

Verdun,  treaty  of,  18. 

Vere,  favoritism  of  Richard 
II.  towards,  468.  His  fu- 
neral, 471. 

Verona,  seized  by  Francesco 
da  Carrara,  212. 

Villeins  and  villenage  :  con- 
ditions of  villeins,  104, 105. 
Consequences  of  their 
marriages  with  free  per- 
sons, 106.  Privileges  ac- 
quired by  them,  107,  and 
note.  Villeinige  never  es- 
tablished in  Leon  and  Cas- 
tile, 240.  Dependence  of 
the  villein  on  his  lord,  528. 
Conditio!*  of  his  property, 
and  children,  ib.  Legal 
distinctions,  ib.  Difficul- 
ties besetting  the  abolitior 
of  villenage,  529.  Gradual 
softening  of  its  features, 
529,530.  Merger  of  villeins 
into  hired  laborers,  530. 
Effects  of  the  anti-poll-tax 
insurrection,  532.  Disap- 
pearance of  villenage,  533, 
534. 

Virgin,  absurd  miracles  as- 
cribed to  the,  582. 

Visconti  and  Torriani  fami- 
lies, rivalry  of  the,  182. 
Triumph  of  the  Visconti, 
184.  Giovanni  Visconti's 
assassination,  213.    Filip- 

go  Visconti's  accession,  ib. 
[isiugratitudeto  Carmag- 
nola,  ib.  His  alliance  with 
Alf(mso,  227.  Quarrels  of 
the  family  with  the  popes, 
368. 
Visigoths,  portions  of  the 
Roman  provinces  possess- 
ed by  the,  7.  Their  mode 
of  dividing  conquered 
provinces,  77.  Difference 
between  the  Frank  mon- 
archy and  theirs, 

W. 

Wages,  futility  of  laws  for 
the  regulation  of,  531.  {See 
Laborers.) 

Waldenses.  {See  Religious 
Sects.) 

War,  private  exercise  of  the 
right  of,  110.  By  whom 
checked  and  suppressed, 
ib.    Its  prevalence  among 


708 


WARNA. 


INDEX. 


ZISCA. 


the  German  nobles,  289, 
290. 

Warua,  circumstances  which 
led  to  the  battle  of,  295. 

Warwick  (earl  of)  made  a 
lord  appellant,  470.  Ban- 
ished by  Richard  II.,  474. 

Water-Ordeal.  (S'cfiOrdeals.) 

Wenceslaus,  confirmed  in 
the  Imperial  succession, 
284.  His  deposition,  ib. 
He  abets  the  league  of  the 
Rhine,  388. 

Weregild,  or  compensation 
for"  murder.  {See  Mur- 
der.) 

Wicliff  (John),  influence  of 
the  tenets  of,  380,  532,  632. 

William  of  Holland  elected 
emperor  of  Germany,  277. 

■ theCouqueror:  position 

of  England  at  its  conquest 
by  him,  408.  Alleged  in- 
adequacy of  the  military 
f(n-ces  of  the  Saxons,  ib. 
Their  fruitless  rebellions 
against  him,  409.  Instan- 
ces of  his  oppressive  con- 


duct, 


astatlng  clearances  for 
forests,  412.  And  inhu- 
man forest  laws,  ib.  His 
enormous  revenues,  413. 
His  feudal  innovations, 
414.  Policy  of  his  manori- 
al grants,  ib.  Tyranny  of 
his  government, -llo.  Stat- 
utes of,  440,  441. 

Windsor  Castle,  laborers  for 
the  erection  of,  how  pro- 
cured, 515. 

Wiufrid  (St.  Boniface),  im- 
portance of  the  ecclesi- 
astical changes  effected  by, 
329. 

Winkelried,  the  Swiss  patri- 
ot, heroic  death  of,  300. 

Wisbay,  ordinances  of,  603. 

Witikind,  acknowledgment 
of  Charlemagne's  author- 
ity by,  14. 

Witenagemot:  its  charac- 
teristics, 390.  How  often 
assembled,  439.  {See  An- 
glo-Saxons.) 

Woollen  manufacture  estab- 
lished   in    Flanders,    593. 


410.     His   dev-i    Export  of  wool  from  En- 


gland, 594.  English  wool 
Ten  manufacture,  595.  Pol. 
icy  adopted  towards  the 
Flemings,  ib.  Laws  rela- 
tive to  the  trade,  596. 
Worms,  Diet  of.  {Sec  Diet.) 
Wykeham  (bishop  of  Win- 
chester) invested  with  the 
great  seal,  471. 

Y. 

York  (Richard,  duke  of)  ap- 
pointed protector  to  Hen- 
ry VI.,  538.  His  claim  to 
the  throne,  540,  541.  His 
cautious  policy,  ib. 

Yorkists  and  Lancastrians, 
wars  of  the,  541,  54i. 


Zimisces  (John),  military 
exploits  of,  307. 

Zisca  (John),  the  blind  hero, 
victories  of  the  Bohemians 
under,  220.  His  exploits ; 
enthusiasm  of  his  follow- 
ers, 293,  294. 


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copal Church.  By  George  R.  Crooks,  D.D.  Illustrated.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $3  75 ;  Gilt  Edges,  |4  25  ;  Half  Morocco,  $5  25,  {Sold  by 
Subscription.) 

SERMONS  BY  BISHOP  MATTHEW  SIMPSON,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.      Edited  by  George  R.  Crooks,  D.D.      Svo, 

Cloth,  $2  50. 

OUTLINES  OF  INTERNATIONAL  LAW,  with  an  Account  of  its 
Origin  and  Sources,  and  of  its  Historical  Development.  By  George 
B.  Davis,  U.S.A.     Crown  Svo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

CURIOSITIES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  STAGE.  By  Laurence 
HuTTON.  With  Copious  and  Characteristic  Illustrations.  Crown 
Svo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $2  50. 

LITERARY  LANDMARKS  OF  EDINBURGH.  By  Laubbncb 
HuTTON.     Illustrated.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  %\.  00. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  WAGNERIAN  DRAMA.  By  Henry  E.  Kbeh- 
BiEL.     Post  Svo,Clotli,$l  25. 


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CYPRUS :  its  Ancient  Cities,  Tomb«,  and  Temples.  A  Narrative  of 
Researches  and  Excavations  during  Ten  Years'  Residence  in  that 
Island.  By  L.  F.  Di  Cksnola.  With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  400  Il- 
lustrations.     8vo,  Cloth,  Extra,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $7  50. 

THE  ANCIENT  CITIES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  :  Being  Voy- 
ages and  Explorations  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  from  1857 
to  1882.  By  Dbsire  Ciiabnat.  Transhited  by  J.  Gonino  and 
Helen  S.  Conant.  Illustrations  and  Map.  Royal  8vo,  Ornamental 
Cloth,  Uncut  Edges,  Gilt  Top,  $G  00. 

A  HISTORY  OF  OUR  OWN  TIMES,  from  the  Accession  of  Queen 
Victoria  to  the  General  Election  of  1880.  By  Justin  M'Cartiiy, 
M.P.     2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  50;  Half  Calf,  ,f6  00. 

A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  OUR  OWN  TIMES,  from  the  Acces- 
sion of  Queen  Victoria  to  the  General  Election  of  1880.  By  Justin 
M'Carthy,  M.P.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  FOUR  GEORGES.  By  Justin  McCarthy, 
M.P.  In  Four  Volumes.  Vols.  I.  and  II.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25 
each. 

THE   FRENCH    REVOLUTION.       By  Justin  H.  M'Carthy.    In 

Two  Volumes.     Volume  I.  Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  OF  1780,  as  viewed  in  the  Light  of 
Republican  Institutions.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott.  Illustrated.  Svo, 
Cloth,  $3  50  ;  Sheep,  $4  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $5  75. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  By  John  S.  C. 
Abbott.  Maps,  Illustrations,  and  Portraits.  2  vols.,  Svo,  Cloth, 
$7  00;  Sheep,  $8  00;  Half  Calf,  $11  50. 

NAPOLEON  AT  ST.  HELENA ;  or.  Anecdotes  and  Conversations 
of  the  Emperor  during  the  Years  of  his  Captivity.  Collected  from 
the  Memorials  of  Las  Casas,  O'Meara,  Montholon,  Antomraarchi, 
and  others.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$3  50  ;  Sheep,  $4  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $5  75. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  FREDERICK  THE  SECOND,  called  Fred- 
erick the  Great.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$3  50;   Sheep,  $4  00;  Half  Calf,  $5  75. 

STUDIES  OF  THE  GREEK  POETS.  By  John  Addington  Sym- 
OND8.     2  vols.,  Square  16mo,  Cloth,  $3  50";  Half  Calf,  $7  00. 

A  HISTORY  OF  CLASSICAL  GREEK  LITERATURE.  By  J.  P. 
Mahaffy.     2  vols,,  12mo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  50. 

A  HISTORY  OF  LATIN  LITERATURE,  from  Ennius  to  Boethius. 
By  George  Augustus  Simcox,  M.A.     2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

TENNYSON'S  COMPLETE  POEMS.  The  Complete  Poetical  Works 
of  Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson.  With  an  Introductory  Sketch  by  Anne 
Thackeray  Ritchie.  With  Portraits  and  Illustrations.  Svo,  Extra 
Cloth,  Bevelled,  Gilt  Edges,  $2  50. 


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THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN.  By  J.  W.  Dawson, 
LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  Principal  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  McGill 
University,  Montreal.  With  Twenty  Illustriitions.  New  and  Revised 
Edition.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD,  according  to  Revelation  and  Sci- 
ence.     By  J.  W.  Dam'SON,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.      12mo,  Cloth, 

$2  00. 

MODERN  SCIENCE  IN  BIBLE  LANDS.  By  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson, 
C.M.G.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.  Maps  and  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  00. 

*THE  STUDENT'S  SERIES.  Maps  and  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth: 
Franck. — Gibbon. — Grei-xe. — Rome  (by  Liddell). — Old  Tes- 
tament History.  —  New  Testament  History.  —  Strickland's 
Queens  of  England. — Ancient  History  of  the  East. — Hal- 
lam's  Middle  Ages. — Hallam's  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 
land.— Lyell's  Elements  of  Geology.— Merivale's  General 
History  of  Rome. — Cox's  General  History  of  Greece. — Clas- 
sical Dictionary. — Skeats  Etymological  Dictionary. — Raw- 
linson's  Ancient  History,     f  1  25  per  volume. 

Lewis's  History  of  Germany. — Ecclesiastical  History,  Two 
Vols. — Hume's  England. — Modehn  Europe.     $1  50  i)er  volume. 
Westcott  and  Hort's  Greek   Ti  stament,  $1  00. 

JESUS  CHRIST  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT ,  or,  The  Great  Ar- 
gument. By  W,  H.  Thomson,  M.A.,  M.D.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth, 
$2  00. 

MODERN  ITALIAN  POETS.  (1770-1870.)  Essays  and  Versions. 
By  William  Dean  Howells.     With  Portraits.     12rno,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

SYDNEY  SMITH.  A  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev. 
Sydney  Smith.  By  Stuart  J.  Reid.  With  Steel-plate  Portrait  and 
Illustrations.      8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  FALL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  Being  the  Story  of  the 
Fourth  Crusade.     By  Edwin  Pears,  LL.B.     8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

CARICATURE  AND  OTHER  COMIC  ART,  in  All  Times  and  Many 
Lands.  By  James  Parton.  203  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut 
Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $5  00 ,  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

GEORGE  ELIOT'S  LIFE.  Related  in  her  Letters  and  Journals. 
Arranged  and  Edited  by  her  Husband,  J.  W.  Cross.  Portraits 
and  Illustration.s.  3  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  75  ,  Half  Calf,  $9  00. 
Popidar  Edition  :  Cloth,  $2  25  ;   Half  Binding,  $2  00. 

COLERIDGE'S  WORKS.  Tlie  Complete  Works  of  Samuel  Taylor 
Coleridge.  With  an  Introductory  Essay  upon  his  Pliilosophical  and 
Theological  Opinions.  Edited  by  Prof.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd.  With 
Steel  Portrait,  and  an  Index.  7  vols.,  12nio,  Cloth,  $2  00  per  vol- 
ume ;  $12  00  per  set ;  Half  Calf,  $24  25. 


Valuable  and  Interesting  Works.  9 

THE  "FRIENDLY  EDITION"  of  Shakespeare's  Works.  Edited 
bv  W.  J.  RoLFE.  In  Twenty  Volumes.  Illustrated.  16mo,  Gilt 
Tops  and  Uncut  Edges.  Cloth,  $25  00 ;  Half  Leather,  $35  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $50  00  per  Set. 

LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN,  Fifteenth  President  of  the  United 
States.  By  Georgk  Ticknor  Curtis.  With  Two  Steel -Plate 
Portraits.      2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $6  00. 

CYCLOPiEDIA  OF  BRITISH  AND  AMERICAN  POETRY.  Ed- 
ited bv  Epks  Sargent.  Royal  8vo,  Illnniinated  Cloth,  Colored 
Edges,'$4  50;  Half  Leather,  $5  00. 

ADVENTURES  IN  THE  GREAT  FOREST  of  Equatorial  Africa 
and  the  Country  of  the  Dwarfs.  By  Paul  Du  Chaillu.  Abridged 
and  Popular  Edition.  With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Post  Svo, 
Cloth,  $1  75. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  ZAMBESI.  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the 
Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries,  and  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Lakes 
Shirwa  and  Nyassa,  1858  to  186-t.  By  David  and  Charles  Liv- 
ingstone.    Illustrated.     8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00  ;  Sheep,  $5  50. 

THE  LAST  JOURNALS  OF  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  in  Central 
Africa,  from  1865  to  his  Death.  Continued  by  a  Narrative  of  his 
Last  Moments,  obtained  from  his  Faithful  Servants  Chuma  and  Susi. 
By  Horace  Waller.  With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  Illustrations.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  00. 

HISTORY  OF  FRIEDRICH  II.,  called  Frederick  the  Great.  By 
Thomas  Carlyle.  Portraits,  Maps,  Plans,  etc.  6  vols.,  12mo, 
Cloth,  $7  00;   Sheep,  $9  90;  Half  Calf,  $18  00. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  :  A  History.  By  Thomas  Carlyle. 
2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  50;  Sheep,  $3  3o\   Half  Calf,  $0  00. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL'S  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES,  including 
the  Supplement  to  the  First  Edition.  With  Elucidations.  By 
Thomas  Carlyle.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  50;  Sheep,  $3  30; 
Half  Calf,  $6  00. 

PAST  AND  PRESENT,  CHARTISM,  AND  SARTOR  RESARTUS. 
By  Thomas  Carlyle.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

EARLY  KINGS  OF  NORWAY,  AND  THE  PORTRAITS  OF 
JOHN  KNOX.     By  Thomas  Carlyle.      12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

REMINISCENCES  BY  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  Edited  by  J.  A. 
Froude.  12mo,  Cloth,  with  Copious  Index,  and  with  Thirteen  Por- 
traits, 50  cents. 

BROUGHAM'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  Life  and  Times  of  Henry, 
Lord  Brougham.    Written  by  Himself.     3  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $G  00. 

MARCUS  AURELIUS  ANTONINUS.     By  Paul  Barron  Watson. 

Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 


10  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works. 

FEOUDE'S  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  Part  I.  A  His- 
tory of  the  First  Forty  Years  of  Carlyle's  Life  (1795-1835).  By 
James  Anthony  Fkoude,  M.A.  With  Portraits  and  Illustrations. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00.  Part  II.  A  History  of  Carlyle's  Life  in  Lon- 
don (1834-1881).  By  James  Anthony  Frouue.  Illustrated.  12nio, 
Cloth,  $1  00. 

LIFE  OF  CICERO.  By  Anthony  Trollope.  2  vols.,  12mo, 
Cloth,  $3  00. 

FROM  EGYPT  TO  PALESTINE.  Tiirongh  Sinai,  the  Wilderness, 
and  the  South  Country.  Observations  of  a  Journey  made  with  Si)e- 
cial  Reference  to  the  History  of  the  Israelites.  By  S^  C.  Bartlett, 
D.D.     Maps  and  Illustrations.     8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  LOCKE.  By  H.  R.  Fox  Bourne.  2  vols., 
8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

THE  ATMOSPHERE.  Translated  from  the  French  of  Camii  i.e 
Flammarion.  With  10  Chromo- Lithograi)hs  and  8G  Wood-cuts. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00 ;  Half  Calf,  fS  25. 

A  TEXT -BOOK  OF  CHUl'.CH  HISTORY.  By  Dr.  John  C.  L. 
GiESELER.  Revised  and  P^lited  bv  Rev.  Hknuy  B.  Smith,  D.D. 
Vols.  L,  IL,  IIL,  and  IV.,  8vo,  Cloth,  #2  25  each  :  Vol.  V.,  8vo, 
Cloth,  $3  00.  Complete  Sets,  5  vols.,  Sheep,  $14  50;  Half  Calf, 
$23  25. 

THE  HUGUENOTS :  their  Settlements,  Churches,  and  Industries  in 
England  and  Ireland.  By  Samuel  Smiles.  With  an  Appendix  re- 
lating to  the  Huguenots  in  America.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

THE  HUGUENOTS  IN  FRANCE  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes;  with  a  Visit  to  the  Country  of  the  Vandois.  By  Sam- 
uel Smiles.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  STEPHENSON,  and  of  his  Son,  Robert 
Stephenson  ;  comprising,  also,  a  History  of  the  Invention  and  Intro- 
duction of  the  Railway  Locomotive.  By  Samuel  Smiles.  Illus- 
trated.    8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE  CHALLENGER.  The  Atlantic:  an 
Account  of  the  General  Results  of  the  Voyage  during  1873  and  the 
Early  Part  of  1870.      By  Sir  W^yvillk  Thomson,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S. 

Illustrated.      2  vols.,  8vo^  Cloth,  $12  00. 

THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  SCOTLAND :  From  the  Earliest 
to  the  Present  Time.  Comprising  Characteristic  Selections  from  the 
Works  of  the  more  Noteworthy  Scottish  Poets,  with  Biographical 
and  Critical  Notices.  By  James  Grant  Wilson.  With  Portraits 
on  Steel.      2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00  ;  Gilt  Edges,  $1 1  00. 

THE  HEART  OF  AFRICA.  Three  Years' Travels  and  Adventures 
in  the  Unexplored  Regions  of  the  Centre  of  Afiica — from  1868  to 
1871.  By  Georg  Schweinfukth.  Translated  l)y  Ellen  E.  Frew- 
ER.     Illustrated.     2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $8  00. 


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